Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Community > MacNN Lounge > Political/War Lounge > The UK is F****d

The UK is F****d (Page 2)
Thread Tools
OreoCookie
Moderator
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Hilbert space
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 19, 2022, 09:58 PM
 
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
Yeah its weird. Patel is one of the worst human beings in politics. A truly awful woman.
Why didn't she get further in the competition to succeed Johnson? Was she too mired in scandal even for the Tories?
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
White supremacy is definitely at play here but its not a term anyone is using. We think of it more as an American or Nazi German thing somehow. Here its framed as British superiority or patriotism, but white superiority is what they always mean.
I'm reminded of that every time I apply for a position in the UK. It is super weird: I'm not just white, I am white (other) as opposed to white (Irish) or white (British). In Germany you are never asked about your ethnic heritage/skin color, I'm fairly certain that'd be flat out illegal. I wonder what category my kids will fit in (Japanese and German) …
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
She was very popular for a long time. She won a war in some style and crushed the miners mercilessly which pleased the upper classes.
Winning a war (against the naval super power Argentina) certainly is a boost to a fragile ego, I reckon.
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
Yes. Our trains are shit. And preposterously expensive. If theres two of you travelling, its always cheaper to drive unless you have some sort of railcard that you've already paid for. Which aren't all that common outside London. Because the trains are shit.
As a small aside, just understanding the pricing is very hard. I'm not stupid, but last time I traveled a colleague told me it should cost x to get from London to Loughborough, but the machine told me a ticket is 2x. I had to go to the actual ticket counter to get a ticked for x.
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
The problem we have unlike the US where the RW media is a laughable niche for the most part (CNNs recent random flip aside). In the UK most of our press (I have no idea why newspapers are still so influential but they are despite being so absolutely shit) belongs to RW billionaires who don't even live here but have been propping up the Tories for decades. They are completely co-ordinated with the current government and sadly the BBC has finally been nobbled by them as well so the onslaught of RW propaganda is just astonishing.
As far as I was able to follow, the BBC's attempt to stay neutral was interpreted as them being infested and controlled by “left wing people” (I am not sure whether British politicians use the expression “left wing extremists”).
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
Labour can't even announce policies because th Tories will make up really transparently fake spin about them and then have their media lapdogs just mercilessly eviscerate them for the next two years. And it will work.
I noticed this when the recent election results were discussed. The news overhyped “how badly Labour had performed” and did not explain well what actually happened: Labour did well in terms of absolute votes, but lost seats because of Britain's first-pass-the-post voting system.
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
I don't really credit them for torching Johnson. It was several years and countless scandals and unacceptable behaviours too late. In the 90s he'd have resigned 50 times during his time in office. Thats not even an exaggeration. He learned shamelessness from Trump.
I think this is really something that many politicians are trying to copy, with varied success, but still, some succeed.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
Waragainstsleep  (op)
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: UK
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 21, 2022, 04:31 AM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
Why didn't she get further in the competition to succeed Johnson? Was she too mired in scandal even for the Tories?
Did she even run? I assume she just didn't have enough friends to get anywhere. The whole thing reeked of a high school popularity contest.


I'm reminded of that every time I apply for a position in the UK. It is super weird: I'm not just white, I am white (other) as opposed to white (Irish) or white (British). In Germany you are never asked about your ethnic heritage/skin color, I'm fairly certain that'd be flat out illegal. I wonder what category my kids will fit in (Japanese and German) …

Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
As far as I was able to follow, the BBC's attempt to stay neutral was interpreted as them being infested and controlled by “left wing people” (I am not sure whether British politicians use the expression “left wing extremists”).
This is just like in the US. If you aren't far enough to the right, you're a radical far left bleeding heart liberal. The BBC was tasked with being "fair and balanced" at all times and they interpreted this by having their presenters discuss the JWST with an Astronomer and an Astrologer.
That went on for some time but in recent times the Tories have installed a sycophant as commissioner and now any time they don't precisely toe the party line, they get accused of being left-biased by the Tory donor-owned press. Its preposterous.


Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
I noticed this when the recent election results were discussed. The news overhyped “how badly Labour had performed” and did not explain well what actually happened: Labour did well in terms of absolute votes, but lost seats because of Britain's first-pass-the-post voting system.
Good example of what I said just above. But only one example of many.


Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
I think this is really something that many politicians are trying to copy, with varied success, but still, some succeed.
I think it helps to be a soulless narcissist. Some of them still have the slightest fractions of a conscience and an occasional relationship with reality.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
Waragainstsleep  (op)
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: UK
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 3, 2022, 06:33 AM
 
So now our government is flagrantly trying to milk the taxpayer for every penny before they get booted out at the earliest opportunity. This even extends to blatant insider trading by conspiring with hedge funds so they can short the collapsing pound before the BoE spends a fortune propping it back up again.

These people need to be publicly executed and their heads put on spikes outside the Tory Party HQ as a reminder.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
OreoCookie
Moderator
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Hilbert space
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 14, 2022, 03:32 AM
 
How is the Sunak government faring so far? Is there going to be #4 soon? I haven't heard anything, so I guess that is a good thing?
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
Waragainstsleep  (op)
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: UK
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 14, 2022, 06:50 AM
 
Sunak seems to hide a lot. He didn't want to go to COP27, then he got flak for it so he went. One of his idiot minions went on the radio and said "He'd be damned if he went and damned if he didn't" which is is just idiotic but the BBC weren't about to point that out.

He's gearing up to raise taxes and slash spending which will infuriate everyone on both sides. Sunak will probably try to blame that on (chancellor) Hunt if it gets too fraught afterwards.

One idiot Tory MP (who got caught having an affair during lockdown) decided to go on a reality TV show while he's meant to be in parliament and got the whip removed. He has since had to eat a camel's penis been stung by a scorpion (that kind of reality show - sting not part of the script).

There is likely a whole bunch of scandal landmines in and around the cabinet and party just waiting to be detonated somehow or other. They he general strategy seems to be one of keeping heads down to avoid scandal and further controversy.

He has re-appointed a Home Secretary who is even worse than the last one after she was sacked for breaching security protocols and sending sensitive documents via gmail to someone's wife. Seems to have gotten away with that one though, press has just gotten used to her now.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
OreoCookie
Moderator
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Hilbert space
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 15, 2022, 04:03 AM
 
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
Sunak seems to hide a lot. He didn't want to go to COP27, then he got flak for it so he went. One of his idiot minions went on the radio and said "He'd be damned if he went and damned if he didn't" which is is just idiotic but the BBC weren't about to point that out.
Sounds like he is pulling a Merkel here. Merkel was an expert of staying out of the limelight, especially when there was conflict.
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
He's gearing up to raise taxes and slash spending which will infuriate everyone on both sides. Sunak will probably try to blame that on (chancellor) Hunt if it gets too fraught afterwards.
That seems like traditional (as opposed to neoliberal) conservative fiscal policy.
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
One idiot Tory MP (who got caught having an affair during lockdown) decided to go on a reality TV show while he's meant to be in parliament and got the whip removed. He has since had to eat a camel's penis been stung by a scorpion (that kind of reality show - sting not part of the script).
Reminds me of what the leader of the Liberal Democrats (Germany's version of the libertarian party) did a few years ago, he went on Big Brother. I don't think it helped his party at all, and I reckon he is glad that most forgot about it.
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
There is likely a whole bunch of scandal landmines in and around the cabinet and party just waiting to be detonated somehow or other. They he general strategy seems to be one of keeping heads down to avoid scandal and further controversy.
From what I read, it seems that Sunak is a shrewd politician. From the outside the Tories seem a splintered mess and it looks as if Sunak is counting on said landmines to take care of some people he had to include to make his intraparty coalition work. Smart. (Don't read that as me endorsing their policies, I'm just saying it looks to me as if he is actually a good politician.)
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
 
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:40 AM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,