The Politics Thread 3.0

[Errkal]

These sort of deals shouldn't be allowed. Giving away £1B in taxpayer money just to stay in power!

What happens if next election is neck and neck and suddenly there's a bidding war to get the smaller parties on-side.

The Tories don't care about this country at all, they just want power at any cost.

Especially when they can make others fund the cost.

[captain red dog]

I heard over the weekend that it would mean the other devolved nations will now be due more under the Barnett formula. I wonder how that works out?

[Tineash]

I heard over the weekend that it would mean the other devolved nations will now be due more under the Barnett formula. I wonder how that works out?

It's not at all legally binding, so all that's going to happen is the other devolved governments get pissed off at the Tories.

[KK]

- There is no magic money tree
- Coalition of chaos
- Strong and stable
- Will be going to the EU negotiating butt-naked

She's been GREAT at projecting all the failings of her own government onto Labour before they actually occur.

[Photek]

These sort of deals shouldn't be allowed. Giving away £1B in taxpayer money just to stay in power!

Well...not saying I agree with the DUP being in power but Northern Ireland people are also taxpayers....

[DML]

The desperation of May knows no bounds.

[Squinty]

I heard over the weekend that it would mean the other devolved nations will now be due more under the Barnett formula. I wonder how that works out?

Only makes sense. Wales and Scotland will probably be absolutely pissed off at this if they aren't getting anything.

Magic money tree indeed, all these mentions of not having the money to do certain things during the election campaign, and now they are practically giving it away.

Really don't have a good feeling about this in terms of the GFA.

[bear]

It's not the cash that bothers me on this deal, I'm sure chunks of that were probably already earmarked for development in NI anyway.

Arlene Foster has a stellar record with setting up government funding schemes, so I'm sure all this money will be distributed in a way that is well thought-out and sustainable.

And, y'know, not stupidly misappropriated to the point that it becomes the largest scandal in NI politics, resulting in the fall of our government, and yet somehow forgotten about within 8 months.

Hopefully this deal will get a larger spotlight shone on the DUPs everyday activities. One of the most remarkable things about the whole RHI mess was how quickly a mountain of dodgy behaviour was exposed once people actually started asking questions.
Liofa was the same sort of situation but on a smaller scale, a belief that the DUP can do whatever they want and to hell with proper procedure.

[KK]

I wonder how long this coalition agreement will survive.

To take a majority government, 20+ points in the lead, and manage to do such an abysmal job in the space of about 2 months is phenomenal. Never known anything like it.

[Squinty]

RHI has been completely forgotten about. I have no faith in hearing anything more about it. Questions need to be answered about this.

[Garth]

£1.5 billion? Ahahaha, thanks May!

[Moggy]

Tony Robinson

I have a vague interest in the guy. I watched that show where he went to meet Muslims, and I genuinely thought he would learn something from the experience. Dude seems to have learned nothing. He tries to come across as reasonable but the mask slips a lot of time, revealing him to be antagonistic, out of his depth and exploitative.

I watch a lot of his videos and have found him to be quite knowledgeable on Islam and the history of terrorism in the UK particularly in terms of knowing the history of radical preachers that have been active around the UK.

I agree that he has been unnessarily antagonistic over the mosque attack last week for example. That was an occasion where he really could have built bridges.

Tony Robinson?

Tommy Robinson (and his ilk) research Islam in order to find things to use against the group as a whole. Find a nasty passage in the Quran, use it to demonise a billion people. Lovely.

He's a wife beating, racist, fraudulent thug. He's not somebody that can build bridges because he's one of the ones knocking them down.

Not sure on the racist bit as I have really struggled to find anything racist he has said, aside from that clip Piers Morgan had last week. I have really looked for it given the number of times he has been called a racist, so if you have anything I'm genuinely interested to see it. Generally what he says about hate preachers in mosques has been reasonably accurate but I don't think he has any kind of solutions.

He mentioned internment for people on the terror watch list, but I'm opposed to that on two fronts, firstly it's against the principles of our legal system and secondly it would, in my opinion, escalate the number of youths that are radicalised.

I can't be arsed to go through his entire history and dig up every quote/tweet he's ever said/sent.

Let's look at the basics:

Former member of the BNP.

Former member of the British Freedom Party.

Founder of the EDL.

Non stop verbal (and now physical) attacks on Muslims.

"But but but Muslim is not a race". Sure, but I think we know what he means.

Well that's the thing, I have seen a lot of people call him a racist but haven't to date seen anything he has said that seems racist, and I have scoured a lot of his tweets and various speeches but have come up empty handed.

As far as I recall, I think he said he left the BNP as he found they were racist, and set up the EDL to do things differently. Then I'm sure he said he left the EDL when they were joined by BNP types but who knows.

A lot of his past is a bit sketchy, and I'm not entirely sympathetic that he gets called racist as I have seen him do the same thing when he has called Corbyn a terrorist sympathiser and I have tweeted him to say as much.

You haven't seen anything to date except the Piers Morgan clip you already mentioned?

Left the BNP when he found out they were racist. Yeah ok....

[Kanbei]

£1.5 billion? Ahahaha, thanks May!

Only infrastructure project named is the York Street interchange. Whoever the person was who designed the way it is now in the first place is an absolute idiot.

[jiggles]

£1.5 billion? Ahahaha, thanks May!

Only infrastructure project named is the York Street interchange. Whoever the person was who designed the way it is now in the first place is an absolute idiot.

How about at least a dual carriageway between Derry and Belfast? Or a direct train route? You know, the two biggest cities? We could get the journey time down under an hour. And maybe make Derry and Strabane viable places to set up a business and create jobs? You know, the places with the two highest unemployment rates in the country? Maybe they need it more?

Nah, mate, just connect up all the protestant towns and keep pumping cash into Belfast. It'll be grand.

[captain red dog]

You haven't seen anything to date except the Piers Morgan clip you already mentioned?

Left the BNP when he found out they were racist. Yeah ok....

I have watched a lot of Tommy Robinson speeches on YouTube, read his twitter and I have a bootleg copy of his book to read (I didn't want to pay for it and potentially fund a racist). I haven't seen anything yet I'd consider as racist.

His explanation around joining the BNP sounded believable to me. He has said that when he joined he was naive to think they were a legitimate political party. I think he said that when he went to meetings he discovered it was racist skinheads which was why he left. He said he saw the same type of people joining the EDL which is why he left them too.

I have read about his football hooligan days, I don't approve of that but do know a few ex-hooligans through work and it is possible for them to change. Not sure about mortgage fraud, I have only heard his side of the story on that.

I can't excuse the domestic violence against his girlfriend and the police officer either. I put it in context of myself at that age (he would have been 23) and he can't really put that down to being young and stupid.

[Tineash]

You haven't seen anything to date except the Piers Morgan clip you already mentioned?

Left the BNP when he found out they were racist. Yeah ok....

I have watched a lot of Tommy Robinson speeches on YouTube, read his twitter and I have a bootleg copy of his book to read (I didn't want to pay for it and potentially fund a racist). I haven't seen anything yet I'd consider as racist.

His explanation around joining the BNP sounded believable to me. He has said that when he joined he was naive to think they were a legitimate political party. I think he said that when he went to meetings he discovered it was racist skinheads which was why he left. He said he saw the same type of people joining the EDL which is why he left them too.

I have read about his football hooligan days, I don't approve of that but do know a few ex-hooligans through work and it is possible for them to change. Not sure about mortgage fraud, I have only heard his side of the story on that.

I can't excuse the domestic violence against his girlfriend and the police officer either. I put it in context of myself at that age (he would have been 23) and he can't really put that down to being young and stupid.

Why Are All These Famously Racist Parties Full Of Racists, Asks Area Man

[Moggy]

You haven't seen anything to date except the Piers Morgan clip you already mentioned?

Left the BNP when he found out they were racist. Yeah ok....

I have watched a lot of Tommy Robinson speeches on YouTube, read his twitter and I have a bootleg copy of his book to read (I didn't want to pay for it and potentially fund a racist). I haven't seen anything yet I'd consider as racist.

His explanation around joining the BNP sounded believable to me. He has said that when he joined he was naive to think they were a legitimate political party. I think he said that when he went to meetings he discovered it was racist skinheads which was why he left. He said he saw the same type of people joining the EDL which is why he left them too.

I have read about his football hooligan days, I don't approve of that but do know a few ex-hooligans through work and it is possible for them to change. Not sure about mortgage fraud, I have only heard his side of the story on that.

I can't excuse the domestic violence against his girlfriend and the police officer either. I put it in context of myself at that age (he would have been 23) and he can't really put that down to being young and stupid.

Why Are All These Famously Racist Parties Full Of Racists, Asks Area Man

CRD, at the age of 23 he ought to have been pretty aware of what the BNP was. To then go onto the British Freedom Party before founding the EDL? Yeah, I'm sure he has no racist views at all.

[KK]

twitter.com/george_osborne/status/879324865983131650

Feels more like a Mirror front page.

[Hexx]

You haven't seen anything to date except the Piers Morgan clip you already mentioned?

Left the BNP when he found out they were racist. Yeah ok....

I have watched a lot of Tommy Robinson speeches on YouTube, read his twitter and I have a bootleg copy of his book to read (I didn't want to pay for it and potentially fund a racist). I haven't seen anything yet I'd consider as racist.

His explanation around joining the BNP sounded believable to me. He has said that when he joined he was naive to think they were a legitimate political party. I think he said that when he went to meetings he discovered it was racist skinheads which was why he left. He said he saw the same type of people joining the EDL which is why he left them too.

I have read about his football hooligan days, I don't approve of that but do know a few ex-hooligans through work and it is possible for them to change. Not sure about mortgage fraud, I have only heard his side of the story on that.

I can't excuse the domestic violence against his girlfriend and the police officer either. I put it in context of myself at that age (he would have been 23) and he can't really put that down to being young and stupid.

Why Are All These Famously Racist Parties Full Of Racists, Asks Area Man

On that note TR looks like he'd be an absolutely filthy shag after a few pints

[Moggy]

You haven't seen anything to date except the Piers Morgan clip you already mentioned?

Left the BNP when he found out they were racist. Yeah ok....

I have watched a lot of Tommy Robinson speeches on YouTube, read his twitter and I have a bootleg copy of his book to read (I didn't want to pay for it and potentially fund a racist). I haven't seen anything yet I'd consider as racist.

His explanation around joining the BNP sounded believable to me. He has said that when he joined he was naive to think they were a legitimate political party. I think he said that when he went to meetings he discovered it was racist skinheads which was why he left. He said he saw the same type of people joining the EDL which is why he left them too.

I have read about his football hooligan days, I don't approve of that but do know a few ex-hooligans through work and it is possible for them to change. Not sure about mortgage fraud, I have only heard his side of the story on that.

I can't excuse the domestic violence against his girlfriend and the police officer either. I put it in context of myself at that age (he would have been 23) and he can't really put that down to being young and stupid.

Why Are All These Famously Racist Parties Full Of Racists, Asks Area Man

On that note TR looks like he'd be an absolutely filthy shag after a few pints

He'd become so enraged when he sees your brown ring that he'll smash it to pieces.