General News Thread

[Trav Le Bleu]

8 hours ago, fox_favourite said:

BBC News - Nigel Farage tells BBC he 'wasn't listening' during foreign donor talks filmed undercover
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0qxgn7q1vdo

 

How is this a valid excuse from.a leader of a party? 

I'm sorry, what was that he said?

[st albans fox]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

 

Come on man. I was going to passive aggressively challenge you to evidence a rising number of emboldened, extremist far-left groups showing up masked and uniformed in intimidating shows of force but what's the point. We both know they don't exist. 

 

What are you going to do? Show me something like pro-democracy protectors in Hong Kong hiding their faces from an oppressive authoritarian regime and equate them to Neo Nazis? 

 

It's 2026, can we please, please stop using this "there's idiots on every side" to down play just how ****ed up how sad and concerning it is seeing dick heads like this show up at Dover? 

 

If you're conservative yourself you shouldn't be looking to forgive or excuse them, you should be even angrier about them than I am. They're hijacking the right, dragging genuine conservative politics further to the right. 

 

Just think that you cover your face if you’re intent on a level of intimidation, know that you’re likely to be involved in disturbances or have previous and don’t want to be recognised. 

 

irrelevant whether it’s left, right or in the middle. 
 

 

[st albans fox]

AFD takes control of saxony state in German elections 

first time a party that far to the right has done so for ninety years! 
 

admittedly it’s former east Germany 

[leicsmac]

1 hour ago, st albans fox said:

AFD takes control of saxony state in German elections 

first time a party that far to the right has done so for ninety years! 
 

admittedly it’s former east Germany 

... anyone remember what happened shortly thereafter that happened ninety years ago?

[st albans fox]

20 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

... anyone remember what happened shortly thereafter that happened ninety years ago?

I know you’re not suggesting that the facists will take power in Germany and attack Poland and the Czech Republic 

[leicsmac]

2 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

I know you’re not suggesting that the facists will take power in Germany and attack Poland and the Czech Republic 

I'm just saying that such ideological movements that gain even just a bit of power in any nation of standing tend to end up with the kind of trouble that results in corpses on the ground directly. 

Edited 6 September by leicsmac

[st albans fox]

4 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

I'm just saying that such ideological movements that gain even just a bit of power in any nation of standing tend to end up with the kind of trouble that results in corpses on the ground directly. 

Is it very different to reform taking control of an English county council ? 

[leicsmac]

10 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Is it very different to reform taking control of an English county council ? 

Tough to say definitively, but that the chance is being taken either way should be concerning.

[Super_horns]

Hope everyone is ok there.

 

Sounds very nasty 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cmqlwrvwzxx5t

[Trav Le Bleu]

3 hours ago, leicsmac said:

... anyone remember what happened shortly thereafter that happened ninety years ago?

Germany made autobahns and invented the VW or folks wagon, a car for the every day man. All because they voted for a vegetarian, artist who admired Charlie Chaplin.

[Wymsey]

1 hour ago, Super_horns said:

Hope everyone is ok there.

 

Sounds very nasty 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cmqlwrvwzxx5t

5 deceased..

 

Find it interesting how with all of today's technological advancements and stringent health and safety legislation in plane transportation for multi-national companies etc that such events still happen.

[Vacamion]

 

Saxony Anhalt is in the news because the far right AfD party seems to have won a State election there (it's in Germany).

 

I lived in Saxony Anhalt for a year when I was a student, just after reunification at the start of the 1990s.

 

There were many hangovers from the Communist days during my time there - Russian Army soldiers were still stationed at the edge of the town, I got lodgings with a family of "red socks" who (I was later told by others) were suspected of having informed on friends and neighbours for the Stasi. 

 

Cars seen around town were mostly Trabants, Ladas and Wartburgs, not Western cars.

 

Infrastructure creaked, however.

 

Many I spoke with said it hadn't *all* been bad in the past and many were upset that everything (even some good stuff) had been swept away, in order to unite the two halves of the country.

 

They've had it fairly rough in Saxony Anhalt over the last 35 years.

 

Westerners swooped in and bought up, asset-stripped and closed down businesses in the State and unemployment was rife.

 

Then they've had a massive brain drain, because there were so few good jobs locally.  

 

It's been fertile ground for misinformation.   

 

Compared to Western States of Germany, Saxony Anhalt has absorbed relatively few immigrants, but Social Media algos tell the poor people that the foreigners are after their biscuits (if you recognise the meme), and the AfD has cashed in, exploiting people's fears.

 

I think that it is regrettable that the AfD appears to have won there tonight.

 

However, there still remains a massive anti right wing sentiment in Saxony Anhalt,, which is not always as widely reported in the UK.

 

I'm hopeful that the AfD only only got the largest party, rather than an absolute majority, and that too much damage isn't done by this result.

 

 

[bovril]

27 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 

Saxony Anhalt is in the news because the far right AfD party seems to have won a State election there (it's in Germany).

 

I lived in Saxony Anhalt for a year when I was a student, just after reunification at the start of the 1990s.

 

There were many hangovers from the Communist days during my time there - Russian Army soldiers were still stationed at the edge of the town, I got lodgings with a family of "red socks" who (I was later told by others) were suspected of having informed on friends and neighbours for the Stasi. 

 

Cars seen around town were mostly Trabants, Ladas and Wartburgs, not Western cars.

 

Infrastructure creaked, however.

 

Many I spoke with said it hadn't *all* been bad in the past and many were upset that everything (even some good stuff) had been swept away, in order to unite the two halves of the country.

 

They've had it fairly rough in Saxony Anhalt over the last 35 years.

 

Westerners swooped in and bought up, asset-stripped and closed down businesses in the State and unemployment was rife.

 

Then they've had a massive brain drain, because there were so few good jobs locally.  

 

It's been fertile ground for misinformation.   

 

Compared to Western States of Germany, Saxony Anhalt has absorbed relatively few immigrants, but Social Media algos tell the poor people that the foreigners are after their biscuits (if you recognise the meme), and the AfD has cashed in, exploiting people's fears.

 

I think that it is regrettable that the AfD appears to have won there tonight.

 

However, there still remains a massive anti right wing sentiment in Saxony Anhalt,, which is not always as widely reported in the UK.

 

I'm hopeful that the AfD only only got the largest party, rather than an absolute majority, and that too much damage isn't done by this result.

 

 

Foreign born population of Sachsen Anhalt is apparently about 10%. I imagine in the cities it's higher. That's probably lower than the much of Germany but hardly insignificant, which you'd think reading some of the reports on these elections in the press. And I imagine a lot of those will be Syrians, who have about a 40% unemployment rate in Germany overall.

 

For comparison, about 14% of the USA, land of immigrants, are foreign born. Not that hugely different.

 

I'm not saying what you've written is necessarily wrong, just that by reading much of the discourse in both social and traditional media you'd guess it was almost totally free of immigration. And I acknowledge 'foreign born' can cover a lot....

Edited 6 September by bovril

[Vacamion]

1 minute ago, bovril said:

Foreign born population of Sachsen Anhalt is apparently about 10%. I imagine in the cities it's higher. That's probably lower than the much of Germany but hardly insignificant, which you'd think reading some of the reports on these elections in the press. And I imagine a lot of those will be Syrians, who have about a 40% unemployment rate in Germany overall.

 

I'm not saying what you've written is necessarily wrong, just that by reading much of the discourse in both social and traditional media you'd guess it was almost totally free of immigration. 

 

After the waves of 2015 and 2022 I don't think anyone could seriously suggest that anywhere in Germany is almost totally free of immigration.

 

If the presence of foreigners (as a percentage of population)  is considered to be a potentially direct cause of AfD voting, then you would expect Sachsen Anhalt would be one of the last dominoes to fall, rather than the first. 

 

They had right wing extremists there before the internet, of course.

 

My point was that maybe Sachsen Anhalt was more of a ripe target due to 35 years of bad news combined with internet algorithms cashing in in that.

 

I find it interesting that AfD is pro Russia. 

 

Whilst there is a potential argument that there were previously stronger cultural links in the eastern German States to the USSR, that doesn't mean very much to younger voters or to older voters who resented the occupiers.

 

I can imagine Moscow being very pleased this today's outcome, however.

 

 

[Jon the Hat]

19 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

Ah here we go. I was waiting for "both sides are just the same" etc. 

 

There are very obviously people that go to pretty much any demonstration, whatever their politics, and cover their face because they either think they're looking edgy or cool or because they fear the legal backlash from an authoritarian state. 

 

There are also dick heads that go to literally any public gathering or demonstration to cause violence or problems because they're just nobs, whatever they believe in. Sure. 

 

But there's a big difference between some people in a crowd wrapping a bandana on their face or putting on a covid mask and a large organised mob turning up in a fascist coded uniform that completely involves covering their face. 

 

I mean, one of these things is not like the others, right? 

The scale of it is certainly more alarming, and the level of organisation it implies.  The outfits look pretty similar to a lot of people around the protests I mentioned as well though, lets not pretend they don't.

 

The rise of the right is sad to see, especially today in Germany, but my god how frustrating it is that the rest of politics have left so much fertile ground for them to occupy.

[UniFox21]

Just a depressing read, a real shit state of affairs 

 

 

Edit 

 

Another angle of the protesters. 

 

 

 

Edited 7 September by UniFox21

[Trav Le Bleu]

38 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Just a depressing read, a real shit state of affairs 

 

 

Edit 

 

Another angle of the protesters. 

 

 

 

What do they expect to be done? Throw them into the sea? Even if you were going to return them immediately, you need to take them somewhere to do that.

[leicsmac]

34 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

What do they expect to be done? Throw them into the sea? Even if you were going to return them immediately, you need to take them somewhere to do that.

For some of them, yes, they expect exactly that. 

 

Or at least leave them there if they get into difficulty. 

[Noahfence]

Why are we doing this to ourselves. It’s so unnecessary it’s honestly mental

[Trav Le Bleu]

22 minutes ago, Noahfence said:

Why are we doing this to ourselves. It’s so unnecessary it’s honestly mental

They don't see it as doing it to themselves, they see it as doing it for themselves.

 

They're wrong.

[leicsmac]

Additionally, on the matter of migration, I apologise if I'm repeating myself here but I do wish that more people who comment on it were less dishonest about both the difficulties of the choices that are on offer and (most importantly) their consequences.

 

Own the results of the worldview you support - good and bad. 

[LCFCJohn]

12 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Additionally, on the matter of migration, I apologise if I'm repeating myself here but I do wish that more people who comment on it were less dishonest about both the difficulties of the choices that are on offer and (most importantly) their consequences.

 

Own the results of the worldview you support - good and bad. 

And not try and disguise true motives.

 

’Stop the boats‘ - is actually view that many of us want to see. But those protesting really mean ‘no brown faces at all, even those who are here legally, have grown up here and contribute to society and the economy’

 

’Make our streets safer’ - but it’s ok for them to smash up our towns and cities, set fires to people’s property and cause fear.

 

’Protect our women and children’ - in the context of many Reform types having records for crimes in this area, what they really mean is ‘they are my women and children to assault’.

 

Just own what it’s really about.

[Robo61]

1 hour ago, Noahfence said:

Why are we doing this to ourselves. It’s so unnecessary it’s honestly mental

What are we doing to ourselves exactly??  and how would you solve it??

[Noahfence]

1 minute ago, Robo61 said:

What are we doing to ourselves exactly??  and how would you solve it??

I’d rather not get into this all again purely because it brings nothing good to this forum and the mods. I shouldn’t have even commentated.  
 

There is no solving it 

[Jon the Hat]

29 minutes ago, Noahfence said:

I’d rather not get into this all again purely because it brings nothing good to this forum and the mods. I shouldn’t have even commentated.  
 

There is no solving it 

There is, we can deport them to an island somewhere.  It would save a fortune on the welfare bill.  Mind you it would have to be somewhere relatively cold - too warm and their shitty all black tracksuits and balaclavas would go to waste, and they would get sunburnt.  So not Australia.