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Geopolitics in the 2020s.


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Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, Fullerene said:

Labour's massive majority on such a small percentage of potential voters makes it almost pot luck who can get a majority. 

Reform only got 5 seats for 4 million votes but people would not be so happy if they got an overblown representation for the exact same voter share.

It's not pot luck, you have to get more votes than anyone else in an individual constituency to vote for you to be allowed to represent them. It might not seem fair to village idiots trying to collectivise their voices across the nation, but it works for local democracy, and you don't get total arseholes getting in on a party list whom nobody has voted for. 

Edited by welshbairn
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1 hour ago, welshbairn said:

It's not pot luck, you have to get more votes than anyone else in an individual constituency to vote for you to be allowed to represent them. It might not seem fair to village idiots trying to collectivise their voices across the nation, but it works for local democracy, and you don't get total arseholes getting in on a party list whom nobody has voted for. 

I am not saying pot luck for an individual seat, I am saying for the whole parliament. 

If Labour win a majority on 42% then somebody else could win similar on a totally different 42%.

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26 minutes ago, Fullerene said:

I am not saying pot luck for an individual seat, I am saying for the whole parliament. 

If Labour win a majority on 42% then somebody else could win similar on a totally different 42%.

Labour got nowhere near 42%, obviously. They got 33.7%. They'd likely have still had a healthy majority if they'd got less than 30%.

I'd say the pot luck comes in because constituencies are arbitrary geographical units. If you have very localised support, like the Lib Dems, it works well. If your support is spread around the country, like Green or Reform, it kills you. It's completely arbitrary.

The SNP went down to 9 seats off 30% for the same reason they got 48 seats off 45% - their vote is fairly evenly spread around the country. The Lib Dems got 6 seats from less than a third of the SNP vote.

Calling it pot luck is fair IMO.

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5 minutes ago, GordonS said:

Labour got nowhere near 42%, obviously. They got 33.7%. They'd likely have still had a healthy majority if they'd got less than 30%.

I'd say the pot luck comes in because constituencies are arbitrary geographical units. If you have very localised support, like the Lib Dems, it works well. If your support is spread around the country, like Green or Reform, it kills you. It's completely arbitrary.

The SNP went down to 9 seats off 30% for the same reason they got 48 seats off 45% - their vote is fairly evenly spread around the country. The Lib Dems got 6 seats from less than a third of the SNP vote.

Calling it pot luck is fair IMO.

Yeah, anyone who thinks that any party getting an overwhelming majority on 33.7% vote is democratic obviously doesn’t understand the word.

 

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Posted (edited)
13 minutes ago, GordonS said:

Labour got nowhere near 42%, obviously. They got 33.7%. They'd likely have still had a healthy majority if they'd got less than 30%.

I'd say the pot luck comes in because constituencies are arbitrary geographical units. If you have very localised support, like the Lib Dems, it works well. If your support is spread around the country, like Green or Reform, it kills you. It's completely arbitrary.

The SNP went down to 9 seats off 30% for the same reason they got 48 seats off 45% - their vote is fairly evenly spread around the country. The Lib Dems got 6 seats from less than a third of the SNP vote.

Calling it pot luck is fair IMO.

Fine.  I accept the numbers you say.

My point is that Labour got a massive majority with a well focused 33.7% . 

You could argue Lib Dems or Reform would never have a  majority with a well focused 33.7% but if they did then it would not require any overlap with those who voted Labour this time.

That seems pretty scary to me (and I don't mean the Lib Dem vote).

Edited by Fullerene
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1 hour ago, Fullerene said:

Fine.  I accept the numbers you say.

My point is that Labour got a massive majority with a well focused 33.7% . 

You could argue Lib Dems or Reform would never have a  majority with a well focused 33.7% but if they did then it would not require any overlap with those who voted Labour this time.

That seems pretty scary to me (and I don't mean the Lib Dem vote).

I don't think Labour "focussed" their vote, I think that's just how the chips fell. They fought to maximise their vote, did badly, got over half a million fewer votes than in 2019 when they got hammered and more than 3.2 million below 2017, but won seat after seat as the largest minority purely because the Tory vote collapsed, presumably to Reform and abstentions.

To give some examples, Labour won Liz Truss' seat with 26.7% of the vote; it's pure luck that 11,847 votes was enough, they can't have aimed for that. They gained Darlington with their lowest number of votes since 1931 and lowest share since 1983. They gained Nuneaton with their second-lowest number of votes since 1924. Leaders usually do well in their own constituency but Starmer's vote fell by half, losing 18,000 votes.

Their mandate is a mile wide and an inch deep, and they could easily get turned over at the next election. This is unlike any landslide we've ever had.

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On 08/07/2024 at 19:17, Granny Danger said:

I don’t know much about the geography of France, but I saw this graphic on the BBC website which suggests incredible geographic polarisation of support for the fascists.  ETA particularly is the South East of the country.

IMG_2173.thumb.jpeg.fa2c72fa369c799d10cd7e14898e6d6f.jpeg

Any explanation/clarification from people itk and not just Googleists would be appreciated.

 

The South east includes a lot of white people who had to leave Algeria after independence, and these people are very fash. The North East is the old mining areas which are bit like the brexity red wall areas.

Edited by Turkmenbashi
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3 hours ago, Turkmenbashi said:

The South east includes a lot of white people who had to leave Algeria after independence, and these people are very fash. The North East is the old mining areas which are bit like the brexity red wall areas.

Had a wee quick Google of that; really interesting.  Will look at it in more detail over the days to come as it seems a fascinating story.

So basically displaced colonials and their offspring?  Who’d have thought they’d support far-right politics.  :rolleyes:

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7 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

So basically displaced colonials and their offspring?  Who’d have thought they’d support far-right politics.  :rolleyes:

Have you ever met anyone who returned to Scotland after Apartheid? Absolute worstcunts.

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2 minutes ago, badgerthewitness said:

Have you ever met anyone who returned to Scotland after Apartheid? Absolute worstcunts.

I returned in 1992. I didn't realise you'd had apartheid while i was away. 

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14 hours ago, badgerthewitness said:

Have you ever met anyone who returned to Scotland after Apartheid? Absolute worstcunts.

Yes, my two cousins (male). I couldn't agree more. 

One became a police officer, then CID in Coatbridge, the other returned to SA, as he was going to be killed/murdered as he pissed off a lot of people.

eta - forgot why I was here...Thailand court has set a date of 7th August to disband the MFP (Move Forward Party).  The biggest party in the house and most popular leader with 46% rating.   The prime minister has 12%.

It could all kick off again soon.

Edited by SlipperyP
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3 hours ago, MazzyStar said:

I thought his politics would largely be similar to yours? Except on independence of course. 

When I first met him he was linked to Militant - then was recruited to Labour Students by the then NUS Scotland President Donna McKinnon. I actually stood against him in the Scottish Labour Students selection - we were both selected - polar opposites in terms of our views on Scottish Democracy.

As soon as he was elected to be NUS Scotland President, his politics suddenly changed - Blairite and influenced by the UJS and, later, Labour Friends of Israel.

A political opportunist of the worst kind and someone who pays lip service to democratic procedures.

The only thing about his politics that didn't changed was Scottish Democracy - he'd happily abolish the Scottish Parliament if he could get away with it.

Edited by DeeTillEhDeh
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