General News Thread

[st albans fox]

3 hours ago, leicsmac said:

I think this all just adds to the idea that the next GE outcome is pure roulette at this point in time, and there's still over three years to go.

I was convinced that reform had no chance in 2029.  But if they are going to start collecting serious Tory politicians and replace the farage/tice types then I may have a rethink. 

Edited 15 January by st albans fox

[CornwallFox]

It may well be that absolutely nothing happens but what a world when European forces are sent to a friendly country to ward off American invasion

 

BBC News - European military personnel arrive in Greenland as Trump says US needs island - BBC News

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0ydjvxpejo

[leicsmac]

10 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

I was convinced that reform had no chance in 2029.  But if they are going to start collecting serious Tory politicians and replace the farafe/tice types then I may have a rethink. 

I'm inclined to think the opposite is true, for reasons elaborated upon upstream. 

 

9 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

It may well be that absolutely nothing happens but what a world when European forces are sent to a friendly country to ward off American invasion

 

BBC News - European military personnel arrive in Greenland as Trump says US needs island - BBC News

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0ydjvxpejo

What a world indeed. 

 

Sadly, given what we know about the man, also a predictable one. Which makes the decision to give him power again and also to apologise for him either in the US or here, given the consequences, all the more absurd. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

This is a more interesting one.

 

Firstly, it seems Badenoch has sacked him and withdrawn the Tory whip because he was allegedly plotting to defect, while inflicting maximum damage on the Tories:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/crmdmkg8gymt

I presume she has strong evidence. Cannot imagine that she'd have taken such action without it? Presumably he'll now confirm his defection?

 

Secondly, only a few months ago, many were expecting him to stand against Badenoch and become Tory leader.

She seems to have rallied her troops a bit and Tory poll ratings have crept up a bit (though still well behind Reform), so maybe he no longer fancied his chances of winning?

Hopefully this all helps to split the vote on the Right? Also, I wonder how helpful it will be to Farage to keep stuffing his "new party of change" with high-profile Tories from a Govt still resented by many, whatever they think of Starmer & co?

 

 

Seems very much an, "I quit!" - "Well you can't quit, cos you're sacked!" quote.

[st albans fox]

51 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

It may well be that absolutely nothing happens but what a world when European forces are sent to a friendly country to ward off American invasion

 

BBC News - European military personnel arrive in Greenland as Trump says US needs island - BBC News

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0ydjvxpejo

Interesting that we have an island that trump insists has to be protected from Russia and China and it looks like it will now have several European countries with armed forces present there. 
 

he’s way too transactional to play 3D chess but I could argue that this is a better option for him than having to bolster his own forces on the island ……

[leicsmac]

12 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Interesting that we have an island that trump insists has to be protected from Russia and China and it looks like it will now have several European countries with armed forces present there. 
 

he’s way too transactional to play 3D chess but I could argue that this is a better option for him than having to bolster his own forces on the island ……

If additional defence of Greenland were his only ambition here, it could have been achieved much more easily and with much less bother than this method. 

 

Please, put away even the inference that was the original intent or that the outcome justifies what's happened here. 

 

Edit: to say nothing of the fact that additional "defence" of that area is entirely unproven in necessity and therefore ridiculously unwarranted anyway. 

Edited 15 January by leicsmac

[Alf Bentley]

41 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Seems very much an, "I quit!" - "Well you can't quit, cos you're sacked!" quote.

 

Sounds more like "I've discovered you're about to quit and to shit on the Tories, so you're sacked".

 

Jenrick has yet to comment several hours later. Farage confirmed he'd been talking to Jenrick but claimed nothing definite had been arranged.

 

BBC suggested someone discovered Jenrick's draft "I quit and you're shit" speech and handed it to Badenoch....Whoops! 

[foxes1988]

9 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

Sounds more like "I've discovered you're about to quit and to shit on the Tories, so you're sacked".

 

Jenrick has yet to comment several hours later. Farage confirmed he'd been talking to Jenrick but claimed nothing definite had been arranged.

 

BBC suggested someone discovered Jenrick's draft "I quit and you're shit" speech and handed it to Badenoch....Whoops! 

Unreal isn't it. Left his resignation speech lying around. Its no wonder why the Tories were so chaotic when in government 

[leicsmac]

2 minutes ago, foxes1988 said:

Unreal isn't it. Left his resignation speech lying around. Its no wonder why the Tories were so chaotic when in government 

Sounds like something out of "The Thick of It".

[st albans fox]

26 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

If additional defence of Greenland were his only ambition here, it could have been achieved much more easily and with much less bother than this method. 

 

Please, put away even the inference that was the original intent or that the outcome justifies what's happened here. 

 

Edit: to say nothing of the fact that additional "defence" of that area is entirely unproven in necessity and therefore ridiculously unwarranted anyway. 

Trump knows that the Europeans move way too slowly 

you only have to think back pre Ukraine war when the Russians were building their forces on the border and our response was to sanction a couple of people and tell Putin not to be so horrid. 
 

beefing up military spending to over 3.5% of gdp is going to take the best part of a decade 

 

like I said, I don’t believe that trump is capable of thinking laterally but if he’d taken an approach that he wanted to get NATO troops from several countries on the ground in Greenland and discussed it in Brussels,  it would have taken a long time to happen. (If it happened at all). 
 

it’s just an accidental consequence of his approach. 

 

 

[leicsmac]

2 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Trump knows that the Europeans move way too slowly 

you only have to think back pre Ukraine war when the Russians were building their forces on the border and our response was to sanction a couple of people and tell Putin not to be so horrid. 
 

beefing up military spending to over 3.5% of gdp is going to take the best part of a decade 

 

like I said, I don’t believe that trump is capable of thinking laterally but if he’d taken an approach that he wanted to get NATO troops from several countries on the ground in Greenland and discussed it in Brussels,  it would have taken a long time to happen. (If it happened at all). 
 

it’s just an accidental consequence of his approach. 

 

 

An accidental consequence to fit a problem that didn't and doesn't exist in the first place. 

 

I'm sorry, but this is still ridiculous and unnecessary no matter which way someone slices it. 

[fox_up_north]

Heard the Jenrick announcement on the radio.

 

Farage spends 5 minutes saying Kemi jumped the gun and he isn't joining.

 

Then says he is and announces him.

 

Jenrick is lost somewhere in the building and doesn't appear. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

3 hours ago, st albans fox said:

I was convinced that reform had no chance in 2029.  But if they are going to start collecting serious Tory politicians and replace the farage/tice types then I may have a rethink. 

Are you from the future?

 

If you are, it looks bleak.

[Trav Le Bleu]

6 minutes ago, fox_up_north said:

Heard the Jenrick announcement on the radio.

 

Farage spends 5 minutes saying Kemi jumped the gun and he isn't joining.

 

Then says he is and announces him.

 

Jenrick is lost somewhere in the building and doesn't appear. 

These are the future of UK government.

[ramboacdc]

8 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Are you from the future?

 

If you are, it looks bleak.

 

7 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

These are the future of UK government.

A lot will happen between now and 2029. Reform will inflict damage in the election to a few of the parties, but I can't see them getting over the line to be the government. People in reform councils will know what they would be like in charge. All well and good sticking a St George's Cross on every lampost, but not good if they haven't kept the lights on or the bins collected for 5 years upto the election/ 

Polls right now aren't worth much. As General Elections come round, the polls line back up. With FPTP they will be minority at best in my opinion. 

[Voll Blau]

5 hours ago, EnderbyFox said:

 

There is always a tweet 

The problem is none of this will matter in the slightest to people planning to vote Reform.

 

Farage will deflect and deny it, and his fans will lap it up. We're beyond hypocrisy and satire being able to bring the likes of him down nowadays. It's grim.

[Bellend Sebastian]

If there's one thing that can save Britain it's a party featuring large chunks of the more amateurish elements of the last widely adored Tory administration

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Another normal day I see.

[WigstonWanderer]

6 hours ago, Sampson said:

Yeah the world changes so quickly nowadays, if you see just the graph I posted a couple of pages ago how quickly poll number changes nowadays.

The Fourth Turning?

Edited 15 January by WigstonWanderer

[when_you're_smiling]

1 hour ago, Voll Blau said:

The problem is none of this will matter in the slightest to people planning to vote Reform.

 

Farage will deflect and deny it, and his fans will lap it up. We're beyond hypocrisy and satire being able to bring the likes of him down nowadays. It's grim.

No. Surely no-one’s stupid enough to be mad about immigration, want ‘reform’ and then vote for the former Minister for Immigration? 

[bovril]

I feel it's almost inevitable that at some point in the near future Reform are going to complain that we don't get European migrants any more. 

[DJW1]

I see parallels betweeen LCFC and the political situation in the UK (and not just that Keir Starmer looks a bit like Marti Cifuentes).

 

Summer 24: Kick the Tories out! We want everything to be better NOW, but we´re not prepared to pay a penny more in tax to achieve it.

January 25: why isn´t everything better? Starmer out! Reform in!

 

June 25: LCFC is a disaster - the players are useless/don´t care/are too young and the club´s broke.

September 25: why aren´t we in the top 2? Cifuentes out!

[Sampson]

1 minute ago, DJW1 said:

I see parallels betweeen LCFC and the political situation in the UK (and not just that Keir Starmer looks a bit like Marti Cifuentes).

 

Summer 24: Kick the Tories out! We want everything to be better NOW, but we´re not prepared to pay a penny more in tax to achieve it.

January 25: why isn´t everything better? Starmer out! Reform in!

 

June 25: LCFC is a disaster - the players are useless/don´t care/are too young and the club´s broke.

September 25: why aren´t we in the top 2? Cifuentes out!

Is Wes Streeting the “give it to Kingy til the end of the season” option?

[splinterdream]

2 hours ago, Voll Blau said:

The problem is none of this will matter in the slightest to people planning to vote Reform.

 

Farage will deflect and deny it, and his fans will lap it up. We're beyond hypocrisy and satire being able to bring the likes of him down nowadays. It's grim.

What is the alternative? 

 

That is whats grim.

[Voll Blau]

36 minutes ago, splinterdream said:

What is the alternative? 

 

That is whats grim.

The alternative is literally anyone other than a bloke still whingeing about how bad the country is 10 years after getting everything he wanted. And still offering no solutions 10 years after getting everything he wanted.