UK Politics & Brexit Discussion

[RandoEFC+]

Yep, really predatory stuff from the media. I hope she's able to sue them for harassment.

[Stan]

Media and paparazzi have no morals at all do they? 

It's not as if she's in the wrong or the one that cheated.

I saw a clip of an article from the Daily Mail (yes, I know) saying something along the lines of 'it was hard to tell her mood because of the oversized sunglasses'. Yes, one really does wonder what kind of mood someone will be in when they've seen their slimy cunt of a husband cheat on them and be exposed for the whole world to see. 

[Stan]

Positive news for Labour, winning the Batley & Spen by-election 

 

 

 

[RandoEFC+]

I've been following this very unpleasant by-election with some interest. It's been absolutely toxic, that horrid George Galloway strutting around with Laurence Fox and Steve Bannon while claiming to be the real party of the working class, claiming to have Batley and Spen's best interests at heart whilst running on a platform of "vote for me if you want to give Starmer a kicking" so obviously pursuing a national agenda, and stoking up anti-trans feeling in parts of the Muslim community, leading to the Labour candidate Kim Leadbeater, who I believe is a lesbian, being abused on the streets over LGBT+ "propaganda" being delivered in schools, and Labour activists getting attacked and egged on the streets. He's rounded it off by going full Trump and claiming he'll challenge the result of this by-election in the courts. Absolutely horrible man.

Somehow, Galloway pulled in 20%+ of the vote, most of which will have come from the 'left-wing', so it really is a great result for Kim Leadbeater and Labour to still get over the line. The Conservative candidate was pretty much invisible throughout the campaign, their approach seemed to be to let Galloway do their dirty work and it nearly came off. Maybe it would have if not for the Hancock affair, and it almost certainly would have if Labour didn't field such a strong and local candidate. A lot will be said by different Labour factions about what the victory and the narrow winning margin means for Starmer's leadership, but it ultimately has to go down as a pretty good success in the face of the Tory march in the North and Galloway's interference. By no means is he out of the woods in terms of getting Labour anywhere near where they should be again but you have to look to find a springboard when you get the opportunity. People will rightly point out that Labour deliberately decided to largely keep Starmer away from front line campaigning unlike Hartlepool, and by all accounts it was Labour's ground game and Leadbeater herself who turned the tide in the last few days, but overall, a win is a win and he has to be happy.

What's important after the campaigning on this occasion though, rather than the party politics and Galloway being a cunt, is that the candidate who was decent, showed great dignity in the midst of a toxic campaign and a genuine passion for serving her local area managed to win.

[Stan]

49 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

I've been following this very unpleasant by-election with some interest. It's been absolutely toxic, that horrid George Galloway strutting around with Laurence Fox and Steve Bannon while claiming to be the real party of the working class, claiming to have Batley and Spen's best interests at heart whilst running on a platform of "vote for me if you want to give Starmer a kicking" so obviously pursuing a national agenda, and stoking up anti-trans feeling in parts of the Muslim community, leading to the Labour candidate Kim Leadbeater, who I believe is a lesbian, being abused on the streets over LGBT+ "propaganda" being delivered in schools, and Labour activists getting attacked and egged on the streets. He's rounded it off by going full Trump and claiming he'll challenge the result of this by-election in the courts. Absolutely horrible man.

Somehow, Galloway pulled in 20%+ of the vote, most of which will have come from the 'left-wing', so it really is a great result for Kim Leadbeater and Labour to still get over the line. The Conservative candidate was pretty much invisible throughout the campaign, their approach seemed to be to let Galloway do their dirty work and it nearly came off. Maybe it would have if not for the Hancock affair, and it almost certainly would have if Labour didn't field such a strong and local candidate. A lot will be said by different Labour factions about what the victory and the narrow winning margin means for Starmer's leadership, but it ultimately has to go down as a pretty good success in the face of the Tory march in the North and Galloway's interference. By no means is he out of the woods in terms of getting Labour anywhere near where they should be again but you have to look to find a springboard when you get the opportunity. People will rightly point out that Labour deliberately decided to largely keep Starmer away from front line campaigning unlike Hartlepool, and by all accounts it was Labour's ground game and Leadbeater herself who turned the tide in the last few days, but overall, a win is a win and he has to be happy.

What's important after the campaigning on this occasion though, rather than the party politics and Galloway being a cunt, is that the candidate who was decent, showed great dignity in the midst of a toxic campaign and a genuine passion for serving her local area managed to win.

Agreed, especially with the last bit. She kept it civil and respectful and didn't stoop to the level of a quite repulsive individual. She's a great candidate anyway even aside from the Galloway stuff, but it just emphasises the kind of character she is to rise above the divisiveness that was attempted to be caused and it's paid off.  

[CaaC (John)+]

I am sure Galloway is a clone of Arthur Scargill. 

[RandoEFC+]

I think this is the first explicit 'attack' by one of the England players on Johnson/Patel.

In the culture war that the current crop of Tories have stoked over the past few years, this England side are potentially the biggest problem for them yet. You saw the roots of it with Marcus Rashford last year. I don't know if it's social media or something else but the tabloids can no longer cut these lads down to size. In Sterling, Rashford, Mings et al you have a genuine crop of influential role models from working class backgrounds with a massive platform to speak independently. 

I think Tyrone Mings is well within his rights here. I just wonder how far this will go in the fallout from the tournament but Johnson and Patel both made comments at the start of the tournament refusing to condemn the fans booing the taking of the knee and now they're being called out for it. Could be difficult for them in the coming weeks if the dressing room has harboured a real anger about those comments. 

Some Tory MP had a WhatsApp message leaked last night sort of chuckling at Rashford and how he should have perfected his game instead of playing politics. She has since apologised but it goes to show just how frightened some of them are of this England side. The mask slipped and underneath was a bit of relief that someone like Rashford could become an even bigger hero and wield even more power in the public space than he did when he repeatedly forced the government's hand on free school meals during the pandemic.

I'll be watching with interest. We'll certainly be hearing a lot over the next few weeks about how footballers should stay out of politics if we see many more comments like this, but I think these lads are genuinely passionate about seeing positive change in the country and I don't think even the cult of Boris Johnson is stronger than the affection the country feels towards Southgate and this squad at the moment.

[Stan]

Cummings really is digging his proverbial heels in to Johnson with that interview with Kuenssberg.

[RandoEFC+]

I haven't watched the interview and I'm not going to because I can see the bullet points filtering through on Twitter.

I don't know what he wants. He's basically publicly admitting that everything bad people ever said about him is true. And for what? He's probably amongst the top few most infamous people in the country. Does he think he's damaging Johnson? Nobody cares what he has to say. They basically already know and either don't care or just stick their head in the sand because of their blind loyalty to "Boris"/Brexit/the Tories for reasons that I simply can't understand. 

People don't care about Johnson's carelessness and lying because they knew about it when they voted for him. What cuts through is the "one rule for them" stuff like Barnard Castle, the exams postcode lottery and the stupid pilot scheme thing at the weekend. If anything Cummings helps Johnson's cause because nobody likes him. I despise Johnson and his cabinet and even I find Cummings possibly even more distasteful because he's a charmless, shameless weasel who has always had a massive chip on his shoulder and a very obvious complex about being the smartest person in the room.

[Stan]

I know he's totally irrelevant now but it is very, very satisfying to see Tommy Robinson have to fork out £100k in damages to a Syrian refugee following his court case today. 

[Stan]

UK politicians, everyone... 

Usually would be surprised. Not any more. 

 

[Rucksackfranzose]

3 hours ago, Stan said:

UK politicians, everyone... 

Usually would be surprised. Not any more. 

 

Also could have said: " I met a non-white sportsman once!" Think the only reason he didn't was not to offend the auditory.

[RandoEFC+]

Williamson is an absolutely horrifically disaster who is broadly despised and derided by everyone from the teaching unions to Conservative party members. The worst man you could have in charge of education in a time like the one we've been through. It's not like any of this wasn't known before he was appointed either. He was fired from Theresa May's cabinet for leaking information while he was the minister for defence mere weeks before Johnson became Prime Minister.

None of this is a surprise. He's an absolutely dim man.

[Tommy]

lol

[RandoEFC+]

very good

 

[Azeem]

So if UK one day decides to have a poll to join the EU it would be Brexin?

[Waylander]

What's the fuel availability like near you?

My way is absolute madness with major queues and roads getting blocked.

I'm in South London.

[Stan]

45 minutes ago, Waylander said:

What's the fuel availability like near you?

My way is absolute madness with major queues and roads getting blocked.

I'm in South London.

Yesterday was okay with some queues around most places. 

Woke up to go shopping this morning and the Morrisons petrol station near us has actually shut. Probably waiting for delivery. 

 

It's the media that have scaremongered and influenced all this though. Claiming its a fuel shortage everywhere when 1) its a BP thing and 2) it's a driver shortage. 

The public are far too spun about what media say, controlled pretty much. If everyone DOESN'T panic buy, there's enough for everyone to go round and people can remain calm. But people get far too flustered way too easily and feel like they'll miss out, therefore causing this chaos and uproar. 

[Waylander]

I didn't know anything about it until 9ish am when my local road was blocked up and then realised it was the garage.

Last night drove around all garages - no fuel signs everywhere (8 garages) except the one I saw earlier and the road was still blocked. It is an access road for a hospital, a little surprised no police around.

 

 

[Honey Honey]

19 hours ago, Waylander said:

 

Last night drove around all garages - no fuel signs everywhere (8 garages) except the one I saw earlier and the road was still blocked. It is an access road for a hospital, a little surprised no police around.

 

 

Did you actually need fuel or are you part of the problem? 

[Waylander]

No was going to fill up on Friday only to find the roads snarled up, knew nothing of the shortage until on my way home saw the second garage was closed, no fuel. Then realised.

So only been out one evening and am now below a 1/4 tank guess bordering on the red zone. 

Will use the train a bit and then one morning arrive early to refuel. Normally only top up once a fortnight so was already low on Friday.

[Honey Honey]

Saw the car wash guys selling petrol by the cannister  

Clearly bought loads last night to sell it on today. Entrepreneurs.

[Waylander]

42 minutes ago, The Premier Steve's said:

Saw the car wash guys selling petrol by the cannister  

Clearly bought loads last night to sell it on today. Entrepreneurs.

Not that surprised.

Same with a lot of the boat people coming from Africa - entrepreneurs or literally risk takers.

Edited September 26, 2021 by Waylander

[Bluewolf]

[Guest]

I'm not panicking with feul. I've heard this before. If feul runs out it's a great excuse to get out of work