UK General Discussion: The Toolmaker's Son.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

At least one prominent Tory (former Cabinet member Rob Buckland) has been campaigning for Harris.

Buckland's concession speech on election night was quite the glorious display of drunken truth-telling.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Alex Cole-Hamilton is not delusional enough to believe that Americans will know who he is. He is just volunteering as a run of the mill volunteer whilst on holiday.

This might be hypocritical of me to say as a non-american who once volunteered for a US political campaign but it's weird to be doing this as an actual political.

[Zinneke]

Alex Cole-Hamilton is not delusional enough to believe that Americans will know who he is. He is just volunteering as a run of the mill volunteer whilst on holiday.

This might be hypocritical of me to say as a non-american who once volunteered for a US political campaign but it's weird to be doing this as an actual political.

Not really, it's super common for European politicians to want to join any American campaign to see how it's done, mostly because the methods are inevitably more advanced given the money involved, and a lot of European politicians, English-Speaking ones in particular, are now simply very influenced by what goes on there, which is a real problem that increasingly leads to shoddy importing of certain political trends from the US. Hell even France has gone crazy over "woke" without even translating the term.

I'm also always shocked how millennial European Parliament politicos, even post-Brexit, love the West Wing for some reason. Especially when you have the UK actually producing much more subtle political dramas and satires.

[CumbrianLefty]

There really is a "long read" waiting to be written about The West Wing and the almost insane effect it has had on such a wide swathe of our political/media class across the developed world.

[Conservatopia]

Liz Truss is at CPAC Australia lmao.

She's unemployed so has nothing better to do I guess.

[Coldstream]

The West Wing is a great show, but it should be interpreted as a work of speculative/idealistic fiction.  Much like how the thick of it should be seen as a polemic, not something to aspire to, idiots missing the point of great shows doesn’t make them less great.

[Whale Psychiatrist]

I'm a little late to it but this is one of the funniest things I've ever seen, she's a gift that keeps on giving

[CumbrianLefty]

The West Wing is a great show, but it should be interpreted as a work of speculative/idealistic fiction.  Much like how the thick of it should be seen as a polemic, not something to aspire to, idiots missing the point of great shows doesn’t make them less great.

But in practice you can't ignore such things. It wasn't intended that so many people would use The Thick Of It as an instruction manual rather than the opposite, but that is what has actually happened.

[Coldstream]

The West Wing is a great show, but it should be interpreted as a work of speculative/idealistic fiction.  Much like how the thick of it should be seen as a polemic, not something to aspire to, idiots missing the point of great shows doesn’t make them less great.

But in practice you can't ignore such things. It wasn't intended that so many people would use The Thick Of It as an instruction manual rather than the opposite, but that is what has actually happened.

If you’re stupid enough to not get that the thick of it isn’t meant to be instructive, you don’t deserve to be taken seriously.

[CumbrianLefty]

But there are such people, including at quite high levels.

Calling them "stupid", even if fully justifiable, doesn't alter that.

[Mike88]

Latest More in Common poll: 29-28-19-11-7

[CumbrianLefty]

Its their usual poll-cum-prediction. Which doesn't make it wrong of course, but is still worth recalling.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

There have been a few polls by a different firms recently and though they agree on certain details, they don't on the rest. But at this stage in a parliament they really are all just points on a graph, not worth bothering much with.

[K.W.R.A.E. 8647]

The government confirms Walney is no longer serving in his prior capacity. While I doubt leadership will take any major steps to reverse decisions that were made on his counsel (since 'bad faith arms lobbyist who theatrically left Labour during the Corbyn era' is like a caricature of Keir's target audience) it's a small improvement.

[MaxQue]

The government confirms Walney is no longer serving in his prior capacity. While I doubt leadership will take any major steps to reverse decisions that were made on his counsel (since 'bad faith arms lobbyist who theatrically left Labour during the Corbyn era' is like a caricature of Keir's target audience) it's a small improvement.

Who is Walney? The only Walney I know is the island. Please don't tell someone gave a title to the mediocre former MP.

[K.W.R.A.E. 8647]

The government confirms Walney is no longer serving in his prior capacity. While I doubt leadership will take any major steps to reverse decisions that were made on his counsel (since 'bad faith arms lobbyist who theatrically left Labour during the Corbyn era' is like a caricature of Keir's target audience) it's a small improvement.

Who is Walney? The only Walney I know is the island. Please don't tell someone gave a title to the mediocre former MP.

This is John Woodcock, former Labour MP for Barrow and Furness who was rewarded by Johnson for his support with a life peerage. Mostly notable for allegedly sending inappropriate text messages before his "noble" resignation from the party, supporting the Saudi genocide in Yemen, and representing the oil and arms lobby (coincidentally advising the previous Conservative government to ban organizations protesting the oil and arms lobby.)

[Tokugawa Sexgod Ieyasu]

The government confirms Walney is no longer serving in his prior capacity. While I doubt leadership will take any major steps to reverse decisions that were made on his counsel (since 'bad faith arms lobbyist who theatrically left Labour during the Corbyn era' is like a caricature of Keir's target audience) it's a small improvement.

Who is Walney? The only Walney I know is the island. Please don't tell someone gave a title to the mediocre former MP.

This is John Woodcock, former Labour MP for Barrow and Furness who was rewarded by Johnson for his support with a life peerage. Mostly notable for allegedly sending inappropriate text messages before his "noble" resignation from the party, supporting the Saudi genocide in Yemen, and representing the oil and arms lobby (coincidentally advising the previous Conservative government to ban organizations protesting the oil and arms lobby.)

What, exactly, had he been doing for Starmer?

[K.W.R.A.E. 8647]

The government confirms Walney is no longer serving in his prior capacity. While I doubt leadership will take any major steps to reverse decisions that were made on his counsel (since 'bad faith arms lobbyist who theatrically left Labour during the Corbyn era' is like a caricature of Keir's target audience) it's a small improvement.

Who is Walney? The only Walney I know is the island. Please don't tell someone gave a title to the mediocre former MP.

This is John Woodcock, former Labour MP for Barrow and Furness who was rewarded by Johnson for his support with a life peerage. Mostly notable for allegedly sending inappropriate text messages before his "noble" resignation from the party, supporting the Saudi genocide in Yemen, and representing the oil and arms lobby (coincidentally advising the previous Conservative government to ban organizations protesting the oil and arms lobby.)

What, exactly, had he been doing for Starmer?

Unclear, but the Home Office has now retracted their announcement and said that he "remains in post." https://bylinetimes.com/2024/10/08/keir-starmer-lord-walney-anti-extremism-left-office-adviser/

[EastAnglianLefty]

The government confirms Walney is no longer serving in his prior capacity. While I doubt leadership will take any major steps to reverse decisions that were made on his counsel (since 'bad faith arms lobbyist who theatrically left Labour during the Corbyn era' is like a caricature of Keir's target audience) it's a small improvement.

Who is Walney? The only Walney I know is the island. Please don't tell someone gave a title to the mediocre former MP.

This is John Woodcock, former Labour MP for Barrow and Furness who was rewarded by Johnson for his support with a life peerage. Mostly notable for allegedly sending inappropriate text messages before his "noble" resignation from the party, supporting the Saudi genocide in Yemen, and representing the oil and arms lobby (coincidentally advising the previous Conservative government to ban organizations protesting the oil and arms lobby.)

What, exactly, had he been doing for Starmer?

He was appointed by the previous government rather than Starmer, with the remit of reporting on extremism.

[CumbrianLefty]

"With the remit of reporting on extremism in the way they wanted" would be a still better description.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Starmer Says No

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DA3D3DasKcw/

Glad he told her to shut up.

[CumbrianLefty]

The government confirms Walney is no longer serving in his prior capacity. While I doubt leadership will take any major steps to reverse decisions that were made on his counsel (since 'bad faith arms lobbyist who theatrically left Labour during the Corbyn era' is like a caricature of Keir's target audience) it's a small improvement.

Who is Walney? The only Walney I know is the island. Please don't tell someone gave a title to the mediocre former MP.

This is John Woodcock, former Labour MP for Barrow and Furness who was rewarded by Johnson for his support with a life peerage. Mostly notable for allegedly sending inappropriate text messages before his "noble" resignation from the party, supporting the Saudi genocide in Yemen, and representing the oil and arms lobby (coincidentally advising the previous Conservative government to ban organizations protesting the oil and arms lobby.)

He really wasn't *that* bad to start with, indeed he was tipped for big things when first elected as an MP in 2010. But as with a few others on the Labour right, Corbyn's rise to prominence broke his brain.

[K.W.R.A.E. 8647]

The government confirms Walney is no longer serving in his prior capacity. While I doubt leadership will take any major steps to reverse decisions that were made on his counsel (since 'bad faith arms lobbyist who theatrically left Labour during the Corbyn era' is like a caricature of Keir's target audience) it's a small improvement.

Who is Walney? The only Walney I know is the island. Please don't tell someone gave a title to the mediocre former MP.

This is John Woodcock, former Labour MP for Barrow and Furness who was rewarded by Johnson for his support with a life peerage. Mostly notable for allegedly sending inappropriate text messages before his "noble" resignation from the party, supporting the Saudi genocide in Yemen, and representing the oil and arms lobby (coincidentally advising the previous Conservative government to ban organizations protesting the oil and arms lobby.)

He really wasn't *that* bad to start with, indeed he was tipped for big things when first elected as an MP in 2010. But as with a few others on the Labour right, Corbyn's rise to prominence broke his brain.

I think in this specific case, the party investigation into his inappropriate behavior gave him the impetus to jump the shark.

[CumbrianLefty]

The government confirms Walney is no longer serving in his prior capacity. While I doubt leadership will take any major steps to reverse decisions that were made on his counsel (since 'bad faith arms lobbyist who theatrically left Labour during the Corbyn era' is like a caricature of Keir's target audience) it's a small improvement.

Who is Walney? The only Walney I know is the island. Please don't tell someone gave a title to the mediocre former MP.

This is John Woodcock, former Labour MP for Barrow and Furness who was rewarded by Johnson for his support with a life peerage. Mostly notable for allegedly sending inappropriate text messages before his "noble" resignation from the party, supporting the Saudi genocide in Yemen, and representing the oil and arms lobby (coincidentally advising the previous Conservative government to ban organizations protesting the oil and arms lobby.)

He really wasn't *that* bad to start with, indeed he was tipped for big things when first elected as an MP in 2010. But as with a few others on the Labour right, Corbyn's rise to prominence broke his brain.

I think in this specific case, the party investigation into his inappropriate behavior gave him the impetus to jump the shark.

That still remains unresolved one way or the other.

(as with a few other prominent cases around that time)

[MyLifeIsYours 🇵🇸 🇨🇩 🇸🇩]

Starmer Says No

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DA3D3DasKcw/

Glad he told her to shut up.

Starmer is the lunatic who is funding the genocidal assault on the Middle East. Sultana needs to leave the Labour Party and join the Independents. Labour currently has no intention of sticking up for the marginalized people.