UK General Election 4th July

[Hades]

Its curious that the leader of one country gets racked over the coals and might have increased the size of his defeat for skipping out early on the D-day celebrations, while another mostly got away with calling the fallen soldiers a bunch of suckers.

 

[Agema]

Get your tissues out for the sob story of the week - poor Rishi Sunak had to do without satellite TV as a child, as well as other unspecified "lots of things".

These because of the immense sacrifices his parents made to send him to Winchester School: annual fees (2023) of ~£38,000 (day) to ~£52,000 (boarding), or about 25% and 60% higher than the average UK wage. Wow, I just can't imagine the level of deprivation he had to endure: he might have only had an Alpine skiing holiday every other year when all his classmates could go annually.

There are few things worse than listening to the rich play for sympathy by telling you what they didn't have.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Get your tissues out for the sob story of the week - poor Rishi Sunak had to do without satellite TV as a child, as well as other unspecified "lots of things".

These because of the immense sacrifices his parents made to send him to Winchester School: annual fees (2023) of ~£38,000 (day) to ~£52,000 (boarding), or about 25% and 60% higher than the average UK wage. Wow, I just can't imagine the level of deprivation he had to endure: he might have only had an Alpine skiing holiday every other year when all his classmates could go annually.

There are few things worse than listening to the rich play for sympathy by telling you what they didn't have.

Is it too late to make him do national service? That'll sort him out.

 

[Baffle]

Get your tissues out for the sob story of the week - poor Rishi Sunak had to do without satellite TV as a child, as well as other unspecified "lots of things".

These because of the immense sacrifices his parents made to send him to Winchester School: annual fees (2023) of ~£38,000 (day) to ~£52,000 (boarding), or about 25% and 60% higher than the average UK wage. Wow, I just can't imagine the level of deprivation he had to endure: he might have only had an Alpine skiing holiday every other year when all his classmates could go annually.

There are few things worse than listening to the rich play for sympathy by telling you what they didn't have.

I'm waiting for the common-man photoshoot when he hits the northern regions, Rishi Sunak in a yellow miner's hat with a pickaxe slung over his shoulder.

 

[Silvanus]

Is it too late to make him do national service? That'll sort him out.

He was supposed to do some last week but couldn't make it through one evening.

 

[Thaluikhain]

He was supposed to do some last week but couldn't make it through one evening.

 

[Agema]

He was supposed to do some last week but couldn't make it through one evening.

Boom headshot!

I'm waiting for the common-man photoshoot when he hits the northern regions, Rishi Sunak in a yellow miner's hat with a pickaxe slung over his shoulder.

Haha! Are you sure? The north is gone. The Tories are fighting for their lives just to hold on to Surrey.

 

[Silvanus]

My plan for change – The Labour Party

With Keir Starmer, Labour will restore hope, stop the chaos, turn the page and start to rebuild Britain.

labour.org.uk

We've had Labour's manifesto. Haven't read through it all yet.

So far:
* Happy to see nationalisation of the railways is there (i'd had my doubts on that), and no compensation for failed rail companies.
* stuff we already knew, like publicly owned energy company.
* recognition of Palestinian statehood.
* But not really happy to see the constant language about "strict spending rules" and "stability". I know he's committed to not return to austerity, but this stuff sounds like it could be from a Cameron/Osborne-era manifesto.

 

[Agema]

* But not really happy to see the constant language about "strict spending rules" and "stability". I know he's committed to not return to austerity, but this stuff sounds like it could be from a Cameron/Osborne-era manifesto.

Such is the world we live in.

Politics is often limited by the space of what is deemed credible. Labour has a credibility problem. Irrespective of their actual competence, all the attacks on them over the decades have worked: the inclination of many voters is to not trust them. Thus Labour is especially vulnerable to stepping beyond the bounds of what the press, businesses and centre ground think is safe and reasonable, even in the face of a Tory party seemingly intent on burning the country down in their own civil war.

But stability is a big thing. The country is in a weak condition, both the general economy and government finances. There may genuinely be little room for manoeuver, such that overpromising and necessarily underdelivering could then do them a lot of damage after the election. Stability is the opposite of what the Tories have offered these last 14 years: nation-shaking referenda, Brexit, rabble-rousing, culture wars, blame games, internal party wrangles, constant churn of ministers, all the whilst key infrastructure, services and social support have withered. The Tories blather on about "British Microsoft" and all these exciting possibilities. Sure, go and sail away and explore amazing new opportunites: but if the boat is knackered, you're most likely just going to sink. Stability might be dull and uninspiring, but sometimes it's also what's needed.

 

[Seanchaidh]

the speaker being interviewed is John Caudwell

 

[Agema]

https://www.itv.com/news/2024-06-23/gambling-commission-investigating-others-linked-to-election-betting-scandal

"Party of Law and Order", they call themselves.

It's dubious that they ever were. They were always keen on social order, which meant that the masses were required to follow the rules and know their place. The Tories and their own were however always allowed to duck and dive, avoid their taxes, work the system and round the system, and gently nudge the police and judges into looking in the other direction when needed.

I'll grant that there was also always a moral core in there: I imagine the likes of recent ex-PM Theresa May feel strongly about being upright and legal, but increasingly the party appears to be second-rate, over-entitled spivs and chancers whose main interest is how to make a quick buck and hold onto it. Mind you, even their own PM back in the 20s, Stanley Baldwin, contemptuously described his newly-elected fellows as "hard-faced men who looked like they had done well out of the war".

 

[Seanchaidh]

rancid island if ever there was one

 

[Agema]

General election 2024 results in maps and charts

Analysis of the results at the general election

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Baffle]

We did it lads, we achieved business as usual!

I actually think this is the best realistic result, if we're honest about the state of the country and what could possibly have happened. A shit that Reform got a bunch of seats and that I'll have to continue my hypervigiliance of Ed Davey swinging down from a tree and roping me into doing Gangnam Style or some shit.

It is nice to see the Tories getting smashed in any case.

 

[Seanchaidh]

seems like Starmer owes Farage a big thank you for making a rough approximation of Labour's performance in the last two elections enough to win this one.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Just thought I'd pop back in briefly to say say LOL, no Tories in Cornwall, bunch of cunts.

 

[Summerstorm]

Ah, had to (shamefully) look up how exactly the parliament in the U.K. works. I knew two houses and stuff... but i was a bit weirded out when i saw: Reform UK: 14% of votes only 1% of seats. So only direct mandates? Wow... that seems... unfair and shit. Now you have ~15 percent of voters in a constant angry/frustrated state. (Not that we here on the other side of the canal have a fair system... also pretty angry people here too, sigh.) Is there a balance from some other side which is closer to the votes?

Well. Good luck with your "Labour" then. Also "You can come back, but no more exceptions for you, ok?" - One single dude living in the European Union, "We have to fix this shit."

 

[Baffle]

Now you have ~15 percent of voters in a constant angry/frustrated state.

They already were, that's why they're Reform voters.

 

[Thaluikhain]

We did it lads, we achieved business as usual!

I actually think this is the best realistic result, if we're honest about the state of the country and what could possibly have happened.

Seconded, I'd say this counts as good, if not unexpected news. Which is a change coming from the UK.

 

[Silvanus]

Happy with the result, mostly for the near-complete destruction of the Tories, including several ministers and other 'big beasts' losing their seats: Rees-Mogg, Mordaunt, Schapps. There's scarcely anyone of any susbtance to pick up the pieces, and they'll devolve into a civil war, fingers crossed.

Also happy to see Reform did quite poorly. Exit poll had them on 13 seats; they end up with 4, massively outclassed by the Lib Dems.

Finally-- despite overall happiness with a Labour victory, I'm also happy to see that Labour lost in Islington to Corbyn, lost about 4 other seats to independents, and lost several to the Greens. The pressure on them needs to come from the left.