UK Politics- P0rn, Horn and Local Elections

[Varysblackfyre321]

1 hour ago, Heartofice said:

I'm sure nobody noticed an extra 3-6 million EU citizens moving into the country in a short amount of time. 

What bad things did they do to which we could objectively measure?

Did crime go up? Did the UK’s economic prospects falter? 

[Which Tyler]

 

[Poobah]

1 hour ago, Which Tyler said:

 

The state of this fucking country. Meanwhile the champaign is trickling down nicely in parties held by our "leaders".

[Zorral]

Some people here in the frakin' media are finally seeing the light.  Stop calling this culture war, as if we're talking about men wearing long hair or women wearing trousers.

These issues called 'culture war' are straight-up political weaponry to achieve the religious tyranny of a very small segment of white people to rule the nation and impose their will on everyone else.  Straight up authoritarians, like Putin, who are also aligned with a Church, as in his case the Russian Greek Orthodox Church. 

But, in the end it isn't even about religion at all -- it's about a very small number of people possessing the nation -- and yes, please -- the entire world -- and doing just as they please. And what they please most is having absolute control and authority over the hated female who is uppity enough to decide who and when -- and even if -- she fucks, and when or if she has children.  Please notice all of these issues are about sex and gender, and often aligned with 'race.' 

You have that going on in the UK too, as well as in many other nations, who are aligned with Putin to destroy any vestige of democracy.

Let’s throw out the term ‘culture wars.’ This is religious tyranny. By Jennifer Rubin

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/04/culture-wars-diminishes-danger/

Quote

 

In their never-ending quest to turn politics into a game and dumb down the most serious of issues, the media continues to use the term “culture wars” to describe a range of issues in which the right seeks to break through all restraints on government power in an effort to establish a society that aligns with a minority view of America as a White, Christian country. In using “culture wars,” one would think this were a battle between two sides over hemlines or movie ratings or “lifestyles.” If media outlets keep up that distorting language, they are going to find it hard to explain the firestorm that awaits the overturning of Roe v. Wade, if the leaked draft opinion by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. prevails. ....

.... It’s important to identify the nature of the threat to Americans to understand the reaction that would likely follow a ruling along the lines Alito laid out. A Supreme Court decision that would criminalize abortion, eviscerating the ambit of privacy and personal autonomy afforded by the 14th Amendment, would expand governmental power into every nook and cranny of life — from a doctor’s office in Texas treating a transgender child, to intimate relations in a bedroom in Georgia, to a pharmacy counter in Ohio. Will government dictate a set of views that have not had majority support for decades?

The right-wing justices and their supporters appear ready to reject one of the Founders’ core principles: that religion shall not be imposed by government edict.

Other Republicans have given away the scheme. In his 11-point plan, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, declares: “The nuclear family is crucial to civilization, it is God’s design for humanity, and it must be protected and celebrated. To say otherwise is to deny science.” Put aside the utter incoherence (is it God or science?): The senator is explicitly calling for state power to be used in the service of his religious beliefs.

And it’s no slip of the tongue. As would a number of Supreme Court justices, Scott would impose religious views while refusing to admit his views stem from a particular religious perspective. “Abortion kills human children,” Scott pronounces. “To deny that is to deny science.” Actually, he wants to mandate conduct based on the religious view that humanity/personhood starts at conception.

This is not about “culture.” It is about appropriating state power to enforce theocratically driven positions. Issues dismissed as “culture” or “wokeness” inevitably boil down to whether government will diminish individual rights (e.g., a rape victim’s access to abortion) and supplant decision-making on matters, such as health care, that individuals and families jealously guard.

It wasn’t so long ago that “conservatives” stood for the proposition that government, especially the federal government, should not control the totality of traditions, habits and decisions made in civil society. The family, for example, should remain undisturbed to work out arrangements that reflect its members’ values, faith and views in a pluralistic society. The principle of limited government posits that — unlike totalitarian states that override personal conscience, family and religion — free peoples do not tolerate an all-pervasive government. As Vice President Harris said on Tuesday at an Emily’s List gathering, reversing Roe would be “a direct assault on freedom, on the fundamental right of self-determination.” She continued: “When the right to privacy is attacked, anyone in our country may face a future where the government can interfere with their personal decisions. Not just women. Anyone.”

In sum, the media’s “culture wars” shorthand is an evasion, a refusal to recognize that what is at stake are the rights and lives of those without the resources or power to defend themselves (e.g., travel out of state for an abortion). The Supreme Court is poised to roil the very essence of our constitutional tradition and strike at the heart of a pluralistic democracy. Let’s call it what it really is: state-enforced theocracy, or, if you prefer, religious authoritarianism.

 

 

 

[Varysblackfyre321]

5 hours ago, Zorral said:

Some people here in the frakin' media are finally seeing the light.  Stop calling this culture war, as if we're talking about men wearing long hair or women wearing trousers.

I imagine those groups would eventually be on the chopping block too quite frankly.  

5 hours ago, Zorral said:

You have that going on in the UK too, as well as in many other nations, who are aligned with Putin to destroy any vestige of democracy.

Yeah the reason why he gushed about Rowling getting canceled to a crowd of Russians who just wanted to go home wasn’t to invigorate himself to his own people. He was talking to the anti-woke around the world who’d side fascist to stop the wokeness.

5 hours ago, Zorral said:

Straight up authoritarians, like Putin, who are also aligned with a Church, as in his case the Russian Greek Orthodox Church. 

It should be noted he has tried to placate and distract the populace with framing himself as the only one stopping the gays from homosexualizing Russia and keeping it Christian.

Omg I just realized actually Russia has more reproductive rights for women than many parts of America.

5 hours ago, Zorral said:

But, in the end it isn't even about religion at all --

True.
It’s why I’m inclined to stick with calling their attempt to codify their bigotry into law or as social mores. I hope the left can actually steadfast and turn it into a phrase that makes other people cringe when hearing it.

like the right has done PC or social justice and at the moment woke. 

[Spockydog]

*turns on BBC1*

I have actual popcorn. A huge bag of Butterkist.

Om nom nom, motherfuckas.

[Spockydog]

To begin, a delicious entrée...

 

[Spockydog]

Senior Tories briefing the BBC that Wandsworth is lost, saying their voters stayed home because of Boris and Partygate. 

ETA: Kuenssberg saying Westminster and Barnet are probably gone, too.   

 

[williamjm]

According to the BBC News live feed the Tories have managed to lose a council that didn't even have any elections happening, which is a neat trick:

 

Quote

 

The next elections for Rutland County Council won't take place until May 2023. But the Conservatives there have suffered a blow tonight with the resignation of council leader Oliver Hemsley and several other Tory councillors.

In a statement, Mr Hemsley says he intends to carry on leading a minority administration as an independent. He says the council has been ignored by the government on funding.

 

 

[Spockydog]

LOL at the spin machine on BBC right now. According to the Tory that's been wheeled out to defend this shitshow, someone I've never even heard of, Starmer will be a failure unless Labour gain 800 seats (this suggestion got audible laughs in the studio). 

[Spockydog]

Huw Edwards: Hah, Lammy. Everyboz is saying youz fools about to loose Sunderlandings.

Kuenssberg: Yeh, ma sources sez Bozza's visit really tipped the scales. Youz looooozers. Lolz.

BREAKING NEWS: Labour Expected To Hold Sunderland

David Lammy: quiet fistpump

BBC Tories: Oi what is you celbrating like dat for? It's only Tynesnide. You is worse than Arsenal, you melter.

[Spockydog]

Rejoice, people of Wertington!

 

[The Anti-Targ]

1 hour ago, Spockydog said:

To begin, a delicious entrée...

 

It's an interesting analysis, that last quote. Perhaps its true that if Boris wasn't Boris and if Partygate never happened the Tories would sweep to victory throughout the Queendom. But surely, Boris being a lying sleazebag and Partygate aren't actually materially causing people harm in their day to day lives that alone would cause a wholesale turn against the entire Tory party. Absent those ethical sideshows, are there no other reasons why people would be sweeping Tories out of local body institutions the length and breadth of the union? I suspect if a rout happens it will be for reasons additional to Boris and Partygate.

[Spockydog]

The Tory leader in Worcester just said fuck it and went home.

There is simply no way Johnson survives this.

 

[Spockydog]

15 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

Absent those ethical sideshows, are there no other reasons why people would be sweeping Tories out of local body institutions the length and breadth of the union? I suspect if a rout happens it will be for reasons additional to Boris and Partygate.

I've been knocking on doors with Labour for years. And every time we go out, we have a list showing where our voters live. We do not usually bother knocking on Tory doors. Until recently. Now we knock on all the doors.        

As you'd expect, a lot of Tories don't care, don't give a shit about anything other than themselves. But many more of them do care. And those people are angry, angry mainly because of Johnson and Partygate.

Having said all that, of the disillusioned Tory voters that I spoke to, most said they would abstain rather than vote Labour.

 

[Pebble thats Stubby]

It looks like the Lib Dems have taken control of Hull.  not confirmed yet.   but that would be a gain from Labour.  So no overall gain in the task to get rid of the Conservatives.

[Spockydog]

Might we also be able to get rid of Starmer as well? Labour not doing as well as they would like.

[Pebble thats Stubby]

My Basildon Council remains in Tory hands.

my local ward results are not good either

Billericay West - results

Election Candidate	Party	Votes	%	Outcome
https://www.basildonmeetings.info/mgImages/pixel.gif Anthony Michael Hedley	Conservative	2005	57%	Elected
https://www.basildonmeetings.info/mgImages/pixel.gif Timothy John Nicklin	Liberal Democrats	1329	38%	Not elected
https://www.basildonmeetings.info/mgImages/pixel.gif Sally Bunyan	Labour	206	6%	Not elected

 

Compared to last year.  (although we did manage to elect several lib Dems to the Billericay town council at that time - Basildon really is very Tory and Very Brexit)

Billericay West - results

Election Candidate	Party	Votes	%	Outcome
https://www.basildonmeetings.info/mgImages/pixel.gif Philip Charles Turner	Conservative	1885	50%	Elected
https://www.basildonmeetings.info/mgImages/pixel.gif Edward Krishan Sainsbury	Liberal Democrats	1687	45%	Not elected
https://www.basildonmeetings.info/mgImages/pixel.gif David Goddard	Labour	199	5%	Not elected

 

 

I'm suppressed giving the amount of attention we had this year that the Lib Dems have dropped so much.

[The Anti-Targ]

Parties often overturn seats not because they convince lots of people to vote for them, but because people who have regularly voted for the other lot sit the election out because of feeling disaffected in some way. It's generally a short lived win, since it does not signal a sea change in people's core beliefs and attitudes. Happened to my Dad. Snagged a seat in an electorate that had been for a different party forever when there was widespread dissatisfaction with that party, booted out the very next election.

[Pebble thats Stubby]

I wonder if the gains of the Greens and Lib Dems in these elections will help push the case for Labour working with the other parties with the aim of kicking the Tories out and bringing in PR.   Cos so far Labour have not really gained seats at the same rate.  The vote on the left is very split.