UK By-elections thread, 2021-

[Zinneke]

https://twitter.com/peterwalker99/status/1405815393806163970
A bit overconfident

The video of Davey breaking it down feels Ianuccian...

https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1405819754493976577

[Zinneke]

I've had it up to here with people calling south Buckinghamshire "progressive." The Guardian recently alluded to it being "bourgeois bohemian."
Somewhere doesn't vote over 50% Tory in 2001 if it's progressive!

Tbf this seems like the kind of place that changes landscape fairly quickly in 20 years. Maybe in another 20 years, with HS2 and better train infrastructure in general, and in a world where Corona doesn't happen and put the brakes on London's overpopulation, this place would look a lot more progressive.

[Zinneke]

Are people there really bothered with politics this time of year, with the sun out, England just beat Germany, saturation of media...loads of factors point to a low turn out, activist head count despite the considerable hype the media has tried to drum up for Galloway and the end of Starmer.

[Zinneke]

Galloway has every right to be furious.

This is not a good result for him. His previous iteration (well, one of many of them) would have easily won this seat. He was attempting the same message and innuendo as in Bradford West (some of which was identical) but it was less factional and sectarian and more conspiratorial. Remember he's spent most of the past year running the Alliance For Unity anti-SNP shtick which is nothing more than an online fringe. He was still seeking 'strokes' from that twitter audience. Outside of the Respect brand he's increasingly out of touch with the communities he used to appeal to.

I don't think he's furious. I think he's challenging the result so that he can stay in the limelight and continue to scam low info acolytes for his cause. He is there solely to monopolise attention and he succeeded for a while. I mean, the last election he stood in he was a footnote, and the last by-election even more so. This felt like Bradford West 2.0 in terms of exposure to his brand by the media.

[Zinneke]

Galloway has every right to be furious.

This is not a good result for him. His previous iteration (well, one of many of them) would have easily won this seat. He was attempting the same message and innuendo as in Bradford West (some of which was identical) but it was less factional and sectarian and more conspiratorial. Remember he's spent most of the past year running the Alliance For Unity anti-SNP shtick which is nothing more than an online fringe. He was still seeking 'strokes' from that twitter audience. Outside of the Respect brand he's increasingly out of touch with the communities he used to appeal to.

I don't think he's furious. I think he's challenging the result so that he can stay in the limelight and continue to scam low info acolytes for his cause. He is there solely to monopolise attention and he succeeded for a while. I mean, the last election he stood in he was a footnote, and the last by-election even more so. This felt like Bradford West 2.0 in terms of exposure to his brand by the media.

He doesn't have a consistent brand anymore. That's his issue. He has a style and we certainly saw that, but there are too many plates spinning now in which he's trying to court both the Muslim vote in north of England towns at election time but a viscerally anti-Muslim, reactionary online right that generates his clicks and likes, anti-SNP unionist idpol folks and the Greenwaldian 'left' when it's not election time.

It can't win him elections. Which is what he really wants.

I doubt he was expecting it though. He achieved his primary goal, which was boosting his brand. Winning would have been an added bonus. Surely even an ego like his realised this was an uphill battle.

[Zinneke]

Galloway has every right to be furious.

This is not a good result for him. His previous iteration (well, one of many of them) would have easily won this seat. He was attempting the same message and innuendo as in Bradford West (some of which was identical) but it was less factional and sectarian and more conspiratorial. Remember he's spent most of the past year running the Alliance For Unity anti-SNP shtick which is nothing more than an online fringe. He was still seeking 'strokes' from that twitter audience. Outside of the Respect brand he's increasingly out of touch with the communities he used to appeal to.

I don't think he's furious. I think he's challenging the result so that he can stay in the limelight and continue to scam low info acolytes for his cause. He is there solely to monopolise attention and he succeeded for a while. I mean, the last election he stood in he was a footnote, and the last by-election even more so. This felt like Bradford West 2.0 in terms of exposure to his brand by the media.

He doesn't have a consistent brand anymore. That's his issue. He has a style and we certainly saw that, but there are too many plates spinning now in which he's trying to court both the Muslim vote in north of England towns at election time but a viscerally anti-Muslim, reactionary online right that generates his clicks and likes, anti-SNP unionist idpol folks and the Greenwaldian 'left' when it's not election time.

It can't win him elections. Which is what he really wants.

I doubt he was expecting it though. He achieved his primary goal, which was boosting his brand. Winning would have been an added bonus. Surely even an ego like his realised this was an uphill battle.

I mean his life is pretty sad, travelling from constituency to constituency spreading hatred and rumour mongering to various crowds. Consorting with anti-social cranks ranging from communists to Michael Gove. Haviing people steadily pay less attention to him and loosing the limelight he used to have.

He could comofortably retire on an MP's pension but countinued to publicaly humiliate himself because of his ego.

He didn't for two reasons. One is that he is one of those left-wingers that really likes money, and sees publicity as his way of getting it. And two, he seems to genuinely enjoy campaigning.

Come to think of it, these are probably the only two things he shares with Blair, not the "appeals to muslims and wwc" bollox.

[Zinneke]

Uxbridge is actually a helpful outlier because the Tories will now obsess over a niche issue which never usually works well for them.

https://twitter.com/LukeTryl/status/1682205393106227200

It will not be a niche issue if you replace ULEZ with any environmental policy I can think of that is likely to piss off the general public. Selling green politics in a cost of living crisis is going to be difficult for any politician. Especially when even Z-list celebs are making front pages with their lavish jet setting lifestyle while a boring suit tells you you can't afford your Ryanair ticket anymore.

(And yes I know that the Western proletariat is privileged in this regard, I am just saying that the big mistake Labour and the Western Left in general could make.is making these issues.

Political ecology will be far more difficult than some of the Left realise.

[Zinneke]

Umm yeah I think its valid to be pissed off if you invested in buying a Deisel car having been told by the men in white coats that it is "the future"...similar story for the mass purchasing of massive "hybrid" SUVs in urban areas I see that are dangerous to pedestrians, cyclists, etc! Especially in cities like Brussels that, colour me surprised, like most Medieval cities, are not designed for big cars, but the government insists on giving a huge subsidy to these behemoths because most of the Belgian political class live in the countryside manor.

I support ULEZ in European cities because cycling in Brussels will likely take a few years off my life, but I think the way Diesel car purchasers were shafted by the "hype of the moment" in the scientific community akin to the kind of drip drip bogus science articles you get in MSM every day justifies their anger at such policies too. Compensate the bastards and allocate the Diesel cars to people with less urban travel.

[Zinneke]

Who are all these scots invading the forum

[Zinneke]

Sunak should call a GE early just to spare us from this.

[Zinneke]

Sunak should call a GE early just to spare us from this.

why?

We've seen a Galloway show before. And it'll be extra-insufferable because of Israel-Palestine flaring up.