UK Politics - BoJo Kool-Aid vs Project Fear Cocktail of Terror

[polishgenius]

7 hours ago, Which Tyler said:

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/rnli-lifeboat-crew-blocked-from-going-out-to-sea-by-people-angry-at-them-rescuing-refugees-303026

Is it possible to charge people with intent to manslaughter?

 

 

If we're so full they should be allowed to take the 'protesters' with them, drop them in the ocean and bring the refugees back to their house.

[Which Tyler]

Guardian now carrying the story

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/30/hastings-small-boat-arrivals-tensions-east-sussex-town

[Spockydog]

Shameful. 

It's fishermen, right? Let's hope none of them need rescuing by these volunteers on a day when there also happens to be migrants in the water.

#KarmaWillFuckThemUp

[A wilding]

6 hours ago, Varysblackfyre321 said:

conservatives on average donating to charity more than liberals

That's an interesting statistic. Is that true in the UK? What happens when you factor in that those on the right are generally wealthier and older than those on the left?

[The Anti-Targ]

low income people mostly "donate" to charities by buying lottery tickets. That's probably not included in charity donation stats. As a proportion of one's discretionary income I would be surprised if the liberal/conservative split comes out the same way as the simple a gross amount comparison. Would be keen to see any stats so we can talk from a position of knowledge.

[Pebble thats Stubby]

1 hour ago, The Anti-Targ said:

low income people mostly "donate" to charities by buying lottery tickets. That's probably not included in charity donation stats. As a proportion of one's discretionary income I would be surprised if the liberal/conservative split comes out the same way as the simple a gross amount comparison. Would be keen to see any stats so we can talk from a position of knowledge.

 Conservatives are more likely to be religious and tithe 10% of their income to their church.  This is probably more true in the US than the UK but probably takes up a large part of conservative charity donations.  (we can argue about weather Churches are charities - to me it depends on what they do with the money)

 

[Liffguard]

I also wonder to what extent that donations to private schools, theatres / opera houses, art galleries etc. are included as charitable donations.

[Pebble thats Stubby]

11 minutes ago, Liffguard said:

I also wonder to what extent that donations to private schools, theatres / opera houses, art galleries etc. are included as charitable donations.

you also have their "charity" Dinners event.

[Spockydog]

Marina Hyde absolutely eviscerating the anti-mask, Blitz-invoking, cretinous fucking idiots:

Let’s not pretend the anti-mask babies would have lasted a minute in the blitz

Quote

 

While the scientists work out how bad the Omicron variant is or isn’t, the government has reimposed mask-wearing in shops and on public transport for at least the next three weeks. Consequently, a number of prams have been swiftly emptied of all toys. Across the airwaves – and up and down the train carriages and the supermarket aisles – you can find multiple refuseniks who suffer from the pandemic version of that old sexual problem: being “too big for condoms”.

To those who have reacted to the precautionary mask-wearing mandate with histrionics and aggression, I think we have to say, very clearly: DO BUCK UP. This really isn’t the attitude that won us the war.

As for mentioning the war, forgive me. Around 70,000 Britons died in second world war bombing raids, most of them in the blitz, while 145,000 have thus far perished from Covid. Yet somehow there does seem to be a large intersection between the Venn diagram sets “People who bang on endlessly about WW2” and “People who cannot cope with having to take a relatively minor public health measure for the greater good”.

Of course, in London, both positions have links with the tube. In December 1940, you’d have been snatching a couple of hours’ troubled sleep on the underground platform while Hitler blew up your house. In December 2021, you’d be on your way to Oxford Street on the Central line to sample the pre-Christmas enticements of JD Sports. Yet still, somehow, managing to see a few minutes of mask-wearing in a non-ventilated space as an outrageous imposition on your personage, with which you – a stone-cold hero – simply shouldn’t be involved.

But why? It’s really not that bad, is it, to have to wear a mask in limited settings, if it might help other people, even a bit? For all their big talk, you can’t help thinking those unable to bring themselves to do it wouldn’t make the first sacrifice for their fellow humans, let alone the ultimate one.

As they shout – or type in capitals – the words “THE BRITISH PEOPLE HAVE HAD ENOUGH”, it’s intriguing to remember that chaps like this really fancy their chances at having been able to cope with the blitz. Picture this person, this person who wets their pants and goes full online Braveheart over being asked to wear a mask between Liverpool Street and Holborn. Assuming they didn’t think air raid sirens were part of some “great reset” and ignored them (fatally), try to imagine this person trudging out of the tube station after the air raid. Try to imagine them discovering they didn’t have a street any more, having to remake their lives and those of their family in an anguished instant, by migrating somewhere else in the country in the clothes they stood in. Or try to imagine them having been taken in by friends or relatives, and turning straight back up to the bomb site with a broom to assist in clearing the rubble. I don’t want to be a bitch, but if you lose your mind over being asked to pop on a face covering in Boots, I honestly don’t think you’d be up to a whole lot of the above.

 

 

 

 

[Derfel Cadarn]

SNP MP Ian Blackford managed to call Boris Johnson a liar in a way that was allowed to stand in the House of Commons. (it’s against the rules to call MP’s liars in Parliament).

Would have linked to the BBC but they’ve ‘oddly’ omitted that speech.

[Werthead]

13 hours ago, Spockydog said:

Marina Hyde absolutely eviscerating the anti-mask, Blitz-invoking, cretinous fucking idiots:

Let’s not pretend the anti-mask babies would have lasted a minute in the blitz

My grandad was an ARP warden during the Blitz and his stories of dealing on a nightly basis with absolute fucking cretins refusing to properly put up their blackout equipment, refusing to go into shelters and even taking advantage of the situation to engage in looting were quite something. Obviously the majority complied with the regulations but those that didn't kept the wardens properly busy on a nightly basis.

He did have some sympathy for the people who'd gotten bored with it after weeks and had worked out that if a German incendiary fell on the shelter, they'd be as dead as it it had landed on the house, so gave up bothering since the only people they were endangering were themselves, and probably not very much.

[Varysblackfyre321]

18 hours ago, A wilding said:

That's an interesting statistic. Is that true in the UK? What happens when you factor in that those on the right are generally wealthier and older than those on the left?

Conservatives on average donate more. They’re more collectivist than liberals and tend to view a lot of things through how the individual to help the group they most readily relate to.

Their family, local community, their race etc.

In terms of their vitriol towards any precautions towards mask-wearing and vaccines, is largely  due to their anti-intellectualis.

16 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

low income people mostly "donate" to charities by buying lottery tickets. That's probably not included in charity donation stats.

I don’t see why it would; it’d just be a form of gambling.

15 hours ago, Liffguard said:

I also wonder to what extent that donations to private schools, theatres / opera houses, art galleries etc. are included as charitable donations.

Apart. I don’t think most of those things are bad to donate to.

 

[Zorral]

Quote

 private schools, theatres / opera houses, art galleries etc. 

In the US these donations are all tax deductions, like all charitable - non-profit giving.  Is that the same in the UK?

Notice also how very well-funded by the right wing are think tanks, chairs and programs at universities, even 'universities' themselves, etc. They fund renovations to opera houses and big libraries, which then have THEIR names on them.

The progressives / left don't have that kind of money to erect entire buildings on campuses, and over all, indeed, the liberal-working-class (in ye olden days, anyway, working class and union class, were on the spectrum), Dems -- just don't have that kind of money.

 

[A wilding]

44 minutes ago, Zorral said:

In the US these donations are all tax deductions, like all charitable - non-profit giving.  Is that the same in the UK?

Yes, and in many cases they also expect assorted kickbacks in return for the donations, to the extent that some of these charities are considered little more than a form of tax avoidance. Our current PM has been accused of this sort of behaviour in the past.

 

45 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Notice also how very well-funded by the right wing are think tanks, chairs and programs at universities, even 'universities' themselves, etc. They fund renovations to opera houses and big libraries, which then have THEIR names on them.

Exactly.

1 hour ago, Varysblackfyre321 said:

Conservatives on average donate more. They’re more collectivist than liberals and tend to view a lot of things through how the individual to help the group they most readily relate to.

So can you point me at any references about this?

One factor in the UK is that a huge number of people give substantial amounts of their time volunteering for various charities. Everything from the Samaritans, to Home Start, to homeless shelters. In my anecdotal experience, such people tend to lean left.

[Varysblackfyre321]

56 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Notice also how very well-funded by the right wing are think tanks, chairs and programs at universities, even 'universities' themselves, etc. They fund renovations to opera houses and big libraries, which then have THEIR names on them.

Do you think most conservatives who donate to charity do so in the amount where they’d get such a prize?

8 minutes ago, A wilding said:

So can you point me at any references about this?

sure
https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/statistics/u.s.-generosity

9 minutes ago, A wilding said:

Everything from the Samaritans, to Home Start, to homeless shelters. In my anecdotal experience, such people tend to lean left.

I think conservatives outpace Liberals in regards to this not out of greater moral worth but a naive viewing of how best to deal with a lot social ills and the impact one individual could have on it.

 Charity is fine when you wanna help rebuild a local church.

terrible to rely on if you wanna address any large-scale problem. Charitable foundations have  far less accountability and transparency in how they operate as a private enterprise and a lot of times even every cent went where it was promised to go(it never does) it’s not enough.

[A wilding]

That link refers the the US of course. I was wondering about the UK. Also interesting to note that 40% of US charitable giving goes to religion - I very much doubt that that is the case in the UK!

Actually I am really struggling to find anything on charitable behaviour by political leaning for the UK. The best I can do is https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/publications/2021-publications/uk-giving-2021 , but that has nothing about political views.

 

[Zorral]

An enormous amount of what the wrong wing groups "donate" to are also scams of one sort and another, starting with taxes.  For one example alone, See: Shoggoth and all his campaign donation set-up which meant a donor would be donating every week or month for the rest of their lives because they didn't click a box that said otherwise.  So many shenanigans around donation and charity just out of his empire of criminality alone -- just starting with taxes.

And then, you know lobbying, by "donating to a charity of your choice."

 

[A wilding]

UK law prohibits charitable donations being used to support political parties, or generally for any political purpose. Though there are a few loopholes that allow limited indirect support.

In fact the current government are attempting to strengthen that - they have tried to argue that this means that no charity may do anything that embarrasses them. For example they would outlaw any charity pointing out publicly that a proposed government policy would increase the number of people below the poverty line.

[Zorral]

So much opportunity to jerkwaddie, so little time!

Plus you know all the donations now to the GoFundMes to pay the medical and funeral expenses of all the wrong wing jerkwaddies who peddled anti-vax, and made a killing from it, and those who bought into what they peddled and got killed with it too. Millions and Millions of Millions being donated right there!

[Spockydog]

I have fuck all money. But I just donated some to these guys:

Good Law Project and Runnymede Trust - It's time for an end to cronyism

Quote

 

In August, the Conservative Peer Dido Harding was appointed as Head of the National Institute for Health Protection. The wife of a Conservative MP and friend of former Prime Minister David Cameron, Dido Harding didn’t pip other candidates to the post at the interview. There weren’t any other candidates. She was just handed the job. 

She’s not the only one to land a top job this way. Each week it seems another individual secures a role of vital public importance without any advertisement or fair process - and very often that individual has personal and political connections to Government. 

Our public bodies perform vital functions. Effective Test and Trace is absolutely key to tackling the pandemic. And we need to have those bodies run by people who are the best placed to do the job at hand, who were recruited through open competition and appointed because of what they know, not who they know. 

Appointing your mates to top jobs isn’t new or the preserve of the Conservative Party: we all remember “Tony’s Cronies” too. But it’s high time we put a stop to it. Runnymede Trust and Good Law Project are challenging the appointment of Dido Harding, as well as a string of other appointments which were made with seemingly no advertisement or fair recruitment process. 

The judicial review raises two legal arguments:

Recruitment without open competition is indirect discrimination on grounds of, in particular, race and disability, contrary to the Equality Act 2010; and

Government appears to have breached its public sector equality duty in s. 149 of the Equality Act 2010 in filling senior public sector roles without paying due regard to the impact of its recruitment approach on those with protected characteristics.

 

The campaign went live yesterday, with a funding goal of £375k. Since then, they've raised £356k.