Re: The one and only UK 2024 election thread - July 4
Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 12:07 pm
Key campaigner for the new independent Leicester MP has been arrested under counter-terror charges. What a pandora’s box we have opened
A place where escape goats go to play
https://notplanetrugby.com/
Yep, more distracting culture war bollocks required.petej wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2024 6:49 pmThey have succeeded in certain areas like water. It just hasn't gone down very well with the public.Uncle fester wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2024 6:06 pmUltimately they don't want any institutions implementing pesky things like H&S laws or environmental regulations because they get in the way of things like "innovation" and "growth".sturginho wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2024 3:08 pm
I thought the point of Brexit was that we wanted BRITISH (and therefore superior) institutions in charge instead of "foreign" ones![]()
Once you knock out the EU bodies, then you water down the domestic ones and turn the country into the US.
Water companies aren't going to reduce profitability by treating water when they can innovate by moving monitoring stations upstream of where they are dumping shit or if the fines are far cheaper than the treatment chemicals or properly maintaining a treatment facility. This is the sort of innovation that "free markets" can provide. There is a delusion in the right wing that seems to assume that companies will innovate even if it would lead to reduced profits. Most of these things are balancing acts but by leaving it totally to free markets you are reducing your power, so in many areas the likes of Truss reduce their power themselves.Uncle fester wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2024 12:12 pmYep, more distracting culture war bollocks required.petej wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2024 6:49 pmThey have succeeded in certain areas like water. It just hasn't gone down very well with the public.Uncle fester wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2024 6:06 pm
Ultimately they don't want any institutions implementing pesky things like H&S laws or environmental regulations because they get in the way of things like "innovation" and "growth".
Once you knock out the EU bodies, then you water down the domestic ones and turn the country into the US.
Companies only innovate to improve quality where the consumer has a choice and is well informed.petej wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2024 12:36 pmWater companies aren't going to reduce profitability by treating water when they can innovate by moving monitoring stations upstream of where they are dumping shit or if the fines are far cheaper than the treatment chemicals or properly maintaining a treatment facility. This is the sort of innovation that "free markets" can provide. There is a delusion in the right wing that seems to assume that companies will innovate even if it would lead to reduced profits. Most of these things are balancing acts but by leaving it totally to free markets you are reducing your power, so in many areas the likes of Truss reduce their power themselves.Uncle fester wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2024 12:12 pmYep, more distracting culture war bollocks required.petej wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2024 6:49 pm
They have succeeded in certain areas like water. It just hasn't gone down very well with the public.
Racism is fundamentally irrational. Someone who's intelligent and is racist is likely to have thought it out more and elevated it into fully formed conspiracy theories unsupported by science, they're far more likely to believe a whole load of mad shit on the subject. The single biggest determinant of someone believing any conspiracy theory is if they already believe another conspiracy theory.Hal Jordan wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2024 12:38 pm Could we agree on the racist/intelligence/fuckwit conundrum that it is perfectly possible to be a racist with a high degree of intelligence, but that all racists, irrespective of brainpower, are societal fuckwits?
What do you mean by thatPaddington Bear wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2024 12:07 pm Key campaigner for the new independent Leicester MP has been arrested under counter-terror charges. What a pandora’s box we have opened
Hell you've had convicted terrorists elected MPs; a single campaigner is small beansJM2K6 wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2024 3:06 pmWhat do you mean by thatPaddington Bear wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2024 12:07 pm Key campaigner for the new independent Leicester MP has been arrested under counter-terror charges. What a pandora’s box we have opened
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2lkqegz5k7oRwanda has said it is not required to refund the UK after a multi-million pound migrant deal between the two countries was scrapped.
New UK Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer announced at the weekend that the plan to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda was "dead and buried".
The scheme was forged by the previous Conservative government, which since revealing the plan in 2022 has paid Rwanda £240m ($310m).
...
The Tories took it to an unseen before level. Johnson in the Commons accusing Starmer of supporting Jimmy Saville, Johnson's advisor quit over this because it was so crazy, Johnson literally grabbed that from some of the darkest corners of the far right online and used it at the despatch box. Harper at the Tory conference going full 15 minute city conspiracy and saying councils wanted to control how often you went to the shops (from memory he then junked an entirely sensible plan around pedestrianisation and cycle routes?). Braverman wading so deep into great replacement theory that the only thing she didn't say was the term used to describe her beliefs. Truss keeps repeating she was PM but had no power. Farage being invited to the Tory conference and literally dancing with cabinet ministers, someone who believes the Ukraine is to blame for its invasion conspiracy and keeps repeating it in different ways ("Putin is a brilliant leader" etc), someone that has repeated Covid vaccine stuff, someone onboard with the 15 minute city and WEF stuff, someone like Braverman very much adjacent to the great replacement conspiracy theory. And they all believe the conspiracy that the EU, a quite boring technocrat trade and political bloc, is a great enemy attempting to undermine the UK.Hal Jordan wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2024 3:02 pm I don't think that the conspiracy types are a new thing, they were always there, but in the old days your would have needed to leave the house to seek out fellow loons, or subscribe to a physical mailing list or similar.
With the internet, it's all there for the finding.
It also doesn't help that there always some genuinely shady things that the powers that be get up to, be it the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, the Post Office scandal or what have you, which fuel the narrative of conspiracy theories.
Mark Francois said to Bob Blackman following last night's 1922 Committee Chair vote
"You just have to read The Plot, this is completely bent"
He confronted Blackman in the Strangers Bar
Francois told Blackman to "re-run" the vote after Tory MPs received mixed messages over when it'd end
"I’m sick and tired of all the bloody shenanigans"
Brandishing a copy of the Daily Mail, he said “there'd be riots” if what happened last night occurred at a general election
In response to Francois, Blackman said "of course it's a mandate"
He added that re-running the election would only be necessary if there had been “one or two votes in it” but he beat Tory veteran Clifton Brown by 61 votes to 37
A Tory MP at the 1922 Chair hustings told PolHome: “He [Francois] is out of control.
“We’ve just had the shellacking of a lifetime, a significant part of which has been due to division & psychodrama as opposed to focussing on our constituents.
“We need to wind our necks in.”
The Unpopular ‘Popular Conservatives’ Blame the Voters for Their Own Defeat
Now is not the time for blame”, the Conservative activist and journalist Annunziata Rees-Mogg suggested to her colleagues at the start of the ‘Popular Conservatism’ conference on Tuesday.
It was not a suggestion which any of them seemed willing to countenance.
Instead, over the course of more than three hours, a series of unelected and recently de-elected Conservative politicians revealed a long list people and institutions they blamed for the fact that their own brand of ‘Popular Conservatism’ had inexplicably proved to be quite so unpopular.
...
“I am sceptical of some of the suggestions that elections are always won from the centre ground”, Littlewood explained to his colleagues.
“The true challenge, of course, is to get whatever the centre is to move towards you.”
And with that intervention the task for the ‘Popular Conservatives’ became immediately clear.
Don’t worry about your ideas being unpopular. Don’t worry about the fact that you’ve just lost your seats in the biggest rejection of your party in its history.
Just keep offering the voters even more of what they just loudly told you they didn’t want, while lecturing them about how you were right all along.
What could possibly go wrong?
Full item https://bylinetimes.com/2024/07/10/popu ... el-farage/
The Information Commissioner’s Office wrote to the Conservatives after their candidate for London mayor, Susan Hall, sent out leaflets, prior to the election in May, which were designed to look like driving penalty notices.
It’s fascinating that almost no one in the Tory party realises that the primary reason they have been decimated is not because they were too centrist or too right wing, it’s because just about everyone thought they were incompetent!tabascoboy wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2024 8:07 am "Woke" is still all to blame
The Unpopular ‘Popular Conservatives’ Blame the Voters for Their Own Defeat
Now is not the time for blame”, the Conservative activist and journalist Annunziata Rees-Mogg suggested to her colleagues at the start of the ‘Popular Conservatism’ conference on Tuesday.
It was not a suggestion which any of them seemed willing to countenance.
Instead, over the course of more than three hours, a series of unelected and recently de-elected Conservative politicians revealed a long list people and institutions they blamed for the fact that their own brand of ‘Popular Conservatism’ had inexplicably proved to be quite so unpopular.
...
“I am sceptical of some of the suggestions that elections are always won from the centre ground”, Littlewood explained to his colleagues.
“The true challenge, of course, is to get whatever the centre is to move towards you.”
And with that intervention the task for the ‘Popular Conservatives’ became immediately clear.
Don’t worry about your ideas being unpopular. Don’t worry about the fact that you’ve just lost your seats in the biggest rejection of your party in its history.
Just keep offering the voters even more of what they just loudly told you they didn’t want, while lecturing them about how you were right all along.
What could possibly go wrong?
Full item https://bylinetimes.com/2024/07/10/popu ... el-farage/
The Lib Dems focusing on local politics probably means even more rampant nimbyism.Raggs wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2024 4:24 pm
I'm hoping the lib dems are going full force for their constituents, hold onto every seat they've gained. Labour will be judged on how they run the country more than anything else, LD need to focus on the local.
Talking of Tories with zero self knowledge, I saw this report of Liz Truss's attendance at the recent Spectator Party:Paddington Bear wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2024 4:20 pm
It’s fascinating that almost no one in the Tory party realises that the primary reason they have been decimated is not because they were too centrist or too right wing, it’s because just about everyone thought they were incompetent!
Only Hunt seems to have any grasp of that, and shock he bucked the local trends and held his seat. They have an absolute mountain to climb to get back into government, and a well run Lib Dems could genuinely overtake them in the South
Raggs wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2024 4:24 pm You do get them mentioning that they didn't do enough of something etc here and there, generally though it often leads into them thinking they weren't right wing enough etc. Don't think I've seen any of them suggest that the vip lanes for covid, and general incompetence were the issue though. Completely incapable of proper self reflection I suspect.
I'm hoping the lib dems are going full force for their constituents, hold onto every seat they've gained. Labour will be judged on how they run the country more than anything else, LD need to focus on the local.
Tichtheid wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2024 6:16 pmRaggs wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2024 4:24 pm You do get them mentioning that they didn't do enough of something etc here and there, generally though it often leads into them thinking they weren't right wing enough etc. Don't think I've seen any of them suggest that the vip lanes for covid, and general incompetence were the issue though. Completely incapable of proper self reflection I suspect.
I'm hoping the lib dems are going full force for their constituents, hold onto every seat they've gained. Labour will be judged on how they run the country more than anything else, LD need to focus on the local.
It usually take a wee while for a decent amount of research into what were the voters' reasons is published, but I'll be very surprised if along with the incompetence, another big factor will have been the corruption and the complete disdain some of them showed over the worst period most of us will have lived through during lockdown and the pandemic in general.
All things are relative, & for a generation who've know nothing but QE & zero interest rates, & who've watching their real terms salary in decline since 2008, it certainly feels like sky high levels !Rhubarb & Custard wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2024 7:49 pm worth keeping in mind mortgage rates are hardly through the roof, historically they'd be on the low side.
Damn, another sarcasm meter brokenluckily I'm sure the banks haven't been lending irresponsibly, again. but at least this time it'll be the taxpayer exposed, some real change there
It's not about interest rate levels, it's about mortgage rate affordabilityRhubarb & Custard wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2024 8:41 pm For sure it's going to be a shock, indeed Labour and more importantly people and the economy will take a hit for the next few years from those looking to secure new mortgage deals moving onto higher rates, and the Tories will hit them for something they can't do much about, and it'll work. But still, the notion interest rates are especially high is risible
Not to forget tax relief and then MIRASfishfoodie wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2024 11:33 pmIt's not about interest rate levels, it's about mortgage rate affordabilityRhubarb & Custard wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2024 8:41 pm For sure it's going to be a shock, indeed Labour and more importantly people and the economy will take a hit for the next few years from those looking to secure new mortgage deals moving onto higher rates, and the Tories will hit them for something they can't do much about, and it'll work. But still, the notion interest rates are especially high is risible
While the headline rate is much less than it was in say the 70s/80s, the affordability is much, much worse than it was when rates were 3x/4x higher !
And that's before you even get into the availability of housing & how you pay to furnish it, or pay for your transport from your suburban dream into your work & feed yourself, & pay off your University loans ( that your parents never had), etc, etc.
If there was one lesson I took from my childhood, it was that debt was slavery.
And predictably the Tory simping press going with "Law and order breakdown in weeks!!!"lemonhead wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2024 10:28 pm Rates, water bills up, many thousands of hardened criminals needing immediate release back on the streets to avoid the criminal justice system going into meltdown...
Yeah. I can see, even if shortsighted, there were a few reasons for Sunak to roll the dice. Always going to get snake eyes in return, but we were robbed the headline of the law and order party opening the floodgates. B'stards.
That press has lost hugely. Starmer wasn't Blair reaching an agreement with Murdoch. The Tory's lack living voters who have benefited from their rule. Not sure it matters what they saytabascoboy wrote: Sat Jul 13, 2024 8:59 amAnd predictably the Tory simping press going with "Law and order breakdown in weeks!!!"lemonhead wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2024 10:28 pm Rates, water bills up, many thousands of hardened criminals needing immediate release back on the streets to avoid the criminal justice system going into meltdown...
Yeah. I can see, even if shortsighted, there were a few reasons for Sunak to roll the dice. Always going to get snake eyes in return, but we were robbed the headline of the law and order party opening the floodgates. B'stards.
All rather different points to whether mortgage rate are through the roof, and I'd still contend they're not, not even close if looking back over several decadesfishfoodie wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2024 11:33 pmIt's not about interest rate levels, it's about mortgage rate affordabilityRhubarb & Custard wrote: Fri Jul 12, 2024 8:41 pm For sure it's going to be a shock, indeed Labour and more importantly people and the economy will take a hit for the next few years from those looking to secure new mortgage deals moving onto higher rates, and the Tories will hit them for something they can't do much about, and it'll work. But still, the notion interest rates are especially high is risible
While the headline rate is much less than it was in say the 70s/80s, the affordability is much, much worse than it was when rates were 3x/4x higher !
And that's before you even get into the availability of housing & how you pay to furnish it, or pay for your transport from your suburban dream into your work & feed yourself, & pay off your University loans ( that your parents never had), etc, etc.
If there was one lesson I took from my childhood, it was that debt was slavery.
The thing that people tend to overlook about the 2030 thing and not enough chargers is that it's six years down the line. That will go quickly, but I have been driving EVs for seven years, and the charging landscape has changed dramatically. Back when I started, there were a couple of badly maintained Electric Highway chargers at selected service stations and the odd 3.5 or 7 kWh pumps dotted about the place. Nowadays, they are springing up all over the shop.epwc wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2024 12:23 pm Someone on here was whingeing about charger points:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/ar ... tallations
There's loads of chargers around now, if you look at the zap map website, and combine that with the podpoint one, you can see just how widespread they are. Basically any large Tesco will have one.Hal Jordan wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2024 12:33 pmThe thing that people tend to overlook about the 2030 thing and not enough chargers is that it's six years down the line. That will go quickly, but I have been driving EVs for seven years, and the charging landscape has changed dramatically. Back when I started, there were a couple of badly maintained Electric Highway chargers at selected service stations and the odd 3.5 or 7 kWh pumps dotted about the place. Nowadays, they are springing up all over the shop.epwc wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2024 12:23 pm Someone on here was whingeing about charger points:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/ar ... tallations
It's not perfect, but to say it will stand still for half a decade flies oh the face of the evidence.
The main problems we face are when the chargers or charging spaces are hogged. There's one at summerhall in Edinburgh (well, two, but one's bust) but of late a diesel work van is parked there pretty much all day. Edinburgh council have extended the time that someone is allowed to sit on the charger as well think it's now going to be 12 hours or something similar, so there's a few that are pretty much permanently tied up by someone dumptring their car on charge for the day.Raggs wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2024 12:45 pmThere's loads of chargers around now, if you look at the zap map website, and combine that with the podpoint one, you can see just how widespread they are. Basically any large Tesco will have one.Hal Jordan wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2024 12:33 pmThe thing that people tend to overlook about the 2030 thing and not enough chargers is that it's six years down the line. That will go quickly, but I have been driving EVs for seven years, and the charging landscape has changed dramatically. Back when I started, there were a couple of badly maintained Electric Highway chargers at selected service stations and the odd 3.5 or 7 kWh pumps dotted about the place. Nowadays, they are springing up all over the shop.epwc wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2024 12:23 pm Someone on here was whingeing about charger points:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/ar ... tallations
It's not perfect, but to say it will stand still for half a decade flies oh the face of the evidence.
We took our tiny old model renault zoe to a holiday (just getting us there and back), and just stopped in a tesco for a leisurely breakfast and that got us up there, and then had a lunch on the way back down. That's tiny battery, only 7kwh charge too. Always plenty of options around too. I can understand getting antsy when your range is only 60 miles, but even the cheap ones nowadays are generally 100 miles+
Sorry to hear this, mateshaggy wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2024 1:49 pm I stupidly took my EV down to Cornwall in a rush to see an old friend who was suddenly taken ill. Had to charge twice and missed him by about 20mins. Would have made it in an ICE.
EVs can be great, they can also be a fucking pain in the arse.
Sorry for your loss.shaggy wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2024 1:49 pm I stupidly took my EV down to Cornwall in a rush to see an old friend who was suddenly taken ill. Had to charge twice and missed him by about 20mins. Would have made it in an ICE.
EVs can be great, they can also be a fucking pain in the arse.