It is astonishing and extremely upsetting to watch American democracy self-destruct.
Both sides are responsible for this tragedy. The insane identity politics of the American Left are as corrosive and damaging as the stupidity and aggression of the Trumpians.
Yes, on one side you have people demanding that Black people be treated as full human being with rights and on the other side you have a proto-fascist.
Both sides clearly to blame.
FFS, get a grip.
Black Lives Matter is a full-on Marxist claque which teaches that white people are intrinsically and always racist, and can never stop being racist, and must constantly atone for this original sin.
And BLM has been swooned over by Democrats, right up to the top.
Meanwhile their armed wing is destroying US cities.
Yes, the American Left is as bad as Trump, if not worse.
Excellent chart - I don't know why, but I just find this colour scheme oddly appealing...
I remember watching the 2005 election results roll in with some friends, one of whom was so marrow-deep a Tory that he made me look moderate. He was absolutely convinced that Blair was about to be unceremoniously ejected from power, while the rest of us tried our best to humour him and keep him happy-drunk.
He was also 100% certain then that Britain would eventually vote to leave the EU, which made us roll our eyes even more. I mean, how wrong can one person be?!
It's a testament to Tone's awesomeness that his swan song of 2005 was only a bit worse than Boris's 2019, which Boris's admirers perceive as one of the greatest political achievements in history.
Well, you say that, but:
2005: Blair: Labour majority of 66 on 35.2% of the vote and a 2.8% lead.
Lowest vote share for a majority government in UK electoral history.
2019: Boris: Conservative majority of 80 on 43.6% of the vote and a 11.5% lead.
Highest vote share for 40 years, including all four of the Thatcher and Blair landslides.
Tone had the most amazing vote-to-seat efficiency in 2005, but 2019 was something extraordinary in raw vote share, no matter how you slice it.
It is astonishing and extremely upsetting to watch American democracy self-destruct.
Both sides are responsible for this tragedy. The insane identity politics of the American Left are as corrosive and damaging as the stupidity and aggression of the Trumpians.
I see that we've moved on from very fine people on both sides in the moral equivalence wars.
I can't see how high unemployment is going to make the Tory Party popular
It did them little harm in the 1980s. Although this feels different. More like post-2008, but on steroids.
In the 80s it was Labour voters being made redundant. Now its Tory voters. But don't worry - the Daily Mail advises that people on benefits live it large...
How much does a change impact voting in 2024, Keir is seemingly going for the New Labour approach advised by Brown in the foreground (and I assume) Blair in the background.
I've bet on a Hung Parliament - and am prepared to lose money yet again, as you know my recent record has been poor, although I did call 2017 and the EU Elections correctly. I've bet on Biden to be President, will see how that goes.
Nobody can possibly have a clue about the 2024 GE, far too many variables, indeed an exceptional number of them
This site should help us make an informed prediction. I think by this time next year we should have a better idea, one way or the other how it could look.
Fingers crossed for a few more £10k fines. Eventually people will get the hint and stop organising large gatherings.
I’d like to think I was pretty high up on the libertarian scale on this forum, but things like wars and pandemics require a different approach. How many of these idiots will visit parents and grandparents in the coming days and weeks?
It is astonishing and extremely upsetting to watch American democracy self-destruct.
Both sides are responsible for this tragedy. The insane identity politics of the American Left are as corrosive and damaging as the stupidity and aggression of the Trumpians.
The insane identity politics are - of course - ridiculous and damaging.
But if Trump was just attacking that, and immigration, and free trade, etc., then we while we might not agree with him on everything, that would be well within his right.
But "insane identity politics" are not a threat to democracy. What is currently happening in the US *is* a threat to democracy. And we need to call it out when we see it, not attempt to say "there are good people on both sides".
The US (like the UK) has been successful because it has a good system. Once you dismantle a good system, you are on the highway to hell.
" How on earth does a party that can count JS Mill among its forebears end up seeking the outlaw the use of the phrase “biological man”? "
"As an outsider who runs a centrist think-tank, I’d suggest the Lib Dem aim should be something else: to make the case for a rather older idea of liberalism, one where personal freedom and responsibility go hand-in-hand and people are trusted to make their own choices within a clear set of rules."
It is astonishing and extremely upsetting to watch American democracy self-destruct.
Both sides are responsible for this tragedy. The insane identity politics of the American Left are as corrosive and damaging as the stupidity and aggression of the Trumpians.
Yes, on one side you have people demanding that Black people be treated as full human being with rights and on the other side you have a proto-fascist.
Both sides clearly to blame.
FFS, get a grip.
Black Lives Matter is a full-on Marxist claque which teaches that white people are intrinsically and always racist, and can never stop being racist, and must constantly atone for this original sin.
And BLM has been swooned over by Democrats, right up to the top.
Meanwhile their armed wing is destroying US cities.
Yes, the American Left is as bad as Trump, if not worse.
How much does a change impact voting in 2024, Keir is seemingly going for the New Labour approach advised by Brown in the foreground (and I assume) Blair in the background.
I've bet on a Hung Parliament - and am prepared to lose money yet again, as you know my recent record has been poor, although I did call 2017 and the EU Elections correctly. I've bet on Biden to be President, will see how that goes.
Nobody can possibly have a clue about the 2024 GE, far too many variables, indeed an exceptional number of them
This site should help us make an informed prediction. I think by this time next year we should have a better idea, one way or the other how it could look.
Possibly
I would add I have no idea myself on how I would vote just now
It is astonishing and extremely upsetting to watch American democracy self-destruct.
Both sides are responsible for this tragedy. The insane identity politics of the American Left are as corrosive and damaging as the stupidity and aggression of the Trumpians.
Yes, on one side you have people demanding that Black people be treated as full human being with rights and on the other side you have a proto-fascist.
Both sides clearly to blame.
FFS, get a grip.
Black Lives Matter is a full-on Marxist claque which teaches that white people are intrinsically and always racist, and can never stop being racist, and must constantly atone for this original sin.
And BLM has been swooned over by Democrats, right up to the top.
Meanwhile their armed wing is destroying US cities.
Yes, the American Left is as bad as Trump, if not worse.
Fifteen years ago I was working for the web agency AKQA, pretty much full-time on the websites for the Orange mobile phone network. If you bought a phone online from Orange around then, or looked up to see how much it would cost to use on holiday on Orange’s roaming partner networks or searched the Orange Wednesdays site to find what films were playing, you would have been running code (partly) written by me.
Well it's an interesting one, will his mistakes (?) as Chancellor come back to haunt him as they did for Brown?
I don't doubt Sunak will get a bounce when he - presumably - takes over but I wonder if it will last. Brown's didn't last long and that's the last version of these events we have to compare to. He then was out of power three years later.
I wonder if 2024 will be a repeat of 2010.
I have Sunak as a shooting star. Unless Johnson falls on his well worked sword soon, Sunak will miss the boat. I have this horrible fear that Raab could come next, although I have offset that disappointment, and there will be a drink in it for me if he does.
I think you and I think in similar ways.
I wonder if it's too early for Rishi and he won't go for it. I'm not betting on it as I don't have the confidence I had with Johnson
He has to get it soon. If the economy bombs on his watch, he will be as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit.
Trouble is that moving to No 10 doesn't exactly insulate him from the blame. And I don't think he wants to be a footnote.
Assuming that Dishi Rishi is really Ambishi, his best bet is to walk away very visibly on a Matter Of Principle, be King Over The Water for a bit, and take over after the 2024 defeat. He's young enough.
Well it's an interesting one, will his mistakes (?) as Chancellor come back to haunt him as they did for Brown?
I don't doubt Sunak will get a bounce when he - presumably - takes over but I wonder if it will last. Brown's didn't last long and that's the last version of these events we have to compare to. He then was out of power three years later.
I wonder if 2024 will be a repeat of 2010.
I have Sunak as a shooting star. Unless Johnson falls on his well worked sword soon, Sunak will miss the boat. I have this horrible fear that Raab could come next, although I have offset that disappointment, and there will be a drink in it for me if he does.
I think you and I think in similar ways.
I wonder if it's too early for Rishi and he won't go for it. I'm not betting on it as I don't have the confidence I had with Johnson
He has to get it soon. If the economy bombs on his watch, he will be as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit.
Trouble is that moving to No 10 doesn't exactly insulate him from the blame. And I don't think he wants to be a footnote.
Assuming that Dishi Rishi is really Ambishi, his best bet is to walk away very visibly on a Matter Of Principle, be King Over The Water for a bit, and take over after the 2024 defeat. He's young enough.
This is what I think - but I was laughed at yesterday for saying it
Well it's an interesting one, will his mistakes (?) as Chancellor come back to haunt him as they did for Brown?
I don't doubt Sunak will get a bounce when he - presumably - takes over but I wonder if it will last. Brown's didn't last long and that's the last version of these events we have to compare to. He then was out of power three years later.
I wonder if 2024 will be a repeat of 2010.
I have Sunak as a shooting star. Unless Johnson falls on his well worked sword soon, Sunak will miss the boat. I have this horrible fear that Raab could come next, although I have offset that disappointment, and there will be a drink in it for me if he does.
I think you and I think in similar ways.
I wonder if it's too early for Rishi and he won't go for it. I'm not betting on it as I don't have the confidence I had with Johnson
He has to get it soon. If the economy bombs on his watch, he will be as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit.
Trouble is that moving to No 10 doesn't exactly insulate him from the blame. And I don't think he wants to be a footnote.
Assuming that Dishi Rishi is really Ambishi, his best bet is to walk away very visibly on a Matter Of Principle, be King Over The Water for a bit, and take over after the 2024 defeat. He's young enough.
I have been thinking that too, but I have jumped the other way based on The Saj, who has sunk without trace.
People talk about these student isolation lockdowns as if they are just a bit of short term hardship they have to go through (although generally with little concept of the extremely limited accommodation they are having to do it in). But entire halls with hundreds of people are being put into extreme lockdown on the basis of single or very low levels of positive tests. And if by some miracle they get through it without breaches or worse, then they will emerge from their quarantine, only to no doubt find that somebody else tests positive shortly afterwards, and back they go. It's competely unsustainable, and will lead to mental health issues (or worse) on an unimaginable scale.
All for an illness which will be largely harmless to the students themselves as individuals.
So on one hand you got a random on the street spouting awful opinions and on the other hand you have the president of the United States glorifying violence against his political opponents and refusing to confirm he will stand down if defeated.
Do you see how the equivalency fails?
Also I haven't seen a single top level Dem politician praise the Marxist front orginisation BlackLivesMatters as opposed to the general amorphous movement made of ordinary people pushing for racial justice that has the same name.
For now, tax rises have been shelved. The day after his economic statement in July Mr Sunak met with officials for a “scorecard” conference to discuss how to balance the books. The options on the table, which were subsequently leaked, included increasing capital gains tax, corporation tax, fuel duty and cutting pensions tax relief for high earners.
While Mr Sunak said on Thursday that “difficult decisions” about tax rises lay ahead, for now they were on the backburner.
People talk about these student isolation lockdowns as if they are just a bit of short term hardship they have to go through (although generally with little concept of the extremely limited accommodation they are having to do it in). But entire halls with hundreds of people are being put into extreme lockdown on the basis of single or very low levels of positive tests. And if by some miracle they get through it without breaches or worse, then they will emerge from their quarantine, only to no doubt find that somebody else tests positive shortly afterwards, and back they go. It's competely unsustainable, and will lead to mental health issues (or worse) on an unimaginable scale.
All for an illness which will be largely harmless to the students themselves as individuals.
Well it's an interesting one, will his mistakes (?) as Chancellor come back to haunt him as they did for Brown?
I don't doubt Sunak will get a bounce when he - presumably - takes over but I wonder if it will last. Brown's didn't last long and that's the last version of these events we have to compare to. He then was out of power three years later.
I wonder if 2024 will be a repeat of 2010.
I have Sunak as a shooting star. Unless Johnson falls on his well worked sword soon, Sunak will miss the boat. I have this horrible fear that Raab could come next, although I have offset that disappointment, and there will be a drink in it for me if he does.
I think you and I think in similar ways.
I wonder if it's too early for Rishi and he won't go for it. I'm not betting on it as I don't have the confidence I had with Johnson
He has to get it soon. If the economy bombs on his watch, he will be as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit.
Trouble is that moving to No 10 doesn't exactly insulate him from the blame. And I don't think he wants to be a footnote.
Assuming that Dishi Rishi is really Ambishi, his best bet is to walk away very visibly on a Matter Of Principle, be King Over The Water for a bit, and take over after the 2024 defeat. He's young enough.
This was good advice, ffs what is wrong with this Government
If I want to pay 30p a litre more than at a supermarket, why shouldn't I stop at the motorway services?
I am always amazed at the number of people who do. Back in the day, i could understand not knowing an area and worry would spend an age coming off a motorway to find somewhere...but now, couple of clicks on waze and you will be rerouted.
I don't think this is really true. He's not a potential PM yet. If there were a leadership election tomorrow I'm not sure if he'd run and if he did he'd get a couple of handfuls of votes.
Absolutely anybody can spend a trillion quid unwisely, and that's what Sunak has done. He needs a few pluses.
Well it's an interesting one, will his mistakes (?) as Chancellor come back to haunt him as they did for Brown?
I don't doubt Sunak will get a bounce when he - presumably - takes over but I wonder if it will last. Brown's didn't last long and that's the last version of these events we have to compare to. He then was out of power three years later.
I wonder if 2024 will be a repeat of 2010.
I have Sunak as a shooting star. Unless Johnson falls on his well worked sword soon, Sunak will miss the boat. I have this horrible fear that Raab could come next, although I have offset that disappointment, and there will be a drink in it for me if he does.
I think you and I think in similar ways.
I wonder if it's too early for Rishi and he won't go for it. I'm not betting on it as I don't have the confidence I had with Johnson
He has to get it soon. If the economy bombs on his watch, he will be as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit.
Trouble is that moving to No 10 doesn't exactly insulate him from the blame. And I don't think he wants to be a footnote.
Assuming that Dishi Rishi is really Ambishi, his best bet is to walk away very visibly on a Matter Of Principle, be King Over The Water for a bit, and take over after the 2024 defeat. He's young enough.
It is quite clear though that a hell of a lot of the electorate are prepared to make allowances for the situation they find themselves in (particularly on Covid). Most know that there are few good solutions. However it does need the Government to have a clear well argued strategy, and is extremely helpful to have a leader who can articulate that.
Johnson plainly cannot. Rishi seems far more up to the task, and could reap the rewards from that.
" How on earth does a party that can count JS Mill among its forebears end up seeking the outlaw the use of the phrase “biological man”? "
"As an outsider who runs a centrist think-tank, I’d suggest the Lib Dem aim should be something else: to make the case for a rather older idea of liberalism, one where personal freedom and responsibility go hand-in-hand and people are trusted to make their own choices within a clear set of rules."
This was good advice, ffs what is wrong with this Government
If I want to pay 30p a litre more than at a supermarket, why shouldn't I stop at the motorway services?
I am always amazed at the number of people who do. Back in the day, i could understand not knowing an area and worry would spend an age coming off a motorway to find somewhere...but now, couple of clicks on waze and you will be rerouted.
Depending on where I live, will be a tactical anti-Tory vote in 2024.
What if Nigey stands in your seat against the Cons.?
I will never vote for BXP, UKIP, Tory or any similar on principle
Is that the same principle that cheered on Corbyn until his defeat ?
I believe Corbyn would have been a good PM and I wish we had voted him in in 2019.
But accepting he lost and the party needs to change so it can get back to power is not the same as abandoning my principles.
If a left-wing Labour Party was electable I would support it - but I don't think it is. And if you can't put even some of your principles into action, you can't do anything. That's where I am at.
The Tories have done no good for this country since 2010 and they have been destroying it forever. I cannot support a party that does that.
This was good advice, ffs what is wrong with this Government
If I want to pay 30p a litre more than at a supermarket, why shouldn't I stop at the motorway services?
I am always amazed at the number of people who do. Back in the day, i could understand not knowing an area and worry would spend an age coming off a motorway to find somewhere...but now, couple of clicks on waze and you will be rerouted.
Yes, it's always puzzled me and I can't think of a sensible answer. Why would anybody who wasn't desperate use a motorway services for petrol? I guess there may be a few who have petrol paid for by their compony. And maybe a few who have inadvertently run low on juice (although can just put a tenner in before going elsewhere.)
This was good advice, ffs what is wrong with this Government
If I want to pay 30p a litre more than at a supermarket, why shouldn't I stop at the motorway services?
I am always amazed at the number of people who do. Back in the day, i could understand not knowing an area and worry would spend an age coming off a motorway to find somewhere...but now, couple of clicks on waze and you will be rerouted.
Yes, it's always puzzled me and I can't think of a sensible answer. Why would anybody who wasn't desperate use a motorway services for petrol? I guess there may be a few who have petrol paid for by their compony. And maybe a few who have inadvertently run low on juice (although can just put a tenner in before going elsewhere.)
The price differentials are insane.
Also, now with 24hr supermarkets, petrol is readily available at any time. I don't know how they get away with such a large differential in price. You would think market forces and such a large amount of competition would have driven that gap right down.
On the 10pm shut off - had lunch today with a friend of mine who owns and runs a restaurant (and now takeaway), inevitably the subject got onto the 10pm closing time. His view - it won't drive restaurants to bankruptcy as most are now baseline profitable from their takeaway business, at least if they are good enough for repeat business. His major insight to me is that the shift to takeaway has made the restaurant business into much more of a meritocracy as punters rely on reviews on takeaway websites and less so on passing trade than before. Give customers a bad food experience and they won't come back.
On how the restriction will change things, the kitchen now closed at around 9:30pm and last orders are at around 9pm. This means they now have just one dinner sitting down from two. He said pre-COVID they would have 320 diners per night and they were basically fully booked every night of the week, with social distancing this went down to 140 diners and now they are down to just 70. He's happy that they developed a website and e-commerce business as soon as lockdown started and they got the government grant because now they sell sauces, marinades and seasoning mixes on their own website for local and now national delivery. He said this makes up for basically all of the revenue loss of the eat in business.
His view on pubs - they're fucked and the government has completely fucked it for them. After speaking to him I'm very worried about @Cyclefree and her daughter's pub. That the government are throwing away thousands of businesses and millions of jobs just to make it look like they are doing something is absolutely devastating.
This was good advice, ffs what is wrong with this Government
If I want to pay 30p a litre more than at a supermarket, why shouldn't I stop at the motorway services?
I am always amazed at the number of people who do. Back in the day, i could understand not knowing an area and worry would spend an age coming off a motorway to find somewhere...but now, couple of clicks on waze and you will be rerouted.
Company cars no doubt
Even back in the day when I had company cars we were told to use the company credit card at supermarket service stations. Although at one point I had a BP/Shell only fuelcard.
" How on earth does a party that can count JS Mill among its forebears end up seeking the outlaw the use of the phrase “biological man”? "
"As an outsider who runs a centrist think-tank, I’d suggest the Lib Dem aim should be something else: to make the case for a rather older idea of liberalism, one where personal freedom and responsibility go hand-in-hand and people are trusted to make their own choices within a clear set of rules."
They got into power for the first time in, what 100 years? Got some of their major policies enacted and acted as a liberal break on more authoritarian Tory ministers like May.
So on one hand you got a random on the street spouting awful opinions and on the other hand you have the president of the United States glorifying violence against his political opponents and refusing to confirm he will stand down if defeated.
Do you see how the equivalency fails?
Also I haven't seen a single top level Dem politician praise the Marxist front orginisation BlackLivesMatters as opposed to the general amorphous movement made of ordinary people pushing for racial justice that has the same name.
It is astonishing and extremely upsetting to watch American democracy self-destruct.
Both sides are responsible for this tragedy. The insane identity politics of the American Left are as corrosive and damaging as the stupidity and aggression of the Trumpians.
The insane identity politics are - of course - ridiculous and damaging.
But if Trump was just attacking that, and immigration, and free trade, etc., then we while we might not agree with him on everything, that would be well within his right.
But "insane identity politics" are not a threat to democracy. What is currently happening in the US *is* a threat to democracy. And we need to call it out when we see it, not attempt to say "there are good people on both sides".
The US (like the UK) has been successful because it has a good system. Once you dismantle a good system, you are on the highway to hell.
I think critical race theory, cultural Marxism, the idea of original sin of White Racism and Fragility, and so on, are arguably more menacing, long term, to American democracy, than Trump's everyday lunacies.
He's a terrible, odious president, but at most he can only run one more term (and he's surely going to lose); Cultural Marxism/Critical Race Theory and all that goes with it is a terrible but powerful IDEA, and ideas are more important in the end. This particular idea will presage a race war in the USA if it gets worse.
Moreover, America is exporting the madness of Critical Race Theory around the world, roiling other western nations.
So on one hand you got a random on the street spouting awful opinions and on the other hand you have the president of the United States glorifying violence against his political opponents and refusing to confirm he will stand down if defeated.
Do you see how the equivalency fails?
Also I haven't seen a single top level Dem politician praise the Marxist front orginisation BlackLivesMatters as opposed to the general amorphous movement made of ordinary people pushing for racial justice that has the same name.
Well then you're blind as well as stupid
Go on, give me a list of all the senior Dem politicians praising the Marxist front orginisation.
You are a man of the world, surely you have some knowledge of how Marxist front orginisations work by now?
They find a popular cause and then try and insert themselves in a position that makes them 'look' like the cause. Trying to co-opt people for their radical Marxist agenda. The Socialist Worker Party and Revolutionary Communist Party have been doi g that for decades in the UK.
On the 10pm shut off - had lunch today with a friend of mine who owns and runs a restaurant (and now takeaway), inevitably the subject got onto the 10pm closing time. His view - it won't drive restaurants to bankruptcy as most are now baseline profitable from their takeaway business, at least if they are good enough for repeat business. His major insight to me is that the shift to takeaway has made the restaurant business into much more of a meritocracy as punters rely on reviews on takeaway websites and less so on passing trade than before. Give customers a bad food experience and they won't come back.
On how the restriction will change things, the kitchen now closed at around 9:30pm and last orders are at around 9pm. This means they now have just one dinner sitting down from two. He said pre-COVID they would have 320 diners per night and they were basically fully booked every night of the week, with social distancing this went down to 140 diners and now they are down to just 70. He's happy that they developed a website and e-commerce business as soon as lockdown started and they got the government grant because now they sell sauces, marinades and seasoning mixes on their own website for local and now national delivery. He said this makes up for basically all of the revenue loss of the eat in business.
His view on pubs - they're fucked and the government has completely fucked it for them. After speaking to him I'm very worried about @Cyclefree and her daughter's pub. That the government are throwing away thousands of businesses and millions of jobs just to make it look like they are doing something is absolutely devastating.
I am meant to be going for a pub drink-up in Soho with friends tonight.
It's a cold grey evening, like November. I know we will be corralled to our allotted table and people in masks will hover, and track, and trace, and we won't have time to get properly sozzled.
Utterly depressing. I'd rather stay home and drink my own good (cheaper) wine, with my own music and food, and have a couple of these friends over.
So on one hand you got a random on the street spouting awful opinions and on the other hand you have the president of the United States glorifying violence against his political opponents and refusing to confirm he will stand down if defeated.
Do you see how the equivalency fails?
Also I haven't seen a single top level Dem politician praise the Marxist front orginisation BlackLivesMatters as opposed to the general amorphous movement made of ordinary people pushing for racial justice that has the same name.
It is astonishing and extremely upsetting to watch American democracy self-destruct.
Both sides are responsible for this tragedy. The insane identity politics of the American Left are as corrosive and damaging as the stupidity and aggression of the Trumpians.
The insane identity politics are - of course - ridiculous and damaging.
But if Trump was just attacking that, and immigration, and free trade, etc., then we while we might not agree with him on everything, that would be well within his right.
But "insane identity politics" are not a threat to democracy. What is currently happening in the US *is* a threat to democracy. And we need to call it out when we see it, not attempt to say "there are good people on both sides".
The US (like the UK) has been successful because it has a good system. Once you dismantle a good system, you are on the highway to hell.
I think critical race theory, cultural Marxism, the idea of original sin of White Racism and Fragility, and so on, are arguably more menacing, long term, to American democracy, than Trump's everyday lunacies.
He's a terrible, odious president, but at most he can only run one more term (and he's surely going to lose); Cultural Marxism/Critical Race Theory and all that goes with it is a terrible but powerful IDEA, and ideas are more important in the end. This particular idea will presage a race war in the USA if it gets worse.
Moreover, America is exporting the madness of Critical Race Theory around the world, roiling other western nations.
It's infected our own National Trust too, which is why I cancelled my membership this week.
So on one hand you got a random on the street spouting awful opinions and on the other hand you have the president of the United States glorifying violence against his political opponents and refusing to confirm he will stand down if defeated.
Do you see how the equivalency fails?
Also I haven't seen a single top level Dem politician praise the Marxist front orginisation BlackLivesMatters as opposed to the general amorphous movement made of ordinary people pushing for racial justice that has the same name.
It is astonishing and extremely upsetting to watch American democracy self-destruct.
Both sides are responsible for this tragedy. The insane identity politics of the American Left are as corrosive and damaging as the stupidity and aggression of the Trumpians.
The insane identity politics are - of course - ridiculous and damaging.
But if Trump was just attacking that, and immigration, and free trade, etc., then we while we might not agree with him on everything, that would be well within his right.
But "insane identity politics" are not a threat to democracy. What is currently happening in the US *is* a threat to democracy. And we need to call it out when we see it, not attempt to say "there are good people on both sides".
The US (like the UK) has been successful because it has a good system. Once you dismantle a good system, you are on the highway to hell.
I think critical race theory, cultural Marxism, the idea of original sin of White Racism and Fragility, and so on, are arguably more menacing, long term, to American democracy, than Trump's everyday lunacies.
He's a terrible, odious president, but at most he can only run one more term (and he's surely going to lose); Cultural Marxism/Critical Race Theory and all that goes with it is a terrible but powerful IDEA, and ideas are more important in the end. This particular idea will presage a race war in the USA if it gets worse.
Moreover, America is exporting the madness of Critical Race Theory around the world, roiling other western nations.
It's infected our own National Trust too, which is why I cancelled my membership this week.
I cancelled my BBC licence fee. Every little bit helps.
If they do that, i think we will find 100,000s of middle class ladies on the streets protesting.
Not sure - it appears that he is a fan of the BBC but takes issue with its news organisation. I don't think the middle class ladies are going to be up in arms about the latter. It's the actual destruction of the BBC that would lead to revolution.
Although one can't be sure. Dacre's defenders always argue that his strength as an editor was in reflecting the views of his readers. His critics of course suspected that he was pandering to the prejudices of his readers which is a subtlely different thing.
However "support the BBC, oppose "BBC bias" would very much fit in with the average Mail reader i think. Whether his real views align completely with that can't be sure.
This was good advice, ffs what is wrong with this Government
If I want to pay 30p a litre more than at a supermarket, why shouldn't I stop at the motorway services?
I am always amazed at the number of people who do. Back in the day, i could understand not knowing an area and worry would spend an age coming off a motorway to find somewhere...but now, couple of clicks on waze and you will be rerouted.
Yes, it's always puzzled me and I can't think of a sensible answer. Why would anybody who wasn't desperate use a motorway services for petrol? I guess there may be a few who have petrol paid for by their compony. And maybe a few who have inadvertently run low on juice (although can just put a tenner in before going elsewhere.)
The price differentials are insane.
Mostly because people want a break and a cup of coffee and a wee... and having one stop is more convenient than having two.
If they do that, i think we will find 100,000s of middle class ladies on the streets protesting.
Not sure - it appears that he is a fan of the BBC but takes issue with its news organisation. I don't think the middle class ladies are going to be up in arms about the latter. It's the actual destruction of the BBC that would lead to revolution.
None admit it, they will claim they read the likes of the Guardian, but they do, its a fact, it is why it is one of the most visited "news" websites and actually makes a healthy profit.
" How on earth does a party that can count JS Mill among its forebears end up seeking the outlaw the use of the phrase “biological man”? "
"As an outsider who runs a centrist think-tank, I’d suggest the Lib Dem aim should be something else: to make the case for a rather older idea of liberalism, one where personal freedom and responsibility go hand-in-hand and people are trusted to make their own choices within a clear set of rules."
They got into power for the first time in, what 100 years? Got some of their major policies enacted and acted as a liberal break on more authoritarian Tory ministers like May.
Oh, I liked (if we exclude the Europhilia for a moment) the Orange Book LibDems.
But it also saw them reduced to 8 seats, it saw them lose in traditional areas of strength like the South West.
People don't want sensible and coherent policy platforms. They want someone who they think is 'on their side'.
If they do that, i think we will find 100,000s of middle class ladies on the streets protesting.
Not sure - it appears that he is a fan of the BBC but takes issue with its news organisation. I don't think the middle class ladies are going to be up in arms about the latter. It's the actual destruction of the BBC that would lead to revolution.
None admit it, they will claim they read the likes of the Guardian, but they do, its a fact, it is why it is one of the most visited "news" websites and actually makes a healthy profit.
If I have to go to it, I will use Adblock to ensure they make no money, I would happily see them go bust
On the 10pm shut off - had lunch today with a friend of mine who owns and runs a restaurant (and now takeaway), inevitably the subject got onto the 10pm closing time. His view - it won't drive restaurants to bankruptcy as most are now baseline profitable from their takeaway business, at least if they are good enough for repeat business. His major insight to me is that the shift to takeaway has made the restaurant business into much more of a meritocracy as punters rely on reviews on takeaway websites and less so on passing trade than before. Give customers a bad food experience and they won't come back.
On how the restriction will change things, the kitchen now closed at around 9:30pm and last orders are at around 9pm. This means they now have just one dinner sitting down from two. He said pre-COVID they would have 320 diners per night and they were basically fully booked every night of the week, with social distancing this went down to 140 diners and now they are down to just 70. He's happy that they developed a website and e-commerce business as soon as lockdown started and they got the government grant because now they sell sauces, marinades and seasoning mixes on their own website for local and now national delivery. He said this makes up for basically all of the revenue loss of the eat in business.
His view on pubs - they're fucked and the government has completely fucked it for them. After speaking to him I'm very worried about @Cyclefree and her daughter's pub. That the government are throwing away thousands of businesses and millions of jobs just to make it look like they are doing something is absolutely devastating.
I am meant to be going for a pub drink-up in Soho with friends tonight.
It's a cold grey evening, like November. I know we will be corralled to our allotted table and people in masks will hover, and track, and trace, and we won't have time to get properly sozzled.
Utterly depressing. I'd rather stay home and drink my own good (cheaper) wine, with my own music and food, and have a couple of these friends over.
This, indeed, is how pubs will die
Yeah he's actually talking to a pub owner he knows about how they can help him but pubs aren't in the same position as he was because none of them really have unique products, their food is good but nothing unique there, they offer good quality beer and wine but people can buy that from the supermarket and they can't really run a takeaway business that will keep them going and they don't have any chance of an e-commerce sideline.
There's no way out for them, he's run a pub previously and says that around 60% of their revenue came between 9pm and midnight, now pubs only have 30 mins to sell drinks in that window with much reduced capacity.
So on one hand you got a random on the street spouting awful opinions and on the other hand you have the president of the United States glorifying violence against his political opponents and refusing to confirm he will stand down if defeated.
Do you see how the equivalency fails?
Also I haven't seen a single top level Dem politician praise the Marxist front orginisation BlackLivesMatters as opposed to the general amorphous movement made of ordinary people pushing for racial justice that has the same name.
It is astonishing and extremely upsetting to watch American democracy self-destruct.
Both sides are responsible for this tragedy. The insane identity politics of the American Left are as corrosive and damaging as the stupidity and aggression of the Trumpians.
The insane identity politics are - of course - ridiculous and damaging.
But if Trump was just attacking that, and immigration, and free trade, etc., then we while we might not agree with him on everything, that would be well within his right.
But "insane identity politics" are not a threat to democracy. What is currently happening in the US *is* a threat to democracy. And we need to call it out when we see it, not attempt to say "there are good people on both sides".
The US (like the UK) has been successful because it has a good system. Once you dismantle a good system, you are on the highway to hell.
I think critical race theory, cultural Marxism, the idea of original sin of White Racism and Fragility, and so on, are arguably more menacing, long term, to American democracy, than Trump's everyday lunacies.
He's a terrible, odious president, but at most he can only run one more term (and he's surely going to lose); Cultural Marxism/Critical Race Theory and all that goes with it is a terrible but powerful IDEA, and ideas are more important in the end. This particular idea will presage a race war in the USA if it gets worse.
Moreover, America is exporting the madness of Critical Race Theory around the world, roiling other western nations.
It's infected our own National Trust too, which is why I cancelled my membership this week.
"White fragility doesn't exist"
Also:
"I cancelled my National Trust membership because they mentioned slavery."
Comments
And BLM has been swooned over by Democrats, right up to the top.
Meanwhile their armed wing is destroying US cities.
Yes, the American Left is as bad as Trump, if not worse.
https://twitter.com/MarinaMedvin/status/1306737500086566912?s=20
Same wife
Same job
Same house
Same number of kids
Have I been wasting my time?
2005: Blair: Labour majority of 66 on 35.2% of the vote and a 2.8% lead.
Lowest vote share for a majority government in UK electoral history.
2019: Boris: Conservative majority of 80 on 43.6% of the vote and a 11.5% lead.
Highest vote share for 40 years, including all four of the Thatcher and Blair landslides.
Tone had the most amazing vote-to-seat efficiency in 2005, but 2019 was something extraordinary in raw vote share, no matter how you slice it.
2010 featuring Chuka lol
But if Trump was just attacking that, and immigration, and free trade, etc., then we while we might not agree with him on everything, that would be well within his right.
But "insane identity politics" are not a threat to democracy. What is currently happening in the US *is* a threat to democracy. And we need to call it out when we see it, not attempt to say "there are good people on both sides".
The US (like the UK) has been successful because it has a good system. Once you dismantle a good system, you are on the highway to hell.
I think he might be Cameron
I would add I have no idea myself on how I would vote just now
(As an aside, the US intelligence services - not a noticeably not Left wing group - don't regard Antifa as a domestic terrorist threat.)
This was good advice, ffs what is wrong with this Government
Cabinet minister: ‘Things were getting back to normal but that summer optimism has turned out to be misplaced
‘A V-shaped recovery is much harder to achieve now. These are very, very difficult circumstances’
PB was ahead of the curve again
Assuming that Dishi Rishi is really Ambishi, his best bet is to walk away very visibly on a Matter Of Principle, be King Over The Water for a bit, and take over after the 2024 defeat. He's young enough.
All for an illness which will be largely harmless to the students themselves as individuals.
Do you see how the equivalency fails?
Also I haven't seen a single top level Dem politician praise the Marxist front orginisation BlackLivesMatters as opposed to the general amorphous movement made of ordinary people pushing for racial justice that has the same name.
This leads to a great deal of utter stupidity.
While Mr Sunak said on Thursday that “difficult decisions” about tax rises lay ahead, for now they were on the backburner.
Absolutely anybody can spend a trillion quid unwisely, and that's what Sunak has done. He needs a few pluses.
Johnson plainly cannot. Rishi seems far more up to the task, and could reap the rewards from that.
How did that work out for them?
We locked down too late and we've reacted too late yet again.
We have had a head start every time and we've sat and done nothing.
But accepting he lost and the party needs to change so it can get back to power is not the same as abandoning my principles.
If a left-wing Labour Party was electable I would support it - but I don't think it is. And if you can't put even some of your principles into action, you can't do anything. That's where I am at.
The Tories have done no good for this country since 2010 and they have been destroying it forever. I cannot support a party that does that.
Any Labour Government is better than a Tory one.
EDIT: correction - 2/3 including dependents. But still. And all these 45-80 year olds dying of it as well...
The 2019 manifesto was to the left of my personal politics, 2017 was fantastic.
The price differentials are insane.
Yay Matt will leave the party soon!
On how the restriction will change things, the kitchen now closed at around 9:30pm and last orders are at around 9pm. This means they now have just one dinner sitting down from two. He said pre-COVID they would have 320 diners per night and they were basically fully booked every night of the week, with social distancing this went down to 140 diners and now they are down to just 70. He's happy that they developed a website and e-commerce business as soon as lockdown started and they got the government grant because now they sell sauces, marinades and seasoning mixes on their own website for local and now national delivery. He said this makes up for basically all of the revenue loss of the eat in business.
His view on pubs - they're fucked and the government has completely fucked it for them. After speaking to him I'm very worried about @Cyclefree and her daughter's pub. That the government are throwing away thousands of businesses and millions of jobs just to make it look like they are doing something is absolutely devastating.
But 15 years ago I could still walk... funny how you don't appreciate what you have until you lose it.
--AS
He's a terrible, odious president, but at most he can only run one more term (and he's surely going to lose); Cultural Marxism/Critical Race Theory and all that goes with it is a terrible but powerful IDEA, and ideas are more important in the end. This particular idea will presage a race war in the USA if it gets worse.
Moreover, America is exporting the madness of Critical Race Theory around the world, roiling other western nations.
You are a man of the world, surely you have some knowledge of how Marxist front orginisations work by now?
They find a popular cause and then try and insert themselves in a position that makes them 'look' like the cause. Trying to co-opt people for their radical Marxist agenda. The Socialist Worker Party and Revolutionary Communist Party have been doi g that for decades in the UK.
It's a cold grey evening, like November. I know we will be corralled to our allotted table and people in masks will hover, and track, and trace, and we won't have time to get properly sozzled.
Utterly depressing. I'd rather stay home and drink my own good (cheaper) wine, with my own music and food, and have a couple of these friends over.
This, indeed, is how pubs will die
Although one can't be sure. Dacre's defenders always argue that his strength as an editor was in reflecting the views of his readers. His critics of course suspected that he was pandering to the prejudices of his readers which is a subtlely different thing.
However "support the BBC, oppose "BBC bias" would very much fit in with the average Mail reader i think. Whether his real views align completely with that can't be sure.
But it also saw them reduced to 8 seats, it saw them lose in traditional areas of strength like the South West.
People don't want sensible and coherent policy platforms. They want someone who they think is 'on their side'.
Which is all a bit depressing really.
The Sos is damaging the lives of so many
https://twitter.com/MediaGuido/status/1309909792610189321?s=09
There's no way out for them, he's run a pub previously and says that around 60% of their revenue came between 9pm and midnight, now pubs only have 30 mins to sell drinks in that window with much reduced capacity.
Also:
"I cancelled my National Trust membership because they mentioned slavery."