General Politics Thread

[MEADOWXI]

Another defection to Reform, and they are now short of a candidate for Mayor of Manchester, although at the end they trying to say it doesn't matter as they weren't going to win.

Conservative Manchester mayoral candidate defects to Reform UK - BBC News

 

The Conservative candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester has defected to Reform UK, accusing his former party of "giving up" on the north of England.

Dan Barker had been selected by the Conservatives in December to challenge current mayor, Labour's Andy Burnham.

He follows Lee Anderson, the former Conservative party deputy chair, who defected to Reform UK on 11 March.

Mr Barker said the Tories had abandoned northern areas to focus on other seats under threat from the Lib Dems.

The Conservatives have 15 days to select a new candidate for mayor. A party spokesman said a selection process for a new candidate will begin shortly.

• Ex-Tory MP Lee Anderson defects to Reform UK
• Your guide to a huge political year in North West

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Barker said the national Conservative party had failed to provide any support and accused the Tory headquarters of taking candidates "for granted".

He said: "I think, in truth, they've given up on Greater Manchester and the north of England.

"You can see that from inside the party, what they are really doing is trying to protect the blue wall in the South East and the South West because they fear that the Liberal Democrats are going to annihilate them."

Reform UK Leader Richard Tice welcomed Mr Barker to the party in a social media post, claiming the scalp of "another senior Tory".

Mr Barker denied he made a "knee jerk decision" to leave the Conservatives. He told the BBC he had "lost sleep" and considered "stepping back from politics" over the way he was treated.

In a social media post, Mr Berker called Reform UK "the new home of conservatism," saying the party "represent the ordinary people of this country".

Reform UK, founded by Nigel Farage, has been regularly polling above 10% of national voting intention over the last month. Reform are at their highest level since the party changed its name from the Brexit Party after the last general election.

Until today, Mr Barker's social media account was filled with posts promoting the Conservatives and local Tory politicians.

Less than 24 hours before announcing his defection, Mr Barker spoke to the Manchester Evening News promising to "take personal control" of police if he became the Tory mayor of the city.

A Conservative Party source said: "The Conservatives received under 20% of the vote in Manchester in 2021. We have to be realistic about our prospects in this election."

[doulikefish]

nobody complaining about ambulances being hindered or folk not being able to get work etc etc 

 

 

[jimbaxters]

Hit upon a seam of Tony Benn videos on YouTube. The man was an utter hero.

[Florentine_Pogen]

Lozza the Loser fails in his bid to become Mayor de Londres due to failure to comprehend application forms.

London dodged a bullet then.........

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/mar/28/laurence-fox-ruled-out-london-mayor-contest-errors-nomination

[carpetmonster]

26 minutes ago, Florentine_Pogen said:

Lozza the Loser fails in his bid to become Mayor de Londres due to failure to comprehend application forms.

London dodged a bullet then.........

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/mar/28/laurence-fox-ruled-out-london-mayor-contest-errors-nomination

Translation - 'after my 'million man march' last weekend attracted less than 100 folks and I managed to wear Nikes while trying to slag off Nike, Jeremy Hosking's decided I don't have enough sphere of influence and am too much of a joke to bankroll another campaign'.

Not looking good for Lozza. He's 47k in arrears on his child support and the damages judgements from his losing court cases are coming soon. Wonder if it's worth it to Hosking to keep him going just to stop the entire country pissing itself the next time some arsehole giving it 'gO WoKE GO brOkE'

[HTG]

2 hours ago, Florentine_Pogen said:

Lozza the Loser fails in his bid to become Mayor de Londres due to failure to comprehend application forms.

London dodged a bullet then.........

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/mar/28/laurence-fox-ruled-out-london-mayor-contest-errors-nomination

He's got his team of loopy lawyers on to it.

 

[BFTD]

Having watched the cycle of politics over the past thirty years, Lozza will probably be our Prime Minister by 2050.

Although, his showbiz connections might make him a bit too woke for the British public by then.

[sparky88]

17 hours ago, BFTD said:

Having watched the cycle of politics over the past thirty years, Lozza will probably be our Prime Minister by 2050.

Although, his showbiz connections might make him a bit too woke for the British public by then.

Britain will only continue to get more woke. 

[BFTD]

1 hour ago, sparky88 said:

Britain will only continue to get more woke. 

Considering nobody can define what it means, there's no arguing with that!

[lichtgilphead]

There's no "Daily Record Bias" thread, so I'll just put this here...

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/money/calls-scrap-scottish-tax-bands-32546821

This article is from yesterday's Daily Record. Effectively, it's publicising a petition to remove tax varying powers from Holyrood.

It describes the petition as "new", even though the poll has been online since 8th January, and has only attracted 4700 signatures in that time (including today's boost thanks to the Record's publicity - it's gone up by over 100 since I began typing this post)

The sub-headline states "All workers in Scotland earning over £28,000 a year pay more tax than elsewhere in the UK." Firstly, that's not true. The breakeven point is ~£28,850. Secondly, 51% of Scottish taxpayers actually earn less than this, so they will continue to pay slightly less Income Tax in 2024-25 than if they lived elsewhere in the UK. (source)

Anyone wanting to switch to the rUK system is LITERALLY demanding a tax cut for the highest earners and the bill to be footed by people earning less than £28,850.

The Record really is a scummy and devious piece of shit.

[BFTD]

14 minutes ago, lichtgilphead said:

There's no "Daily Record Bias" thread, so I'll just put this here...

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/money/calls-scrap-scottish-tax-bands-32546821

This article is from yesterday's Daily Record. Effectively, it's publicising a petition to remove tax varying powers from Holyrood.

It describes the petition as "new", even though the poll has been online since 8th January, and has only attracted 4700 signatures in that time (including today's boost thanks to the Record's publicity - it's gone up by over 100 since I began typing this post)

The sub-headline states "All workers in Scotland earning over £28,000 a year pay more tax than elsewhere in the UK." Firstly, that's not true. The breakeven point is ~£28,850. Secondly, 51% of Scottish taxpayers actually earn less than this, so they will continue to pay slightly less Income Tax in 2024-25 than if they lived elsewhere in the UK. (source)

Anyone wanting to switch to the rUK system is LITERALLY demanding a tax cut for the highest earners and the bill to be footed by people earning less than £28,850.

The Record really is a scummy and devious piece of shit.

Bit of an insight about what we can expect from Labour over the coming years.

Devolution didn't kill the SNP so it's going to be called a failed experiment, and the reason why we aren't spending enough on public services. Their problem is that very few independence supporters would want this to happen (other than to increase support), and there are plenty of soft unionists who are quite happy with the concept of devolution, so they'll have to play the long game or grow a massive set of fashy balls. Despite decades of promises that support for independence will be falling any day now, it doesn't look like the former's a winning strategy.

[AyrExile]

Any comment yet from the Greens around the climate change targets being brushed aside? Probably all of their outrage will be focused on puberty blockers that will feature much higher up their list of priorities!

[Bairn in Exile]

https://news.sky.com/story/met-police-chief-mark-rowley-should-resign-says-antisemitism-campaigner-called-openly-jewish-by-officer-13119818

In the first apology, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist maintained Mr Falter's presence could be "provocative", but in a second statement retracted that view.

"The use of the term 'openly Jewish' by one of our officers is hugely regrettable," the statement said.

"We know it will have caused offence to many. We reiterate our apology.

"We have reflected on the strength of the response to our previous statement. In an effort to make a point about the policing of protest we caused further offence. This was never our intention. We have removed the statement and we apologise.

"Being Jewish is not a provocation. Jewish Londoners must be able to feel safe in this city."

 

[O_Kahn]

The full 13 minute clip of the encounter between Mr Falter and the police gives a bit more context to the incident.

 

https://news.sky.com/story/i-was-jewish-and-crossing-the-street-campaigner-criticises-outrageous-reaction-to-antisemitism-row-13120776

Edited Monday at 10:57 by O_Kahn

[strichener]

21 minutes ago, O_Kahn said:

The full 13 minute clip of the encounter between Mr Falter and the police gives a bit more context to the encounter.

 

https://news.sky.com/story/i-was-jewish-and-crossing-the-street-campaigner-criticises-outrageous-reaction-to-antisemitism-row-13120776

The context being that the guy is a walloper that was just trying to be awkward.  

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

18 minutes ago, strichener said:

The context being that the guy is a walloper that was just trying to be awkward.  

Happens at every protest. Wording from the guy was taken completely out of context, there was another video doing the rounds posted by a guy @zubairb02 where the guy in question is seen storming up the street with a security team. There are things which could be used like sec 12 public order act quite effectively here but the sergeant involved has tried to avoid using that, got himself into some kind of protracted discussion and its been heavily edited to cause outrage. The PM should apologise for his disgraceful comments, but its not surprising the political classes jumping in feet first without a grasp of basic fact, all the major parties politicians are guilty of this, they do it because its a cheap easy win and when the facts come out there is never an apology to the officers involved. 

[O_Kahn]

20 minutes ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

Happens at every protest. Wording from the guy was taken completely out of context, there was another video doing the rounds posted by a guy @zubairb02 where the guy in question is seen storming up the street with a security team. There are things which could be used like sec 12 public order act quite effectively here but the sergeant involved has tried to avoid using that, got himself into some kind of protracted discussion and its been heavily edited to cause outrage. The PM should apologise for his disgraceful comments, but its not surprising the political classes jumping in feet first without a grasp of basic fact, all the major parties politicians are guilty of this, they do it because its a cheap easy win and when the facts come out there is never an apology to the officers involved. 

On that note, Braverman making a fool of herself on the radio earlier today.  She didn't even watch the whole clip.  Truss is a laughing stock, but I think Braverman might be even more dangerous.  

https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/suella-braverman-gideon-falter-today-programme-b2532495.html

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

7 minutes ago, O_Kahn said:

On that note, Braverman making a fool of herself on the radio earlier today.  She didn't even watch the whole clip.  Truss is a laughing stock, but I think Braverman might be even more dangerous.  

https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/suella-braverman-gideon-falter-today-programme-b2532495.html

She’s set her stall out as a staunch supporter of the genocide in Gaza anyway to its actually no real surprise that she has come out the way she has. A truly despicable person. 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

3 hours ago, strichener said:

The context being that the guy is a walloper that was just trying to be awkward.  

Indeed, but alarmingly most of the media seems to be treating Mr Falter as some sort of brave folk hero standing up to The Lawless Mob and their protectors The Law Itself when the reality is that he was acting like a reckless shit-stirrer, or if you prefer agent provocateur.

[Doctor Manhattan]

16 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

Indeed, but alarmingly most of the media seems to be treating Mr Falter as some sort of brave folk hero standing up to The Lawless Mob and their protectors The Law Itself when the reality is that he was acting like a reckless shit-stirrer, or if you prefer agent provocateur.

A Google image search might not be the most valid approach, but he doesn't seem to wear that blue kippah (or any kippah) much, except when he's launching himself headfirst into a crowd of pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

I wonder how outraged he'd have been with the Met if the copper had just let him go, and he'd subsequently had his head kicked in.