General News Thread

[Innovindil]

Brings us back to the earlier discussion on canvassing too. If you live in Makerfield you are 100% getting some knocks on the door soon. 

[South Shire Fox]

Hopefully it will be Burnham. Probably the only Labour MP who actually gives off a PM vibe. Can only imagine how hard someone like Donald Trump would laugh if they made Wes Streeting PM 😂. Country would be a bigger laughing stock then it already is.

Edited 14 May by South Shire Fox

[NorthWalesFox]

If I was Farage I’d stand down as an MP in his seat, go up against Burnham in a by Election with a good chance of wining then tell the Guv to have General Election as the “public have spoken” 

 

I do love the political drama

[Lionator]

29 minutes ago, NorthWalesFox said:

Absolutely scenes when Burnham loses the by-election to reform 

Would be a teeny bit funny, but I can’t see it. He’s incredibly popular in the area. Would be a test however to see if people hate Labour or Starmer, because if you want Starmer gone, you vote for Burnham even as a Reform fan.

[leicsmac]

18 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

Don't think it is bulletproof, just seems the best available right now. You'd have to expect with the "our MP is gonna be PM" aspect they'd get enough votes for him there though. 

 

No, but it keeps life interesting I guess. 

We all have the privilege of living in very interesting times, that's for sure. 

 

2 minutes ago, South Shire Fox said:

Hopefully it will be Burnham. Probably the only Labour MP who actually gives off a PM vibe. Can only imagine how hard someone like Donald Trump would laugh if they made Wes Streeting PM 😂. Country would be a bigger laughing stock then it already is.

Presumably no more than the rest of the sane world laughs at Donald Trump (when they're not aghast at the very real harmful consequences he's engaging in), but yes, it must be Burnham, there's no other viable option. 

 

 

Just now, NorthWalesFox said:

If I was Farage I’d stand down as an MP in his seat, go up against Burnham in a by Election with a good chance of wining then tell the Guv to have General Election as the “public have spoken” 

 

I do love the political drama

I'll be honest, that scenario appears to belong more in a tv show than real life, but given how politics has become more and more facile and fastfoodin this social media society (ideal for apt con artists like Farage)...

[NorthWalesFox]

6 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Would be a teeny bit funny, but I can’t see it. He’s incredibly popular in the area. Would be a test however to see if people hate Labour or Starmer, because if you want Starmer gone, you vote for Burnham even as a Reform fan.

Yeah can see your logic there. I have no skin in the game with either party myself. 
 

there seems to be a lot of labour MPs who would want Burnham. I think he would easily win over Starmer in a leadership race

Edited 14 May by NorthWalesFox

[South Shire Fox]

2 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

We all have the privilege of living in very interesting times, that's for sure. 

 

Presumably no more than the rest of the sane world laughs at Donald Trump (when they're not aghast at the very real harmful consequences he's engaging in), but yes, it must be Burnham, there's no other viable option. 

 

 

I'll be honest, that scenario appears to belong more in a tv show than real life, but given how politics has become more and more facile and fastfoodin this social media society (ideal for apt con artists like Farage)...

They might laugh at him but he and the USA still command a lot of authority over the world. Wes Streeting and the UK certainly dont 😂

[Foxdiamond]

13 minutes ago, South Shire Fox said:

Hopefully it will be Burnham. Probably the only Labour MP who actually gives off a PM vibe. Can only imagine how hard someone like Donald Trump would laugh if they made Wes Streeting PM 😂. Country would be a bigger laughing stock then it already is.

I would guess Burnham will also be more popular among voters that get annoyed about the London bias

[leicsmac]

7 minutes ago, South Shire Fox said:

They might laugh at him but he and the USA still command a lot of authority over the world. Wes Streeting and the UK certainly dont 😂

Yeah, which is where some of the laughter gives way to fear and aghast, given the amount of power that man has and abuses, and the consequences that result.

 

I take him deadly seriously, for the most part.

[OntarioFox]

About time Restore stood a candidate in one of these - would be very interesting how many votes they cream off of Reform when they contest seats.

 

That's about all I'm clinging to as far as the next General Election goes: it would be very funny if we're spared PM Farage because the right does what the left normally does and tears itself apart over ideological purity. Bonus points if the wolves are kept at the door long enough to implement voting system change to kill off the chances of them ever getting a parliamentary majority.

 

Back to Burnham - he's popular in Manchester because he communicates the things his administration does. That alone would be night and day if he takes the PM's job and actually has a comms strategy, rather than just letting Labour take a battering from all corners and being ignored when they do something right.

[RowlattsFox]

Makes a mockery of a local MP doesn't it? Couldn't care less about the constituency or local needs. 

[Legend_in_blue]

A bizarre move by Streeting.  What's his endgame?  

[deep blue]

39 minutes ago, OntarioFox said:

About time Restore stood a candidate in one of these - would be very interesting how many votes they cream off of Reform when they contest seats.

 

That's about all I'm clinging to as far as the next General Election goes: it would be very funny if we're spared PM Farage because the right does what the left normally does and tears itself apart over ideological purity. Bonus points if the wolves are kept at the door long enough to implement voting system change to kill off the chances of them ever getting a parliamentary majority.

 

Back to Burnham - he's popular in Manchester because he communicates the things his administration does. That alone would be night and day if he takes the PM's job and actually has a comms strategy, rather than just letting Labour take a battering from all corners and being ignored when they do something right.

I've been similarly waiting for Restore to get their act together and split the mad populist vote, but they seem to  have gone very quiet.  Do you have any idea whether they're in a state that enables them to make a significant challenge in elections?

[st albans fox]

14 minutes ago, Legend_in_blue said:

A bizarre move by Streeting.  What's his endgame?  

Usually takes a high profile cabinet member to resign to sound the starting gun proper.  I assume he’s hoping that he’s ‘the final nail in starmer’s premiership coffin’ 

burnham looking like he’s going to find a way into Westminster helps. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

All this mad scramble for power would make me want to vote for them less.

[Footballwipe]

11 hours ago, deep blue said:

I've been similarly waiting for Restore to get their act together and split the mad populist vote, but they seem to  have gone very quiet.  Do you have any idea whether they're in a state that enables them to make a significant challenge in elections?

They won all of the seats they stood for in the elections just gone in Norfolk. Most of them absolutely battered the Reform candidates, as well. Nine county councillors and one district councillor.

 

The county council has an interactive map: https://elections.norfolk.gov.uk/ but as an example a couple of them basically got double the votes of Reform in second place.

 

It's a bit of an outlier tbh as they were branded as "Great Yarmouth First" which is under the Restore Britain banner, and they were all in and around Great Yarmouth, so it's not a true example of how they'll do really.

 

There's also the fact that these elections weren't even close, it wasn't about taking votes away from Reform, it's just that Great Yarmouth seem to want what went on in 1939-1945 to have been an abject failure on our part.

 

EDIT: Just browsing neighbouring divisions on that map, looks like Reform won seats by 31 and 122 votes as an example. I'm sure if Restore were standing in those, Reform would have two fewer seats now.

Edited 15 May by Footballwipe

[MonkeyTennis?]

10 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

All this mad scramble for power would make me want to vote for them less.

Oddly enough its such an unedifying shambles that I think Starmer has come out of this looking better than any of the alternatives (Appreciate that may not be the majority view!)

[Tommy G]

9 minutes ago, MonkeyTennis? said:

Oddly enough its such an unedifying shambles that I think Starmer has come out of this looking better than any of the alternatives (Appreciate that may not be the majority view!)

As much as I think KS is a blithering idiot, Angela Rayner as PM makes me want to go to the loo and empty my bowels repeatedly.  

[Trav Le Bleu]

14 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

As much as I think KS is a blithering idiot, Angela Rayner as PM makes me want to go to the loo and empty my balls repeatedly.  

Fixed

[Trav Le Bleu]

26 minutes ago, MonkeyTennis? said:

Oddly enough its such an unedifying shambles that I think Starmer has come out of this looking better than any of the alternatives (Appreciate that may not be the majority view!)

Yeah, it's a bit like hyenas circling a buffalo with a broken leg, waiting for it to fall.

[Raj]

Revealed: Newly-elected Reform councillor’s double life as an online porn star | LBC

 

[davieG]

Faisal Islam: Six things we now know about the UK economy in charts

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyprjddgj3o

[davieG]

I've noticed, rightly or wrongly that I've not seen a single Labour representative mention immigration/boat people when interviewed and trying to justify Starmer's or the Labour party's progress even though I believe it's dropped quite a lot relatively.

 

Are they scared of bringing into the public? Maybe they fear it may go up again or give more air time to Reform

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, Raj said:

Revealed: Newly-elected Reform councillor’s double life as an online porn star | LBC

 

Is it Suella?

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, Raj said:

Revealed: Newly-elected Reform councillor’s double life as an online porn star | LBC

 

Pornstar's Shame at Being Elected as Reform Candidate.