General News Thread

[Trav Le Bleu]

So basically Burnham is going to be Farage's warm-up guy?

[Trav Le Bleu]

6 hours ago, bovril said:

he's purity testing potential cabinet ministers as we speak by asking them to name their top 3 Joy Division B-sides

She's Lost Control

These Days

Novelty

 

 

What do I win?

 

(Not as difficult as it might be as they're all on the Substance compilation album).

[Heathrow fox]

In my experience young Reform supporters don’t bother doing the voting bit when it truly matters

On the face of it domestically Burnham looks like a good old fashioned Labour man of the people.

Unfortunatley I can see him following the ruinous foreign policy of his predecessors

[leicsmac]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c872e8d9el1o

 

US President Donald Trump says he has "inspected" the Reflecting Pool in Washington DC, and that "work will begin immediately" to repair the American landmark.

Despite a recent multi-million dollar renovation, including a fresh coat of blue paint, the historic structure continues to face issues - most prominently algae turning the water a bright shade of green.

The pool may need to be drained and refilled for a second time this month, according to Trump, who flew over the site in a helicopter on Sunday while on his way back from Camp David.

It comes as Trump claims the pool's paint has been marred by vandals ahead of the 250th anniversary of the country's 4 July independence day.

US Attorney for Washington DC Jeanine Pirro has vowed to aggressively prosecute anyone found to have damaged the pool.

"Anyone who is in a position of vandalising or attempting to vandalise will face the criminal justice system in DC," she told Fox News on Sunday.

According to a senior Trump administration official, five people have been arrested for vandalism and five more were issued with citations by police on Saturday night.

 

This whole saga really sums this administration up. 

 

Ignorance of scientific causality... check. 

 

So thin-skinned any mockery, no matter accurate, is viewed as hostile... check. 

 

Finding a scapegoat among the "out-group" to blame for ones own incompetence...check.

 

Cultist behaviour in which the very idea of truth is subverted...check. 

[LCFCJohn]

50 minutes ago, Corky said:

How many by-elections were called when the Conservative lot defected to Reform?

 

At least the Labou membership (and the Conservatives before that) will choose an elected Labour MP. The electorate voted for a Conservative and then had somebody representing another party.

Won’t be a popular option with certain members on here but it’s a great point. You vote for your local MP and if they suddenly started representing a different party without that being voted by the constituents, how is that ok?

 

I’d be much more comfortable with a member of the same party replacing my MP (like Burnham) than my MP changing their political beliefs they were voted in on by defecting to another party. Yet the former prompts a by election and the latter doesn’t? 

[Leicesterpool]

Burnham i do fear is basically northern version of Starmer I think we will get exactly the same with him. Burnham i can see only last the year before he gets the vote of no confidence. Personally i think Rayner is slighty better choice but can't see her winning the next election. Farage is going to be public voted prime minster.

 

Milband becoming prime minister would be a nightmare and would see very negative reaction from the british public. Failed former labour leader.

Edited 22 June by Leicesterpool

[DJW1]

38 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

She's Lost Control

These Days

Novelty

 

 

What do I win?

 

(Not as difficult as it might be as they're all on the Substance compilation album).

You are now Minister of Music

If you don´t like that, you can tell me to Fac off 

[DJW1]

56 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

Does the electorate have to look at itself as well as the politicians? An impatient wish for everything to change to their liking in double quick time. This plus a cynicism and thinking anybody that has never had the job must be better. 

And apathy. The most important by-election for many years and more than 40% of the electorate didn´t bother voting, despite the very wide political spectrum of the parties.

[The Syrup]

33 minutes ago, Leicesterpool said:

Burnham i do fear is basically northern version of Starmer I think we will get exactly the same with him. Burnham i can see only last the year before he gets the vote of no confidence. Personally i think Rayner is slighty better choice but can't see her winning the next election. Farage is going to be public voted prime minster.

 

Milband becoming prime minister would be a nightmare and would see very negative reaction from the british public. Failed former labour leader.

I'd rather have Starmer than Rayner... and I'm glad Starmer has gone

[Salisbury Fox]

35 minutes ago, LCFCJohn said:

Won’t be a popular option with certain members on here but it’s a great point. You vote for your local MP and if they suddenly started representing a different party without that being voted by the constituents, how is that ok?

 

I’d be much more comfortable with a member of the same party replacing my MP (like Burnham) than my MP changing their political beliefs they were voted in on by defecting to another party. Yet the former prompts a by election and the latter doesn’t? 

I agree that if you change party then there should be a by-election. I do however think that the consequences of changing leader should also result in a general election unless the new PM commits to the manifesto the party originally won a mandate for. Of course agreeing what represents a material change will be in the eyes of the beholder unless the deviation is very clear.

[st albans fox]

43 minutes ago, Leicesterpool said:

Burnham i do fear is basically northern version of Starmer I think we will get exactly the same with him. Burnham i can see only last the year before he gets the vote of no confidence. Personally i think Rayner is slighty better choice but can't see her winning the next election. Farage is going to be public voted prime minster.

 

Milband becoming prime minister would be a nightmare and would see very negative reaction from the british public. Failed former labour leader.

I’d love to know if anyone agrees with you ( I agree re miliband) 

 

incidentally, Starmer isn’t a politician, he’s a lawyer.  Burnham is a very experienced politician and on that basis you’ll see less mistakes and better coms 

Edited 22 June by st albans fox

[Sampson]

I'm a lot less convinced Farage will be pm that I was a few months ago tbh. In all this we seem to forget they're only a party polling 25%, roughly the same as the LibDems did at their peak under Kennedy and Clegg.

 

I can't see them getting a majority, a few months ago I said it wouldn't have mattered because Badenoch is an American-style conservative like Farage is and she'd join him in a coalition in a heartbeat, but the way Reform and Farage have gone after her with this Henry Novak stuff is very silly from their perspective imo, because she's they're only real option to form a coalition and they've started going after her,

[LCFCJohn]

5 minutes ago, Salisbury Fox said:

I agree that if you change party then there should be a by-election. I do however think that the consequences of changing leader should also result in a general election unless the new PM commits to the manifesto the party originally won a mandate for. Of course agreeing what represents a material change will be in the eyes of the beholder unless the deviation is very clear.

It probably all should.

 

But I do think when you actually think about it, a new leader of the same party is actually not as big of a change. They still need the support of their MPs who have all been voted in. They are the figurehead of the same party which will have the same principles.

 

It’s just the double standards but I guess that’s party politics right!

[Salisbury Fox]

2 minutes ago, LCFCJohn said:

It probably all should.

 

But I do think when you actually think about it, a new leader of the same party is actually not as big of a change. They still need the support of their MPs who have all been voted in. They are the figurehead of the same party which will have the same principles.

 

It’s just the double standards but I guess that’s party politics right!

It certainly would be hypocritical given the past social media messaging that will consistently be brought up. I do believe that he would be better advised to go for an election immediately as I can’t see anything materially being better in 3 or so years and so he would probably still get a majority albeit a significantly reduced one. 

[FoxAsh]

Get Boris in 

[kenny]

33 minutes ago, Sampson said:

I'm a lot less convinced Farage will be pm that I was a few months ago tbh. In all this we seem to forget they're only a party polling 25%, roughly the same as the LibDems did at their peak under Kennedy and Clegg.

 

I can't see them getting a majority, a few months ago I said it wouldn't have mattered because Badenoch is an American-style conservative like Farage is and she'd join him in a coalition in a heartbeat, but the way Reform and Farage have gone after her with this Henry Novak stuff is very silly from their perspective imo, because she's they're only real option to form a coalition and they've started going after her,

It would be a big plot twist as she has made it clear over and over again that she won't do a deal with reform. Odd take.

[bovril]

Apparently he's a big Larkin fan so maybe Burnham isn't that bad after all. 

[leicsmac]

41 minutes ago, Sampson said:

I'm a lot less convinced Farage will be pm that I was a few months ago tbh. In all this we seem to forget they're only a party polling 25%, roughly the same as the LibDems did at their peak under Kennedy and Clegg.

 

I can't see them getting a majority, a few months ago I said it wouldn't have mattered because Badenoch is an American-style conservative like Farage is and she'd join him in a coalition in a heartbeat, but the way Reform and Farage have gone after her with this Henry Novak stuff is very silly from their perspective imo, because she's they're only real option to form a coalition and they've started going after her,

 

7 minutes ago, kenny said:

It would be a big plot twist as she has made it clear over and over again that she won't do a deal with reform. Odd take.

They both do appear to be occupying each others water right now. 

 

Which is a good thing for future policy decision making, at least in most areas. 

[Sampson]

9 minutes ago, kenny said:

It would be a big plot twist as she has made it clear over and over again that she won't do a deal with reform. Odd take.

Not really. Clegg said the same with Cameron and Brown, Milliband said the same with the SNP back in the day - party leaders always say they won't going coalition with anyone because we're trying to win ourselces - its standard politics speak - but when push comes to shove its obviously a different matter. I think politically, Badenoch is close enough to Reform that she'd happily prop them up when it came to it, however now they've started personally attacking her I think she's probably much less inclined to do so.

Edited 22 June by Sampson

[LCFCJohn]

36 minutes ago, Salisbury Fox said:

It certainly would be hypocritical given the past social media messaging that will consistently be brought up. I do believe that he would be better advised to go for an election immediately as I can’t see anything materially being better in 3 or so years and so he would probably still get a majority albeit a significantly reduced one. 

To be fair, this whole move by Burnham has been a risk. He’d have been done basically if he’d lost the by-election. He put it all on the line and it has worked for him so he might take the risk of calling an election.

 

The ideal scenario is he does, Labour win out under a new manifesto with some of the changes we’d like to see and at the same time it puts Reform to bed and shows them as the unwelcome noise they are. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, DJW1 said:

You are now Minister of Music

If you don´t like that, you can tell me to Fac off 

I see what you did there.

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, Salisbury Fox said:

I agree that if you change party then there should be a by-election. I do however think that the consequences of changing leader should also result in a general election unless the new PM commits to the manifesto the party originally won a mandate for. Of course agreeing what represents a material change will be in the eyes of the beholder unless the deviation is very clear.

Starmer's downfall is in part because he didn't do that either.

 

Though mainly it was the Prince of Darkness.

[Robo61]

1 hour ago, DJW1 said:

And apathy. The most important by-election for many years and more than 40% of the electorate didn´t bother voting, despite the very wide political spectrum of the parties.

This was the first by election since 1984 where the turnout was higher than the previous GE.  The problem is not so much apathy in voting but very few people now have any real interest in democratic politics,   which is really very worrying when you have the likes of Farage and Lowe circling.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kenny]

26 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Not really. Clegg said the same with Cameron and Brown, Milliband said the same with the SNP back in the day - party leaders always say they won't going coalition with anyone because we're trying to win ourselces - its standard politics speak - but when push comes to shove its obviously a different matter. I think politically, Badenoch is close enough to Reform that she'd happily prop them up when it came to it, however now they've started personally attacking her I think she's probably much less inclined to do so.

As I say, massive plot twist and totally at odds with anything she has said thus far.

[Robo61]

38 minutes ago, kenny said:

It would be a big plot twist as she has made it clear over and over again that she won't do a deal with reform. Odd take.

Not really leaders pretty much have to say this until the deed is done,  pretty much the same as leaders saying they will not resign until the very minute they do.