General News Thread

[Lionator]

8 minutes ago, Sampson said:

This is why the Tories purging all the moderate MPs in their party under Boris Johnson to get Brexit through has backfired for them so massively. Reform gave firmly captured the right vote now and they’re never going to out-Farage Farage under Badenoch or Jenrick but there is a hole in the centre which a liberal Wet Tory party could’ve filled.

Is everyone not just a bit done with the ‘centrists’ now though? Like I’ve weirdly never felt more emboldened in my left wing views while somehow respecting the Reform approach a lot more than the current government and the ones the preceded it. We’re watching the decline of our state, and while I think it’s a natural evolution, it’s centre economic policies which have caused all of this. 

[leicsmac]

17 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Realistically the Tories are done unless Farage drops Reform last minute and gets Jenrick to be Tory leader or something. There’s no room on the right now and nobody is voting Tory to protest reform. 

Yeah, and I remember the polling data here from a few weeks back that suggested Reform were poaching the big majority of their voter base from the Conservatives, anyway. 

 

However, for me the big issue here is what appears to be a fracturing political consensus in a (supposedly) well scientifically educated first world nation state regarding an issue that already affects millions and if left unchecked will affect more people on this planet than any other matter short of all out nuclear Holocaust. (Which, indeed may also be part and parcel of the consequences should resources get scarce enough that the big boys start falling out regarding them.)

[Lionator]

8 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Yeah, and I remember the polling data here from a few weeks back that suggested Reform were poaching the big majority of their voter base from the Conservatives, anyway. 

 

However, for me the big issue here is what appears to be a fracturing political consensus in a (supposedly) well scientifically educated first world nation state regarding an issue that already affects millions and if left unchecked will affect more people on this planet than any other matter short of all out nuclear Holocaust. (Which, indeed may also be part and parcel of the consequences should resources get scarce enough that the big boys start falling out regarding them.)

The problem is that for the general public, the problems that the politicians talk about seem so far away from the problems they encounter every day in their life. Climate crisis means nothing if you can’t find somewhere to live. Fighting Russians is pointless if you don’t believe in the society that you’re fighting for. Hell most working class people in this country prefer Putin to Starmer. 
 

The issue is obviously the rich stealing from the non-rich but they’re doing a good job in disguising it. 

[bovril]

13 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Is everyone not just a bit done with the ‘centrists’ now though? Like I’ve weirdly never felt more emboldened in my left wing views while somehow respecting the Reform approach a lot more than the current government and the ones the preceded it. We’re watching the decline of our state, and while I think it’s a natural evolution, it’s centre economic policies which have caused all of this. 

It's not 'centrism' that has precipitated the decline of the British state. It's a combination of global changes and quite radical and very stupid economic policy like austerity and Brexit which is partially in response to anti immigrant feeling. Nothing centrist about it at all. 

[Lionator]

1 minute ago, bovril said:

It's not 'centrism' that has precipitated the decline of the British state. It's a combination of global changes and quite radical and very stupid economic policy like austerity and Brexit which is partially in response to anti immigrant feeling. Nothing centrist about it at all. 

Austerity was a centrist policy! It was enacted under a one nation Tory-Lib Dem coalition, probably the most centrist government imaginable. Brexit while daft as a standalone decision is also not to be blamed when you look at the absolute state of the EU right now. The 2008 crash was the trigger but we’ve had no good solutions since. 

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, Lionator said:

The problem is that for the general public, the problems that the politicians talk about seem so far away from the problems they encounter every day in their life. Climate crisis means nothing if you can’t find somewhere to live. Fighting Russians is pointless if you don’t believe in the society that you’re fighting for. Hell most working class people in this country prefer Putin to Starmer. 
 

The issue is obviously the rich stealing from the non-rich but they’re doing a good job in disguising it. 

You're right about the (seemingly) abstract nature of the problem and that's an argument seen here before. The problem is, as also mentioned before, that when the issue stops being abstract, all that will really be able to be done is count the bodies - it will be too late for anything else. 

 

So, at some point, the democratic populace is going to have to take the scientific consensus of data on faith in terms of what is required, or take their part of responsibility for every single bit of the ugliness that comes afterwards. 

 

It is a bloody difficult circle to square, though, especially when as you mention, inequality means that faith in institutions, apparently faith in even demonstrably trustworthy ones like the scientific community, is low.

[bovril]

6 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Austerity was a centrist policy! It was enacted under a one nation Tory-Lib Dem coalition, probably the most centrist government imaginable. Brexit while daft as a standalone decision is also not to be blamed when you look at the absolute state of the EU right now. The 2008 crash was the trigger but we’ve had no good solutions since. 

Yes true about austerity although as economic policy it's still pretty radical, and tbf the Cameron government was one of the most right wing we've ever had. 

Not sure what people mean when they talk about the state of the EU. Many countries especially in western Europe suffer from similar problems to us but still have superior quality of life and infrastructure and the countries that transitioned away from socialism have seen their living standards rise massively.

I don't really know what the solution is but I think that a lot of Brits erroneously believe we are a rich country still and we simply need to redistribute wealth from people less deserving to those who need it more. 

[Clogger_]

C*****n government posed as centrist, but were the right wing genesis of so many of our problems. Pure poison

[Md9]

After all the crap they gave Biden about his health would be something if he manages to out live trump .

 

[urban.spaceman]

[CornwallFox]

2 hours ago, Lionator said:

Is everyone not just a bit done with the ‘centrists’ now though? Like I’ve weirdly never felt more emboldened in my left wing views while somehow respecting the Reform approach a lot more than the current government and the ones the preceded it. We’re watching the decline of our state, and while I think it’s a natural evolution, it’s centre economic policies which have caused all of this. 

It's right wing economics through austerity that has wrecked the country, not centrism. 

[CornwallFox]

1 hour ago, Lionator said:

Austerity was a centrist policy! It was enacted under a one nation Tory-Lib Dem coalition, probably the most centrist government imaginable. Brexit while daft as a standalone decision is also not to be blamed when you look at the absolute state of the EU right now. The 2008 crash was the trigger but we’ve had no good solutions since. 

Austerity isn't a centrist policy. It was not remotely based on general economic thought. It was an attempt to shrink the state through cuts. The lib dems wouldn't have been voting for that on their own. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

7 hours ago, urban.spaceman said:

Scythe

[Jattdogg]

10 hours ago, urban.spaceman said:

Bet he is so weird that he wears that shite hat when banging the borg melania

[Trav Le Bleu]

3 hours ago, Jattdogg said:

Bet he is so weird that he wears that shite hat when banging the borg melania

Schyte

[Lionator]

I honestly do think he’s had a mini stroke or something 

[Lionator]

We successfully isolated Russia!! 

[kenny]

10 minutes ago, Lionator said:

We successfully isolated Russia!! 

Its clear who is in charge of that photo.

 

Putin thinks he is the strongman. Xi knows he owns him.

 

 

[Dr The Singh]

22 minutes ago, Lionator said:

We successfully isolated Russia!! 

3 biggest tyrants on the planet, all together as one.  These guys make Trump look like Bambi

[Zear0]

3 minutes ago, Dr The Singh said:

3 biggest tyrants on the planet, all together as one.  These guys make Trump look like Bambi

Appreciate it's traditional attire, but doesn't help that Modi looks to use the same tailor as Blofeld.

[Lionator]

49 minutes ago, kenny said:

Its clear who is in charge of that photo.

 

Putin thinks he is the strongman. Xi knows he owns him.

 

 

I think Putin knows Xi owes him. I don’t think it’s crazy to say Russia is subservient to China but that kinda keeps us all a bit safer. I’m a bit of a Sino-phile though so I’m biased (while aware that the CCP does some terrible things). 

[kenny]

5 minutes ago, Lionator said:

I think Putin knows Xi owes him. I don’t think it’s crazy to say Russia is subservient to China but that kinda keeps us all a bit safer. I’m a bit of a Sino-phile though so I’m biased (while aware that the CCP does some terrible things). 

You say owes, I think its more like owns.

 

If China turns off the tap of oil money and chips for the Russian drones the war changes very quickly. I suspect there is a lot of truth in the reports that China have fold the EU that they do not want Russia to 'lose' the war.

[leicsmac]

1 hour ago, kenny said:

Its clear who is in charge of that photo.

 

Putin thinks he is the strongman. Xi knows he owns him.

 

 

The Chinese are providing an object lesson in the application of soft power recently. 

 

14 minutes ago, Lionator said:

I think Putin knows Xi owes him. I don’t think it’s crazy to say Russia is subservient to China but that kinda keeps us all a bit safer. I’m a bit of a Sino-phile though so I’m biased (while aware that the CCP does some terrible things). 

I think it's more than acceptable to hold the viewpoint that the Chinese human rights record is extremely questionable, while at the same time acknowledging that quite a few of the societal and scientific developments they're applying are not only desirable, they may be necessary for our species. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

52 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

Appreciate it's traditional attire, but doesn't help that Modi looks to use the same tailor as Blofeld.

You should see his pussy.

[leicsmac]

1 hour ago, Dr The Singh said:

3 biggest tyrants on the planet, all together as one.  These guys make Trump look like Bambi

I think I've said this before, but I really have no idea why Modi gets such a free pass in the popular press and society, given how much of a dick he is.