UK General Discussion:The Rt. Hon Alex Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, Populist Hero

[Suburbia]

Can we not have this thread littered with illiterate US "hot takes" please.

Sure. But always remember that white privilege is global and American and British culture is fairly similar.....period...

[afleitch]

Can we not have this thread littered with illiterate US "hot takes" please.

Sure. But always remember that white privilege is global and American and British culture is fairly similar.....period...

(Laughs in American husband)

[Meclazine for Israel]

Another woman walking home in London alone. Another murder.

This time an Albanian migrant with a 2 foot weapon, whatever that means (sword?).

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-58748885

This is simply bordering on ridiculousness. At the very least, the U.K. has good CCTV, but social conditions must be pretty poor for this to be happening so often.

[gerritcole]

Labour needs a populist from the red now blue wall to hold millwall and make in roads in sin feeiiinn and Scotland, the Picts are formidable

[Blair]

To paraphrase William Hague, there's so little English in Bronz takes that even Jacques Chirac might understand it.

[CumbrianLefty]

I thought that Bronz was a green avatar?

[Blair]

When did the trend start of people in British Politics spending too much time at looking at individual opinion polls?

I feel that after 2015 & to an extend 2017 we came very close to reconsidering how voter intention polling shapes our politics- but people still love that drug.

It seems to have now crossed over into council by-elections; where every result is just used to reconfirm peoples prior assumptions.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

When did the trend start of people in British Politics spending too much time at looking at individual opinion polls?

I feel that after 2015 & to an extend 2017 we came very close to reconsidering how voter intention polling shapes our politics- but people still love that drug.

Considering how bad our polling industry is (they've ballsed up three General Elections out of the last four!) it's honestly quite amazing by this point. And that's when people are paying attention to politics... I mean, it is not really even clear exactly what it is that off-season polls even actually measure.

I mean, they're worth monitoring as there's nothing else. And maybe the odd one every now and again will be worth commenting on, usually for a very brief laugh. But in non-VI questions are more useful.

It seems to have now crossed over into council by-elections; where every result is just used to reconfirm peoples prior assumptions.

Particularly hysterical when you look at the turnouts for those things lmao.

[CumbrianLefty]

Will admit to always finding local byelections interesting tbh, despite the (usual) turnouts.

Still miss the summaries that used to be posted on here until the last GE.

And FWIW the trend regarding them is pretty clear too - Tories strong in July, average in August, poor in September. Labour still only getting the sporadic *good* result, but seem to be off their floor - they even managed to (just) hold a seat in Sunderland last week

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The Met is a very good example of how the strange centralisation in this country has toxic effects on institutions; essentially it plays two roles - as the local police force for the city and a national force for, say, anti terrorism and so on; leading to a confused system of accountability (given both the Mayor and the government have control) and a weird, arrogant attitude in its rank and file. Tbh it's almost premodern how an institution designed for local public safety in the capital has gradually usurped so much responsibility they have a giant and unfocused national mandate.

[afleitch]

https://mobile.twitter.com/ConnorGillies/status/1444351098438000651

[afleitch]

Mod note:

Bronz; sh-tty takes don't violate forum rules, but they still suck. If you want an answer to something painfully obvious, Google is your friend.

[YL]

Will admit to always finding local byelections interesting tbh, despite the (usual) turnouts.

Still miss the summaries that used to be posted on here until the last GE.

And FWIW the trend regarding them is pretty clear too - Tories strong in July, average in August, poor in September. Labour still only getting the sporadic *good* result, but seem to be off their floor - they even managed to (just) hold a seat in Sunderland last week

Both Labour and the Tories are vulnerable to Lib Dem or Green surges caused by effective campaigning in not obviously promising wards.  Of course this has often been the case to some extent, especially with the Lib Dems, but it seems to be happening a lot at the moment.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Turnouts in local by-elections seem to be - on average - even lower than they used to be, which means that turning up in a ward with an intensive campaign based around this or that (often completely manufactured) local issue will be even more effective than normal.

[Blair]

What are people’s thoughts on the latest attempts to spin the recent shortages as simply being part of the Governments plan to actually boost wages?

They seem to be enjoying saying they’re the party of high wages while Labour just want immigration to fix it.

[EastAnglianLefty]

It's a strategy that will collapse when it meets the first strike ballot over pay in the NHS.

Also enjoy the media claiming that the Tories intervening in things is going left on economics, but the Tories refusing to intervene and that business needs to fix problems itself is also going left on economics. So much 'analysis' is completely untethered from reality.

[Blair]

This is the type of thing a Government high on its own supply does.

https://mobile.twitter.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/status/1445686422569029633

[Blair]

It’s v interesting how much the coverage differs between Tory and Labour conference.

[TheTide]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58814271

With Gavin Williamson having been sacked, this plonker is now the most reliable member of the government for making astounding gaffes.

[CumbrianLefty]

It’s v interesting how much the coverage differs between Tory and Labour conference.

Indeed, but that is partly down to the differing nature of the two events.

Johnson's speech today though - strikingly empty?

Certainly no big "rabbit out of the hat", despite that being widely trailed.

[EastAnglianLefty]

The Tory line is to insist that everything is going to plan, so they don't need to do anything. The more that things go wrong, the less effective a strategy it is to claim that you planned for this to happen, so there's a pretty obvious down-side risk there.

[afleitch]

It’s v interesting how much the coverage differs between Tory and Labour conference.

Indeed, but that is partly down to the differing nature of the two events.

Johnson's speech today though - strikingly empty?

Certainly no big "rabbit out of the hat", despite that being widely trailed.

The difference being Boris is happy to bang on about 'redistributing wealth' despite it being a con, but such words would never leave Starmer's month even if he intends to do it.

Labour has a wonk when it needs bluster.

[Alcibiades]

Trying to take off my partisan hat here, but is it just me or is this conference one of the most sh*tshowy in recent memory? The messaging has been utterly all-over-the-place with several ministers dropping absolute clangers (Javid forgetting he’s the Health Secretary and not the Chancellor and spending his entire speech talking about shifting responsibility from the state to communities and families particularly comes to mind), and of course the head-in-the-sand attitude to shortages.

But, as Blair points out, the media doesn’t really seem to be picking up on this, despite the Torygraph and the Mail having somewhat turned on the government in recent weeks.

[EastAnglianLefty]

I think there's just an assumption that substance and coherence are boring. Which is partly a consequence of the Tories always getting a slightly easier ride from the press given that most of it leans right of centre, but a lot of it is about the press corps being in awe of Johnson himself, in a way that the rest of the country isn't really.

[Suburbia]

The gloomy British economy could sink Johnson---I mean, when you have Gary Neville of all people sounding the alarm, it shows that Johnson better get the economy going, NOW.

Maybe they should stop bashing Marcus Rashford and start praising him for helping hungry commoners and look at the parasitic British Royals....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LwUgsRtSQA