General News Thread

[The Guvnor]

On 17/04/2026 at 20:22, Trav Le Bleu said:

It's pretty damning on the more established parties that they're still getting beaten by a party that has so far largely shown themselves as having no idea how to govern once in power.

The reason polls are changing so radically is surely obvious, if it isn’t , the Tories fcuked up, they did have covid to deal with but that didn’t go down well with the ridiculous contracts that were handed out (Due diligence) and Labour well! if your political persuasion is centre left must be a tad disappointed to say the least with Starmers leadership qualities  !

[leicsmac]

We're still three years away from a GE in any case. And if anything has been shown recently, it's that a lot can change in three years. Or less.

[Parafox]

20 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Paella v sauerkraut?

 

If I could find a vomit emoji...

[bovril]

Orban defeated in Hungary and a week later the rather Orban esque Radev elected in Bulgaria. 

[Super_horns]

Horrific news.

 

Poor kids.

 

RIP

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0q9v1p2dd2o

[Jon the Hat]

On 19/04/2026 at 02:00, Parafox said:

Do you think he's in politics for the good of the country without any self interest?

He may be. I don't think he is a bad person, but he is weak and unable to either explain what he wants to achieve, or to control his party or the narrative.  This means regardless of his good intentions he is a failing prime minister.  We can only hope Labour can find a replacement to do some good before we end up with god knows what at the next GE.

[CrazyKopCorner]

20 hours ago, The Guvnor said:

The reason polls are changing so radically is surely obvious, if it isn’t , the Tories fcuked up, they did have covid to deal with but that didn’t go down well with the ridiculous contracts that were handed out (Due diligence) and Labour well! if your political persuasion is centre left must be a tad disappointed to say the least with Starmers leadership qualities  !

Leadership qualities. 

 

FM we'd be better off with Captain Mainwaring at the helm. 

 

Super dud - Get him gone! 

[st albans fox]

It seems we have a scenario in the London area where people are being recruited online to attack buildings.  And the motivation is mainly financial.  The police mentioning a connection back to Iran must mean they’ve found something from those arrested thus far. 

[The Bear]

7.5 magnitude earthquake just hit off the east coast of Japan. Tsunami warnings in place already. 

 

 

[Sampson]

9 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

He may be. I don't think he is a bad person, but he is weak and unable to either explain what he wants to achieve, or to control his party or the narrative.  This means regardless of his good intentions he is a failing prime minister.  We can only hope Labour can find a replacement to do some good before we end up with god knows what at the next GE.

Labour’s problem is their manifesto was all about what they weren’t going to do - they weren’t going to raise taxes, they weren’t going to rejoin the European single market, they weren’t going to cut pensions and sort out the real albatross round the neck in the benefits system instead of asylum hotels or disability benefits, because it was all about defending themselves against the Tory attack line.

 

The problem is, with how we bounce from one crisis to another in the Age of Populism, 5 years in politics is a hell of a long time nowadays, much more than it was last time Labour were in government under Gordon Brown. now boxed themselves in and have now given themselves nothing to sell or any narrative to change that and they’ve boxed themselves off from many of the levers they could and should be using to respond to these crisis.

 

I don’t see how a change of leader changes that, the fact is they’ve already trapped themselves with an extremely park-the-bus style defensive manifesto. 
 

Given Trump and the war in Ukraine, a closer relationship to Europe and rejoining Europe economically while building a military alliance would be an easy narrative to tell for example, it widely popular in polls and would probably gain them quite a lot of voters from Greens and LibDems, but they’ve ruled that out already, so they can’t do it.
 

Given the rise in AI, proper regulation around AI to protect people’s jobs, mental health and well lives instead of this stupid growth at all costs strategy would probably be very popular, and would give an easy attack in Reform given how in bed they are with Trump and the tech oligarchs who want the safety nets around AI smashed, but they’ve already gone after this growth strategy where they were on about AI being the forefront of it.
 

To me, I don’t see what a leadership change really changes given the party has already trapped itself with its manifesto and would require a new general election to really be able to unshackle themselves from the disastrous 2024 manifesto to be able create a narrative to sell, and well… they aren’t going to call an election for 3 years given how behind they are in the polls. They’re just ultimately going to have to hold on and hope events take over in the next 3 years (which they probably will given how we have a new once in a lifetime global crisis every 6 months nowadays). 

Edited 20 April by Sampson

[Wymsey]

Christ..

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0q9v1p2dd2o

 

[SpacedX]

15 hours ago, bovril said:

Orban defeated in Hungary and a week later the rather Orban esque Radev elected in Bulgaria. 

Orbán built a decade-long system of confrontation with Brussels, backed by a disciplined party machine, deep networks across the European right and a sustained strategy of using veto power for leverage. Radev meanwhile enters in a very different setting. Bulgaria’s state capacity is much weaker and is far more dependent on EU funding. That matters because Bulgaria’s leaders have generally avoided theatrical clashes with Brussels for this reason.

 

Moscow welcomes the victory because Radev has historically opposed military aid to Ukraine and long cultivated a more accommodating conciliatory line towards Moscow than most EU leaders. So yes, he could still push Sofia away from the more clearly pro-Western orientation pursued by the current caretaker authorities and create more room for obstruction and strategic ambiguity at a time when the EU needs the opposite. But Orbán showed how a single leader can turn an EU member state into a durable source of internal disruption. Radev is likely to test a different model based upon selective divergence dressed up as pragmatism. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

JD Vance is headed to Pakistan for peace talks.

 

Expect war to break out again.

[kenny]

Im only reading the guradians ticker, but Starmer is getting hammered, even Thornberry is having a go.

[CrazyKopCorner]

Starmer is lying through his arse. 

 

A national disgrace 

Edited 20 April by CrazyKopCorner

[Trav Le Bleu]

11 minutes ago, CrazyKopCorner said:

Starmer is lying through is arse. 

 

A national disgrace 

He's a national leader. Seems to be on trend.

[leicsmac]

13 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

He's a national leader. Seems to be on trend.

Yep.

 

Hypocrisy appears to be another such trend among the commentariat, too.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Thinking about this...

 

Isn't it amazing how so many are calling for Starmer to resign, even in his own party, over the Mandelson appointment...

 

Compared to the lack of clamour in the US Senate given all the things Trump has done?

[Sampson]

1 minute ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Thinking about this...

 

Isn't it amazing how so many are calling for Starmer to resign, even in his own party, over the Mandelson appointment...

 

Compared to the lack of clamour in the US Senate given all the things Trump has done?

It’s because Trump’s party have become a cult of personality and he has papal infallibility where what he says *is* their party philosophy amongst his followers. Farage is the same, Reform MPs would just be saying what Farage says is our philosophy. I suspect Polanski could potentially do the same if he wanted.

[leicsmac]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c4g43y5g93yo

 

Well said, Mr Carney. 

[leicsmac]

Additionally, the concept of "Damnatio memoriae" (do look it up) is something interesting that would be most fitting for the current White House incumbent when the day comes that he finally falls from power. 

 

The man is obsessed with ego and legacy. Deliberately take away the latter in whatever way possible.

[davieG]

4 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Additionally, the concept of "Damnatio memoriae" (do look it up) is something interesting that would be most fitting for the current White House incumbent when the day comes that he finally falls from power. 

 

The man is obsessed with ego and legacy. Deliberately take away the latter in whatever way possible.

I doubt it will ever be erased from people's minds you'll need to wait until every living person who is aware has died.

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, davieG said:

I doubt it will ever be erased from people's minds you'll need to wait until every living person who is aware has died.

And digital data in this age can last virtually forever. 

 

So yes, it certainly isn't easy, or perhaps ever feasible. But the attempt certainly should be made. 

[davieG]

Just now, leicsmac said:

And digital data in this age can last virtually forever. 

 

So yes, it certainly isn't easy, or perhaps ever feasible. But the attempt certainly should be made. 

when can we start. 

[leicsmac]

Just now, davieG said:

when can we start. 

Hopefully soon, and the sooner the better.