The Politics Thread 3.0

[Moggy]

What is it with London Mayors going to gooseberry fool once they leave the job. I mean overall Ken was well liked.

Now he's just become Basil Fawlty-esque in constantly mentioning Hitler/Jews/WW2 every time he's on TV or radio.

Johnson didn't go to gooseberry fool after being London mayor.

Nor did Ken. He's was an odious little gooseberry fool for quite a while before becoming London Mayor. He became popular for rebelling against Blair who didn't want him to run for Mayor.

[bear]

Ken. That old drunkard copying Trump quotes.



Obvious to all that Labour is currently for the many, not the jew.

I'm in two minds about this post. Livingston has repeatedly shown himself up to be a tit and that needs to be highlighted.


That being said it takes some cheek for David to be the one calling out Livingstons behaviour. You've championed Farage for years on here and were silent as a church mouse when he went off to campaign for the AFD in Germany, a party of hatemongers pushing the line that "we have the right to be proud of the proud of the achievements of German soldiers in two world wars".

What about when he campaigned for Roy Moore this week? Another lovely fellow with clever ideas like how he doesn't believe in evolution and that homosexual conduct should be illegal. Not a peep from David. Maybe it's because Moore's views aren't a million miles away from your latest idol Rees-Mogg.

Still I will give you credit for dealing with Labours anti-Semitism problem in a grown up manner and not reducing it to a cheap pun.


Or maybe not.

[Tineash]

Ken. That old drunkard copying Trump quotes.



Obvious to all that Labour is currently for the many, not the jew.

I'm in two minds about this post. Livingston has repeatedly shown himself up to be a tit and that needs to be highlighted.


That being said it takes some cheek for David to be the one calling out Livingstons behaviour. You've championed Farage for years on here and were silent as a church mouse when he went off to campaign for the AFD in Germany, a party of hatemongers pushing the line that "we have the right to be proud of the proud of the achievements of German soldiers in two world wars".

What about when he campaigned for Roy Moore this week? Another lovely fellow with clever ideas like how he doesn't believe in evolution and that homosexual conduct should be illegal. Not a peep from David. Maybe it's because Moore's views aren't a million miles away from your latest idol Rees-Mogg.

Still I will give you credit for dealing with Labours anti-Semitism problem in a grown up manner and not reducing it to a cheap pun.


Or maybe not.

[Moggy]

twitter.com/sunapology/status/869943383372050433

[captain red dog]

twitter.com/sunapology/status/869943383372050433

I'd say I'm shocked The Sun were printing blatant racist bile like that in 87, but looking at the state of the paper even today it's not a surprise at all.

[Grumpy David]

Ken. That old drunkard copying Trump quotes.



Obvious to all that Labour is currently for the many, not the jew.

I'm in two minds about this post. Livingston has repeatedly shown himself up to be a tit and that needs to be highlighted.


That being said it takes some cheek for David to be the one calling out Livingstons behaviour. You've championed Farage for years on here and were silent as a church mouse when he went off to campaign for the AFD in Germany, a party of hatemongers pushing the line that "we have the right to be proud of the proud of the achievements of German soldiers in two world wars".

What about when he campaigned for Roy Moore this week? Another lovely fellow with clever ideas like how he doesn't believe in evolution and that homosexual conduct should be illegal. Not a peep from David. Maybe it's because Moore's views aren't a million miles away from your latest idol Rees-Mogg.

Still I will give you credit for dealing with Labours anti-Semitism problem in a grown up manner and not reducing it to a cheap pun.


Or maybe not.

I'm in area with a crap data signal and went to select submit only for the connection to go and lose my post.

I hardly post on GRcade so "being silent as a. Church mouse" isn't an all of a sudden thing. Nor do I have exclusivity on posting good/bad news on what Farage is up to. I don't support the threat of violence or the use of violence. You're more aware of what he's up to than I am. You post about it instead. Or call out Labour voters on here who don't post about the anti semitic issues in the Labour Party.

Truthfully, I've got no knowledge on AFD. I don't know about German politics. I can't name a single policy, politician or quote from AFD until you made me aware of that WW2 quote. They don't sound like people Farage should share a pint with.

Likewise, would need to Google Roy Moore to know who he is and what he's said/done. Evolution is a fact and gay couples deserve the right to be as miserable as married men. Couldn't care less what consenting adults get up to in the bedroom.

I've always supported the right to choose an abortion and disagree with JRM on his views on both abortion and gay marriage. I do find it refreshing to actually be told a truthful opinion even if I strongly disagree with it. Personally would rather Kwasi Kwarteng and Sajid Javid as potential contenders for Tory leader in a few years.

Bit of a killjoy regarding the pun. I didn't think you were boring.

Your post suggests I'm some sort of racist or extremist. Not to use a cliché variation of "some of my friends are black" but my girlfriend is a brown skinned Muslim Bangladeshi national without indefinite leave to remain which might surprise some people on here. I judge people on the content of their character, not the colour of their skin. If you think otherwise about me, I'm genuinely surprised.

[Hypes]

I do find it refreshing to actually be told a truthful opinion even if I strongly disagree with it.

Like Antisemitism is fake news?

[Lex-Man]

I do find it refreshing to actually be told a truthful opinion even if I strongly disagree with it.

Like Antisemitism is fake news?

I would find it refreshing if we had a mainstream politician who wasn't a massive nightmare.

[bear]

David, I don't think you are racist as I believe that being racist in a reasonably multicultural country like the UK requires stupidity above all else.* I don't think you are stupid or racist.


With that being said the unfortunate truth is that you have championed Farage on here for years despite the clear xenophobic nature of his rhetoric which you had no problem glossing over as you seemed to believe that Brexit would mean lower taxes for you.

Rees-Mogg has a history of voting against gay rights and has already spoken of easing regulations on issues such as carbon emissions to bring them closer to Indian levels after Brexit. You seem to be ok ignoring these questionable attitudes as he is ultimately promising lower taxes as well.

I'm not sure what the correct term is to describe your attitude but it's not a nice character trait.



*I think in a country like Ireland which has been a monoculture until recently I think most racism is born out of ignorance not stupidity which is a bit different. Both are awful of course.

[KK]

Well we definitely require politicians who are going to start acting a bit faster on reducing the pollution in London. You'd think seeing as the majority of them spend the majority of their time living in it, they'd want to sort it out. We have more green space in this city than most, and yet it isn't offsetting what is a major issue. We most certainly do not need to ease emission targets so we're having to endure Indian/Chinese levels of (s)mogg.

[Moggy]

Well we definitely require politicians who are going to start acting a bit faster on reducing the pollution in London. You'd think seeing as the majority of them spend the majority of their time living in it, they'd want to sort it out. We have more green space in this city than most, and yet it isn't offsetting what is a major issue. We most certainly do not need to ease emission targets so we're having to endure Indian/Chinese levels of (s)mogg.

It took them hundreds and hundreds of years to build sewers in London rather than just dumping poo into the Thames. And Parliament is right by the Thames and actually smelt all the gooseberry fool floating by.

If for hundreds of years they can put up with air that stinks of human gooseberry fool, then I am not sure they are too fussed about exhaust fumes.

[Garth]

Thoughts on this new UKIP leader (Henry Bolton)? I've never heard of him.

[KK]

Well whoever he is, as a former soldier he's exponentially better than the alternative of Anne Marie Waters, a Le Pen style figure.

[Moggy]

Well whoever he is, as a former soldier he's exponentially better than the alternative of Anne Marie Waters, a Le Pen style figure.

I’m not sure why being an ex-soldier would make any difference.

From a quick search (I’ve never heard of him) it seems he used to be a Lib Dem.

Odd!

[BID0]

This summer was greenest ever for energy, says National Grid

Carbon emissions pushed to lowest level yet as first subsidy-free large solar power project opens in the UK


Landmead 46MW solar farm near Abingdon, one of the biggest in England. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

The UK has set a new landmark for clean energy after the National Grid announced that the electricity powering the UK’s homes and businesses this summer was the greenest ever.

The record comes as the first subsidy-free large solar power project opens in the UK, in what the government described as a significant moment for the energy sector.

Analysis by National Grid of power generation showed that a combination of solar, wind and nuclear – and an absence of coal – pushed carbon emissions to their lowest level yet over the season.

Between 21 June and 22 September, the carbon intensity of the grid – as measured in grammes of C02 emitted per KWh of power generated – was more than halved from its level over the same period four years ago.

This summer, nearly 52% of power came from low-carbon sources, compared with 35% in 2013.

A growing number of solar and windfarms, coupled with nuclear and gas power stations, have transformed summer power supply and broken new records. On one Friday in May, solar panels even briefly provided more power than the UK’s nuclear fleet.

Duncan Burt, director of the system operator at National Grid, said: “It’s been a summer of records. The big fundamental shift has been the continuing growth in offshore wind and solar coming on.

“We’ve gone from renewables being a part of the mix to often being a significant, majority part of the mix.”

He added that while the group would have liked to have seen some windier, sunnier days in August, it had coped with the challenge of managing intermittent power sources such as wind and expected the trend to continue.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... s-solar-uk

[captain red dog]

In terms of going green, I have to admit I moaned about the carrier bag charge but actually on reflection it was a bloody good idea. It's hardly effected me as I tended to recycle bags over and over anyway, but far too many didn't.

Our council has gone pretty much all in with green waste disposal. Our main bin collection date is every other Monday and just coming up to collection day it is still completely empty thanks to the new plastic, glass, cardboard and paper recycling bags we have.

To me it really nails the issue that going green has to be convenient at the very least and beneficial at best. Simply taxing the issue onto consumers is not going to work.

[bear]

Well whoever he is, as a former soldier he's exponentially better than the alternative of Anne Marie Waters, a Le Pen style figure.

I’m not sure why being an ex-soldier would make any difference.

From a quick search (I’ve never heard of him) it seems he used to be a Lib Dem.

Odd!

To become a soldier they'd have had to verify that he was at least human.


Waters appears to be the living embodiment of every nasty trait of UKIP, could easily be a demon of some sort.

[Knoyleo]

He looks like one of those "we want our British blue passports back" wankers.

twitter.com/hrtbps/status/913779098576723969

Well whoever he is, as a former soldier he's exponentially better than the alternative of Anne Marie Waters, a Le Pen style figure.

I’m not sure why being an ex-soldier would make any difference.

From a quick search (I’ve never heard of him) it seems he used to be a Lib Dem.

Odd!

The Lib Dems have always had plenty of libertarians in their ranks who fit quite comfortably within the right of British politics.

[Rocsteady]

I think by all accounts he’s the sanest choice they could’ve made.

[Garth]

Conservative Party membership is apparently now down to Lib Dem levels at around 100,000:

Tory membership slump puts party in crisis

The Conservative Party is facing oblivion and doesn’t have enough activists to fight another general election successfully, John Strafford, chairman of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy (pictured), has told Tribune on the eve of the party’s annual conference.

Membership of the party – which is a closely guarded secret – has plummeted from the two last published figures of 149,500 and 134,000 in 2013 to around 100,000. The biggest drop has been since June when the Tories failed to gain a majority in Parliament.

He says two well placed sources have told him the situation is so dire that in 300 out of the 650 Parliamentary constituencies party membership is now as low as 100 people or fewer.

The figure means that not only are the Conservatives well below Labour’s soaring membership of 569,500 but are either neck and neck or below the membership of the Liberal Democrats – who have also seen a jump in members from 61,000 to 102,000.

Mr Strafford said: “The party is facing oblivion. If you take the fact only 10 per cent of the membership is likely to be very active they will not have enough people on the ground to fight an election – they won’t even have enough people to man polling stations on the day.

“They are keeping council seats because often the families of the councillors are campaigning with party members to get them re-elected. They simply don’t have the local resources to do this in a general election.”

http://www.tribunemagazine.org/2017/09/ ... in-crisis/

Tories risk permanent loss of youth vote, says Willetts
Ex-cabinet minister issues warning before conference as data shows lifestyles of those aged 25-34 falling behind older voters

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... s-willetts

The Conservatives intend to make young people a theme of their conference in Manchester after the party suffered a string of defeats in seats with large student populations, such as Canterbury. Concern about tuition fees is adding to the party’s difficulties with the youth vote.

Willetts, who has long warned about the risk of a generation being left behind, said June’s election result provided clear evidence that what his 2010 book dubbed “the pinch”, was now hitting the Tories at the ballot box.

“There is a real issue here. It’s great it’s finally come into the political debate because it’s really important: younger people are having a tough time,” he said.

Some interesting demographics stuff:

25- to 34-year-olds are spending 15% less than 55- to 64-year-olds, once housing costs are taken out. As recently as 2001, discretionary spending among the two groups was the same.

YouGov identified 47 as the crossover age at which voters were more likely to back the Conservatives in June’s election

The research for Resolution, by Donald Hirsch at Loughborough, also busts the myth that while younger people’s incomes may have risen little in real terms, they are better off thanks to the mass availability of hi-tech gadgets, international travel and other social changes.

The research finds that the biggest increases in spending since 2001 on eating out and foreign travel have been among the 55-64 age group. The thinktank tries to illustrate the distinction by talking about spending on pre-theatre steak frites by older voters, as opposed to the consumption of avocado on toast by younger voters. And while the younger cohort spend marginally more on mobile phones, the differences are small.

Willetts said: “It is sometimes said that the great technological improvements of recent decades mean that young people enjoy a far higher living standard than previous generations. Our new research shatters this idea. Not only are young people earning less, they’re also spending less too, especially as housing takes up ever more of their outgoings.

“My generation has enjoyed riding the crest of a huge consumer boom over the last 50 years. In the 1980s, when we were in our youth, we had more spending power than any other age group. Fast forward 30 years and we’re still the biggest spenders.”