General News Thread

[Finnegan]

19 hours ago, Amin said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8r2l352z2do

 

Evidence that Russia is behind a number of online Far-right and Islamist groups that are stoking division in the UK and elsewhere. The article also details how Tommy Robinson is consciously using these Russian groups to further his agenda.  

 

I wish Labour would engage Farage on this front, to be honest. 

 

It's useless making passive aggressive digs at him or subtly implying he's racist or just challenging him on policy. His base won't care about any of that. 

 

Really attack him in language that will get an emotional response out of Reform supporters. Call him what he is, a traitor. 

 

His supporters like to think of themselves as patriotic Brits, point out how much Russia is the biggest most immediate threat to the UK and then point out how many times he's been on Russian state television, given speeches defending Putin and taken Russian money. He's been on the same TV channels that have threatened to nuke London, talking about how the UK should be friendlier to Moscow. 

 

Go on the offensive and crucify the judas ****. I don't care if you want to vote anti immigrant, I don't care if you want to vote conservative or right wing. Just don't vote for a ****ing traitor that'd happily work against this country for the benefit of Russia, Putin and anyone else that'll pay him. That's the message. 

 

Edited 15 hours ago by Finnegan

[bovril]

4 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

I wish Labour would engage Farage on this front, to be honest. 

 

It's useless making passive aggressive digs at him or subtly implying he's racist or just challenging him on policy. His base won't care about any of that. 

 

Really attack him in language that will get an emotional response out of Reform supporters. Call him what he is, a traitor. 

 

His supporters like to think of themselves as patriotic Brits, point out how much Russia is the biggest most immediate threat to the UK and then point out how many times he's been on Russian state television, given speeches defending Putin and taken Russian money. He's been on the same TV channels that have threatened to nuke London, talking about how the UK should be friendlier to Moscow. 

 

Go on the offensive and crucify the judas ****. I don't care if you want to vote anti immigrant, I don't care if you want to vote conservative or right wing. Just don't vote for a ****ing traitor that'd happily work against this country for the benefit of Russia, Putin and anyone else that'll pay him. That's the message. 

 

All this has been pointed out and discussed a not insignificant amount. The damage that Farage's policies have done to Britain are out in the open and he is still popular among great swathes of the population. He could win the election, crash the economy, increase immigration back to Boris era levels, then disband reform and start a new party complaining about those things and people would still vote for him. There isn't really much you can do at this point.

[Wymsey]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

 

I wish Labour would engage Farage on this front, to be honest. 

 

It's useless making passive aggressive digs at him or subtly implying he's racist or just challenging him on policy. His base won't care about any of that. 

 

Really attack him in language that will get an emotional response out of Reform supporters. Call him what he is, a traitor. 

 

His supporters like to think of themselves as patriotic Brits, point out how much Russia is the biggest most immediate threat to the UK and then point out how many times he's been on Russian state television, given speeches defending Putin and taken Russian money. He's been on the same TV channels that have threatened to nuke London, talking about how the UK should be friendlier to Moscow. 

 

Go on the offensive and crucify the judas ****. I don't care if you want to vote anti immigrant, I don't care if you want to vote conservative or right wing. Just don't vote for a ****ing traitor that'd happily work against this country for the benefit of Russia, Putin and anyone else that'll pay him. That's the message. 

 

Farage has seemed to change from trying to protect the country to now trying to damage the country more very quickly.

Edited 14 hours ago by Wymsey

[Finnegan]

56 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

Farage has seemed to change from trying to protect the country to now trying to damage the country more very quickly.

 

He's never wanted to protect the country Wymse. He's a self serving bellend that will say anything to make money. 

 

[leicsmac]

12 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

He's never wanted to protect the country Wymse. He's a self serving bellend that will say anything to make money. 

 

It's a truly remarkable piece of deception that folks like him all over the world have managed to convince so many others that they have the interests of a lot of people at heart, rather than a very narrow wedge of a very single demographic. 

[bovril]

Farage is just a confused boomer and like a lot of confused boomers he doesn't really understand the world and the UK's role in it, and is still wedded to a kind of post Thatcher/Reagan 'conservativism' which gives rise to the exact stuff he doesn't like. He is useful for e.g. Russia but unwillingly so. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

I wish Labour would engage Farage on this front, to be honest. 

 

It's useless making passive aggressive digs at him or subtly implying he's racist or just challenging him on policy. His base won't care about any of that. 

 

Really attack him in language that will get an emotional response out of Reform supporters. Call him what he is, a traitor. 

 

His supporters like to think of themselves as patriotic Brits, point out how much Russia is the biggest most immediate threat to the UK and then point out how many times he's been on Russian state television, given speeches defending Putin and taken Russian money. He's been on the same TV channels that have threatened to nuke London, talking about how the UK should be friendlier to Moscow. 

 

Go on the offensive and crucify the judas ****. I don't care if you want to vote anti immigrant, I don't care if you want to vote conservative or right wing. Just don't vote for a ****ing traitor that'd happily work against this country for the benefit of Russia, Putin and anyone else that'll pay him. That's the message. 

 

I think too many people have allowed the Farageworm to embed itself firmly in their prefrontal cortex.

 

Think clickers, think former crew of the Von Braun, think Illithid tadpoles, think Lt Chekhov in Star Trek 2.

[Finnegan]

2 minutes ago, bovril said:

Farage is just a confused boomer and like a lot of confused boomers he doesn't really understand the world and the UK's role in it, and is still wedded to a kind of post Thatcher/Reagan 'conservativism' which gives rise to the exact stuff he doesn't like. He is useful for e.g. Russia but unwillingly so. 

 

I don't really think you give him enough credit tbh. We didn't give Boris enough credit and he "lol it's just funny Boris" his way in to power and caused significant damage to the country. 

 

Farage is a privately educated lifelong fascist that's made a living for fifty odd years as both a career politician and trader. 

 

He's a malignant, self serving scumbag but he's not a doddering fool. 

 

Not that it would matter if he was. Donald Trump has never been academically gifted and exposes he doesn't know his arse from his elbow every time he speaks. But some pretty ****ing smart people puppet him and will actively look to king-make Farage. 

 

Underestimating in either instance doesn't help anyone. 

 

[bovril]

1 minute ago, Finnegan said:

 

I don't really think you give him enough credit tbh. We didn't give Boris enough credit and he "lol it's just funny Boris" his way in to power and caused significant damage to the country. 

 

Farage is a privately educated lifelong fascist that's made a living for fifty odd years as both a career politician and trader. 

 

He's a malignant, self serving scumbag but he's not a doddering fool. 

 

Not that it would matter if he was. Donald Trump has never been academically gifted and exposes he doesn't know his arse from his elbow every time he speaks. But some pretty ****ing smart people puppet him and will actively look to king-make Farage. 

 

Underestimating in either instance doesn't help anyone. 

 

I totally disagree but understand why you think that. 

 

Johnson is another one whose damage was a lot to do with him not being very bright politically. Sure he speaks well and has a certain intellect but is totally clueless about the world and the UK's place in it. He had absolutely no idea of the actual details of leaving the European Union for example, this is pretty much established. Britain's decline imo is more to do with this lack of understanding and our hubris than evil capitalists plotting to make the working class vote against their interests. 

 

Farage should be very easy to dismiss with some of his previous comments about e.g. Truss' budget and immigration from commonwealth countries. And he would have been dismissed in other countries but with our naval gazing media class and much of our electorate lacking a basic understanding of cause and effect, that's not been possible. 

[Finnegan]

3 minutes ago, bovril said:

I totally disagree but understand why you think that. 

 

Johnson is another one whose damage was a lot to do with him not being very bright politically. Sure he speaks well and has a certain intellect but is totally clueless about the world and the UK's place in it. He had absolutely no idea of the actual details of leaving the European Union for example, this is pretty much established. Britain's decline imo is more to do with this lack of understanding and our hubris than evil capitalists plotting to make the working class vote against their interests. 

 

Farage should be very easy to dismiss with some of his previous comments about e.g. Truss' budget and immigration from commonwealth countries. And he would have been dismissed in other countries but with our naval gazing media class and much of our electorate lacking a basic understanding of cause and effect, that's not been possible. 

 

But I think you're conflating a few things there that maybe shouldn't be. 

 

I'm not suggesting Farage is an administrative genius that could run the country and I'm not suggesting Boris was a brilliant statesman.

 

But both of them understood (albeit with assistance from Rupert and Friends) how to actually play to the public. 

 

Critical thinking as well as political and economic literacy is really poor in this country and partly by design (though we're not quite as bad as disband the Department of Education Americans) - it makes for a mob that you need to appeal to emotionally to get in to power, not really reason with. 

 

This brings me full circle back to my complaints about Labour. I'm fed up of watching British and American right wing parties dispose of old school decorum and notions of ministerial conduct to perform to the public whilst their left wing counter parts dodder around stuck in the past trying to be nice. 

 

I want to see a leading British politician make like Gavin Newsom and throw some of their own shit back at them. Play to the mob, it works.

 

Do I long for a more intelligent world? Yes. But we're living in the Idiocracy and the good guys need to catch up a bit and start actually playing that game. 

 

[kenny]

Al Carns is another that speaks a lot of sense.

 

They ought to put him into the government in some capacity....

[bovril]

13 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

But I think you're conflating a few things there that maybe shouldn't be. 

 

I'm not suggesting Farage is an administrative genius that could run the country and I'm not suggesting Boris was a brilliant statesman.

 

But both of them understood (albeit with assistance from Rupert and Friends) how to actually play to the public. 

 

Critical thinking as well as political and economic literacy is really poor in this country and partly by design (though we're not quite as bad as disband the Department of Education Americans) - it makes for a mob that you need to appeal to emotionally to get in to power, not really reason with. 

 

This brings me full circle back to my complaints about Labour. I'm fed up of watching British and American right wing parties dispose of old school decorum and notions of ministerial conduct to perform to the public whilst their left wing counter parts dodder around stuck in the past trying to be nice. 

 

I want to see a leading British politician make like Gavin Newsom and throw some of their own shit back at them. Play to the mob, it works.

 

Do I long for a more intelligent world? Yes. But we're living in the Idiocracy and the good guys need to catch up a bit and start actually playing that game. 

 

Yeah I'm probably making a different point to you but I think Farage appeals to people not necessarily because he knows how to play the crowd but because his world view chimes with theirs, and how they want things to be. I don't think he's leading them on, he just genuinely thinks what he says is true. But maybe I'm naive. 

 

Americans at least have the excuse of living in a vast country that is economically and culturally more powerful than maybe any other polity in history. 

[leicsmac]

4 minutes ago, kenny said:

Al Carns is another that speaks a lot of sense.

 

They ought to put him into the government in some capacity....

Just unfortunate that he apparently doesn't see that while security apparently supercedes environmental welfare on energy policy, disregarding the latter will cause critical resource shortages that will directly affect the former anyway. 

[kenny]

1 minute ago, leicsmac said:

Just unfortunate that he apparently doesn't see that while security apparently supercedes environmental welfare on energy policy, disregarding the latter will cause critical resource shortages that will directly affect the former anyway. 

Its much easier to effect energy policy while alive than the alternative IMO. 

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, kenny said:

Its much easier to effect energy policy while alive than the alternative IMO. 

Yes, and that cuts both ways. 

 

The natural world is better at killing than we are (mostly).

[kenny]

3 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Yes, and that cuts both ways. 

 

The natural world is better at killing than we are (mostly).

Agreed. Lets get rid all of the people to save the human race.

[leicsmac]

5 minutes ago, kenny said:

Agreed. Lets get rid all of the people to save the human race.

Or when you've cleared away that strawman misanthrope before anyone lights a match, perhaps our elected officials might be persuaded to look at all present threats to human life and act accordingly, rather than inordinately (key word there) prioritising directly human-based ones (or even looking at those that will make the human-based ones much more likely).

 

That way, hopefully far fewer people - and life in general - have to perish.

[kenny]

10 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Or when you've cleared away that strawman misanthrope before anyone lights a match, perhaps our elected officials might be persuaded to look at all present threats to human life and act accordingly, rather than inordinately (key word there) prioritising directly human-based ones (or even looking at those that will make the human-based ones much more likely).

 

That way, hopefully far fewer people - and life in general - have to perish.

I love your posts. I would understand them better if they were written in Mandarin I think.

[Robo61]

6 hours ago, leicsmac said:

6 hours ago, leicsmac said:

... because big corpos good and big government bad, apparently.

 

Not sure what the distinction is in terms of power level and ability to abuse it, personally. 

Seems to me that is playing out pretty badly for us all these days,  not helped by poor or non existent regulation.

 

[bovril]

5 minutes ago, kenny said:

I love your posts. I would understand them better if they were written in Mandarin I think.

leicsmac is a Chinese agent. His English is too good, there is no other explanation.

[Robo61]

3 hours ago, Wymsey said:

Farage has seemed to change from trying to protect the country to now trying to damage the country more very quickly.

He was never ever wanting to protect the country,  I struggle to see why people from day one  didnot understand he was only ever in it for himself,  but then I never understood the fandom of Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson either.  

Edited 10 hours ago by Robo61

[leicsmac]

4 minutes ago, kenny said:

I love your posts. I would understand them better if they were written in Mandarin I think.

Then clearly I need to be clearer, and the tip is appreciated. 

 

Carns is a good politician who speaks sense in a lot of ways. 

 

He underestimates natural threats compared to human ones (usual for a MoD post).

 

This could well become a bigger problem than the ones he says are big problems.

 

Think that's about it. 

 

2 minutes ago, Robo61 said:

 

It certainly appears that way. 

[kenny]

1 minute ago, bovril said:

leicsmac is a Chinese agent. His English is too good, there is no other explanation.

Wish they would speak Rowlatts Hill so I understand any of it.

[leicsmac]

5 minutes ago, bovril said:

leicsmac is a Chinese agent. His English is too good, there is no other explanation.

Would certainly be a pay rise compared to my current circumstances. 

[Finnegan]

7 minutes ago, kenny said:

speak Rowlatts Hill

 

Best I can do is Eyres Monsell 

 

 

 

Edited 10 hours ago by Finnegan