General News Thread

[urban.spaceman]

Honestly the best thing Starmer can do now is wait a few months until Christmas and then when it's time for the New Years Honours list to come out, give her a Damehood. Some Daily Mail writers might actually die from rage. 

[bovril]

1 hour ago, Wymsey said:

What is happening to this country.

 

 

Well he sold us out to the Americans which didn't help

[Corky]

I'm just glad that with Lee Anderson and Nadine Dorries involved we won't just be getting the same as before!

[Samilktray]

1 hour ago, Wymsey said:

What is happening to this country.

 

 

What a post this is hahahaha 

[StanSP]

4 hours ago, Spudulike said:

Sticking up for Rupert Lowe now? I can't keep up with who the bad guys are anymore 

Most definitely wasn't doing this! 

[kenny]

3 hours ago, CosbehFox said:

 

 

Play us the greatest hits again. 

 

This what you meant? Not enough self penned bangers in politics IMO.

 

[Guest Bilo]

40 minutes ago, bovril said:

Lowe is quite interesting. Don't share many of his politics but he seems intelligent and importantly seems to have gone into politics to actually change things.

 

Farage is obviously just a spiv who's interested solely in himself. Speaking as someone who is quite conservative and would generally prefer lower immigration levels, he's probably the worst thing ever to happen to politics in this country. 

 

Anderson is quite frankly thick as shit and also clearly a sad twat. 

I can't disagree with any of this. My views couldn't be further from Lowe's, but at least he has principles that he's prepared to stick to. And he does seem genuinely hurt and shocked by the way he's been treated by Farage et al.

 

It's no coincidence whatsoever that his effective expulsion from Reform came at around the same time as Musk and other right-wing figures touting him as a more effective voice for them than Farage, because Farage is ultimately an undiluted narcissist who has to make every political movement he's part of about himself, damaging all of them.

 

Brexit is now discredited to all but the Kool-Aid cultists, UKIP is a shadow of what it once was and Reform will eventually fall by the wayside too because everything he's part of has to turn into the Church of Farage and nothing else.

 

Any vaguely talented politician who he feels threatens his limelight gets forced out in pretty short order, it happened in UKIP as well, so all that ends up being left is nodding dogs, grifters who benefit from their position and talentless foot soldiers who are just grateful to be part of it like 30p Lee, who is so dense that light bends around him. 

Edited 5 September 2025 by Bilo

[Guest Bilo]

31 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

Honestly the best thing Starmer can do now is wait a few months until Christmas and then when it's time for the New Years Honours list to come out, give her a Damehood. Some Daily Mail writers might actually die from rage. 

And give Lineker a peerage.

[urban.spaceman]

16 minutes ago, Bilo said:

And give Lineker a peerage.

Honestly if that happens I would absolutely lose my shit like Wrighty and Shearer in the background:

 

Edited 5 September 2025 by urban.spaceman

[StanSP]

Could Farage legit become PM?

 

I don't mean in the sense of victory after a general election, but surely someone must have some dirt on him to make his position untenable before it's even started?? What about his own tax affairs? Offshore tax accounts? 

 

Will any of his extreme policies even work their way through parliament even if they are elected? 

[MaidstoneFox]

35 minutes ago, kenny said:

 

This what you meant? Not enough self penned bangers in politics IMO.

 

Absolutely everything about that is a bad choice.

[Trav Le Bleu]

4 hours ago, Spudulike said:

Sticking up for Rupert Lowe now? I can't keep up with who the bad guys are anymore 

 

[Parafox]

2 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Prefer Lemmy.

 

And he's dead!

I'd have had @Lamby

[CosbehFox]

35 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Could Farage legit become PM?

 

I don't mean in the sense of victory after a general election, but surely someone must have some dirt on him to make his position untenable before it's even started?? What about his own tax affairs? Offshore tax accounts? 

 

Will any of his extreme policies even work their way through parliament even if they are elected? 

My own gut is that he would quickly resign or not even be the Reform Leader into the GE. Far too much scrunity and transparency required. He can’t trouser as much money as he can right now 

Edited 5 September 2025 by CosbehFox

[Parafox]

27 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Could Farage legit become PM?

 

I don't mean in the sense of victory after a general election, but surely someone must have some dirt on him to make his position untenable before it's even started?? What about his own tax affairs? Offshore tax accounts? 

 

Will any of his extreme policies even work their way through parliament even if they are elected? 

 

On the surface he has a "devoted" following of mainly right wing thinkers fools that believe what he says and have no grasp of consequences of him being PM.

 

Come a GE he might get 2nd or potentially a (disastrous) coalition, but an outright win is unlikely as people that are flying flags now will likely back down if they have any reasoning.. 

 

The problem is though, not many voters actually take the time to read a manifesto. They base their judgements on soundbites and rhetoric.

 

And that goes for every GE or local. It's not until the party voted in shows it's true colours that people think mmm, maybe I was wrong. By which time it's too late.

[StanSP]

Just now, CosbehFox said:

My own gut is that he would quickly resign or not even be the Reform Leader into the GE. Far too much scrunity and transparency required 

Who do you think would be in place instead of him? 

 

I'd find it very ironic if it was Zia Yusuf. Given the video they put out yesterday on social media, he was getting just as many pelters in his replies as non-Brits would be! 

[CornwallFox]

50 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Could Farage legit become PM?

 

I don't mean in the sense of victory after a general election, but surely someone must have some dirt on him to make his position untenable before it's even started?? What about his own tax affairs? Offshore tax accounts? 

 

Will any of his extreme policies even work their way through parliament even if they are elected? 

Re the last bit, no chance. 

 

He's the puppet being put up to keep oil and gas profitable. That's all. 

 

I'm sure they'd take a tough line on immigration but most of the ideas they have are illegal nonsense. And you kinda have to act within international law if you want other countries to help with your plans. 

 

At home, the income tax threshold rise is currently massively unaffordable. I'd imagine that will get watered down to an ambition within five minutes of being PM, potentially with some smaller threshold increases in-term to say least argue they're heading that way. 

 

Massive use of free ports. These are essentially locations where national law doesn't apply. They'll be used to money launder huge sums to keep the rich extra rich. And of course those rich people will be able to buy pretty cheap visas to never pay tax in this country.

 

They're a joke of a party. Basically nothing they offer helps anybody except the elite. But they hate immigrants which seems to be enough for about 30% of the population. 

 

 

[leicsmac]

8 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

Re the last bit, no chance. 

 

He's the puppet being put up to keep oil and gas profitable. That's all. 

 

I'm sure they'd take a tough line on immigration but most of the ideas they have are illegal nonsense. And you kinda have to act within international law if you want other countries to help with your plans. 

 

At home, the income tax threshold rise is currently massively unaffordable. I'd imagine that will get watered down to an ambition within five minutes of being PM, potentially with some smaller threshold increases in-term to say least argue they're heading that way. 

 

Massive use of free ports. These are essentially locations where national law doesn't apply. They'll be used to money launder huge sums to keep the rich extra rich. And of course those rich people will be able to buy pretty cheap visas to never pay tax in this country.

 

They're a joke of a party. Basically nothing they offer helps anybody except the elite. But they hate immigrants which seems to be enough for about 30% of the population. 

 

 

Thing is though, that alone is enough to cause enough damage to be very, very meaningful. 

[Guest Bilo]

27 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Who do you think would be in place instead of him? 

 

I'd find it very ironic if it was Zia Yusuf. Given the video they put out yesterday on social media, he was getting just as many pelters in his replies as non-Brits would be! 

Zia Yusuf would absolutely destroy Reform.

 

Not just because he's not very good, but because the kinds of people getting excited about Reform would never vote for a Muslim in a month of Sundays. They can pretend otherwise, but the moment Yusuf pushed back against racist rhetoric, he'd be 'one of them' quicker than you could blink. 

 

My own take is that they're waiting for a genuinely big name from the Tories to defect to Reform who has clout and experience in government, and then Farage would take on some kind of backseat role. He can't even be an effective constituency MP, so the thought of being PM would have him shitting a Lego garage.

[StanSP]

1 minute ago, Bilo said:

Zia Yusuf would absolutely destroy Reform.

 

Not just because he's not very good, but because the kinds of people getting excited about Reform would never vote for a Muslim in a month of Sundays. They can pretend otherwise, but the moment Yusuf pushed back against racist rhetoric, he'd be 'one of them' quicker than you could blink. 

 

My own take is that they're waiting for a genuinely big name from the Tories to defect to Reform who has clout and experience in government, and then Farage would take on some kind of backseat role. He can't even be an effective constituency MP, so the thought of being PM would have him shitting a Lego garage.

He already is 'one of them' according to many Reformers! 

[Guest Bilo]

7 minutes ago, StanSP said:

He already is 'one of them' according to many Reformers! 

It really doesn't take a lot. It is, after all, part of why he's no longer party chairman. 

 

 

 

One sniff of pushing back against a burka ban (reader, we don't have burkas in the UK) and the porkflakes saw him as a heretic. 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/07/zia-yusuf-return-reform-uk

 

Whoever succeeds Farage will have to be a white, preferably middle-aged straight man. No other demographic could viably lead a party like that, and any POC or women will be reduced to tokenistic 'see? We can't be racist/misogynistic/homophobic if one of them is our MP' roles.

[Parafox]

56 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

My own gut is that he would quickly resign or not even be the Reform Leader into the GE. Far too much scrunity and transparency required. He can’t trouser as much money as he can right now 

He could always get a job as a Homer Simpson double if he's ever out of work.

[MaidstoneFox]

34 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

Re the last bit, no chance. 

 

He's the puppet being put up to keep oil and gas profitable. That's all. 

 

I'm sure they'd take a tough line on immigration but most of the ideas they have are illegal nonsense. And you kinda have to act within international law if you want other countries to help with your plans. 

 

At home, the income tax threshold rise is currently massively unaffordable. I'd imagine that will get watered down to an ambition within five minutes of being PM, potentially with some smaller threshold increases in-term to say least argue they're heading that way. 

 

Massive use of free ports. These are essentially locations where national law doesn't apply. They'll be used to money launder huge sums to keep the rich extra rich. And of course those rich people will be able to buy pretty cheap visas to never pay tax in this country.

 

They're a joke of a party. Basically nothing they offer helps anybody except the elite. But they hate immigrants which seems to be enough for about 30% of the population. 

 

 

The tax threshold rise will be what a lot of people would be voting, for as it would make such a big difference to so many, quite apart from the resentment that exists in paying tax. If they watered down or postponed pushing the tax threshold up, that would generate immediate disenchantment.

 

Despite all the rhetoric about various issues, I think the key policy that actually got Trump elected was the removal of tax payable on tips and overtime, which really cut through to people struggling week-to-week.

 

I still maintain though, that the best they can hope for with our political system is a coalition, unless the Tories effectively disappear.

[st albans fox]

Wrt to the new home sec, -  she abstained in the PA proscription vote 

 

so how will she defend/justify the govt position when she clearly doesn’t agree with it ??

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, Parafox said:

I'd have had @Lamby

That's scary.