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When’s Rishi going to risk a general election? – politicalbetting.com

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  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 59,953

    Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    The way Robinson phrases the question almost perfectly encapsulates the problem we have with the Libs on this subject.
    Nick Robinson (former Chair, Oxford University Conservative Association) is hardly a "Lib" (ooh we've gone full on MAGA on here have we, how delightful - will it be "Libtard" next?) besides, he was simply repeating back to Chalk things he had said himself about being a tolerant nation.
    His nickname was "Red Robbo".

    Ed Balls and Chris Bryant started off with OUCA too.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,443
    Miklosvar said:

    Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    The way Robinson phrases the question almost perfectly encapsulates the problem we have with the Libs on this subject.
    True dat. It is absolutely shit journalism from Robinson.
    Is quoting someone's words back at them shit journalism ?
    I'm not convinced.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,139
    Dura_Ace said:

    Sandpit said:

    Miklosvar said:

    Let’s make all residential areas 20mph.

    And I say that as a driver of a high performance car.

    Twenty is plenty in town.

    Muy retro, don't think I have heard the expression high performance car since about the time the first golf GTI came out.
    The Lotus Carton created quite a stir in the early ‘90s
    Total commercial disaster for everyone involved, including the customers.

    I know somebody who has the Opel variant and he reckons it's less reliable that his Maserati 430 which is a staggering admission.
    Ancient worm and roller steering must have made for fun handling.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 59,953

    (Deleted)

    It's quicker. And it merges socialist views with ultra-liberal views together nicely, so correctly reflects the values divide.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 59,953

    Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    And right thinking people on pb may not agree, but an awful lot of people in the U.K. don’t believe someone arriving from France is coming from an unsafe country.*


    *Not my view, France is an absolute hell hole…**

    **And yes, I know there is no requirement to claim asylum in the first safe country.
    It's a canard.

    We are - and will remain - a tolerant country, and plenty of critics of our current approach are tolerant but that doesn't extend to a total free pass. They are exasperated that we can't get a grip on this and think the traffickers and many of those coming across the channel are taking the piss, and exploiting loopholes.

    The issue here it the optics: the Libs are far more interested in "the vibe" of a policy, how it looks and how it makes them feel, than they are pragmatic solutions.

    If we towed back everyone to France (with their agreement) and took in a quota, to an agreed set of rules, whilst also helping other European countries enforce their borders to diminish future flows, it would go away.
    So why don't we do that? The "libs" (Labour?) have been pushing for a variety of urgent actions - cooperation with the EU as you suggest, going after the smugglers operating the small boats, clearing the backlog etc.

    At the same time as this government demonstrate daily that they don't know what to do and even their mad ideas don't get acted upon, the right insists that they are the only people with the solution.
    Rishi has been flying around Europe looking to strengthen bilateral co-operation, has struck a new deal with the French, and is also accelerating clearance of the backlog. So many of what you advocate are already being tried.

    Your blind faith in a change of administration in magically resolving the problem is touching, though. I suspect if they do it will simply be through waving them through.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 59,953

    Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    The way Robinson phrases the question almost perfectly encapsulates the problem we have with the Libs on this subject.
    A problem is that current immigration, migration and refugees has altered massively over the last couple of decades. Whilst also remaining remarkably similar. Europe in particular has suffered from massive population movements (millions of people) in the past, and the systems and laws simply are not designed to cope with such numbers.

    Yes, that is absolutely another problem. I think an update to the conventions and treaties is needed, but that will be very hard to deliver.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,268
    At what point does a lawyer cross a legal line when advising a client?

    Is it okay to say, for example: “Yes I know you said you came from Albania to work in your friend’s car wash, but you need to say that you came from Iran with your boyfriend, because they don’t like gays in Iran”?
  • Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    And right thinking people on pb may not agree, but an awful lot of people in the U.K. don’t believe someone arriving from France is coming from an unsafe country.*


    *Not my view, France is an absolute hell hole…**

    **And yes, I know there is no requirement to claim asylum in the first safe country.
    It's a canard.

    We are - and will remain - a tolerant country, and plenty of critics of our current approach are tolerant but that doesn't extend to a total free pass. They are exasperated that we can't get a grip on this and think the traffickers and many of those coming across the channel are taking the piss, and exploiting loopholes.

    The issue here it the optics: the Libs are far more interested in "the vibe" of a policy, how it looks and how it makes them feel, than they are pragmatic solutions.

    If we towed back everyone to France (with their agreement) and took in a quota, to an agreed set of rules, whilst also helping other European countries enforce their borders to diminish future flows, it would go away.
    So why don't we do that? The "libs" (Labour?) have been pushing for a variety of urgent actions - cooperation with the EU as you suggest, going after the smugglers operating the small boats, clearing the backlog etc.

    At the same time as this government demonstrate daily that they don't know what to do and even their mad ideas don't get acted upon, the right insists that they are the only people with the solution.
    Rishi has been flying around Europe looking to strengthen bilateral co-operation, has struck a new deal with the French, and is also accelerating clearance of the backlog. So many of what you advocate are already being tried.

    Your blind faith in a change of administration in magically resolving the problem is touching, though. I suspect if they do it will simply be through waving them through.
    Labour's problem on the issue is that this is exactly what many of their targeted voters think Labour would do in Government. It is one thing being seen as not solving the problem - which is what the Tories are struggling with - and another being seen as effectively allowing carte blanche free entry into the country. Under the scrutiny of an election campaign, that probably will not stand up.
  • Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 9,656
    edited August 2023

    Love the use of 'libs' by @Casino_Royale and @Sandpit below.

    Another American usage coming into use by the British right.

    It's idiotic because in this country we have a party with "Liberal" in its title that, far from being on the left, actually propped up the Tories in government for five years while presiding over ruinous cuts to local public services! Socialist isn't a dirty word in this country like in the US. Please, PB right wingers, don't call people on the left "Libs", it just makes you look even more dumb than you actually are.
    And weren't elements within UKIP trying to promote 'Classical Liberal' as a term of endearment a few years ago?
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,789

    Love the use of 'libs' by @Casino_Royale and @Sandpit below.

    Another American usage coming into use by the British right.

    It's idiotic because in this country we have a party with "Liberal" in its title that, far from being on the left, actually propped up the Tories in government for five years while presiding over ruinous cuts to local public services! Socialist isn't a dirty word in this country like in the US. Please, PB right wingers, don't call people on the left "Libs", it just makes you look even more dumb than you actually are.
    Speaking of how people characterise their political opponents, Sturgeon is apparently an anti-British Marxist.

    Nicola and Ralph Miliband up a tree
    Plotting the downfall of this country



    https://twitter.com/JaydaBF/status/1688837659647430657?s=20
  • Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    And right thinking people on pb may not agree, but an awful lot of people in the U.K. don’t believe someone arriving from France is coming from an unsafe country.*


    *Not my view, France is an absolute hell hole…**

    **And yes, I know there is no requirement to claim asylum in the first safe country.
    It's a canard.

    We are - and will remain - a tolerant country, and plenty of critics of our current approach are tolerant but that doesn't extend to a total free pass. They are exasperated that we can't get a grip on this and think the traffickers and many of those coming across the channel are taking the piss, and exploiting loopholes.

    The issue here it the optics: the Libs are far more interested in "the vibe" of a policy, how it looks and how it makes them feel, than they are pragmatic solutions.

    If we towed back everyone to France (with their agreement) and took in a quota, to an agreed set of rules, whilst also helping other European countries enforce their borders to diminish future flows, it would go away.
    So why don't we do that? The "libs" (Labour?) have been pushing for a variety of urgent actions - cooperation with the EU as you suggest, going after the smugglers operating the small boats, clearing the backlog etc.

    At the same time as this government demonstrate daily that they don't know what to do and even their mad ideas don't get acted upon, the right insists that they are the only people with the solution.
    Rishi has been flying around Europe looking to strengthen bilateral co-operation, has struck a new deal with the French, and is also accelerating clearance of the backlog. So many of what you advocate are already being tried.

    Your blind faith in a change of administration in magically resolving the problem is touching, though. I suspect if they do it will simply be through waving them through.
    Well he *says* he is clearing the backlog. Then the HO publish more data and its another lie. You mention "waving them through" as if it is a kind of threat of what might happen under someone else. That is already happening. Migrants literally disappearing from the accommodation they were put in - many of them children who appear to have been trafficked.

    Migrants refusing to go on the floating gulag have been told their application will be withdrawn and support cut off if they refuse. They are here. The threat is letting them stay unsupervised. So they will go into the black economy. Which is the big draw for many.

    That is now. Not what Labour might do. Not what us "libs" want. What you Tories are doing because you are so catastrophically shit at administration.

    Since when was proper administration something to be scorned? By a supposed conservative?
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,812
    Sandpit said:

    At what point does a lawyer cross a legal line when advising a client?

    Is it okay to say, for example: “Yes I know you said you came from Albania to work in your friend’s car wash, but you need to say that you came from Iran with your boyfriend, because they don’t like gays in Iran”?

    That particular example would surely be over the SRA strike off line.
  • Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Some positive noises coming out of the Saudi summit on Ukraine at the weekend.

    China and India were both in Jeddah, as was Zelensky.

    Everyone’s agreed to keep talking, and accepted that Ukraine’s territorial integrity needs to be maintained in any peace plan. To the Ukranians, that means accepting the post-1991 borders.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/06/china-backs-further-ukraine-peace-talks-saudi-arabia-summit

    Let’s see how this plays into the next OPEC meeting. OPEC nations have been spooked by Russia’s attempt to use grain exports as leverage, and may well decide it’s time to start pumping to drive prices down and deny Putin foreign currency. Russian oil already trades at a large discount to the market price, with China and India the recipients.

    That a dramatic reduction in the oil price helps Western nations with an inflation problem, is a positive by-product. We should all be lobbying OPEC to turn on the taps, and lobbying the EU to let Ukranian grain exports through to their ports.

    The food price issue makes sense in focusing minds. However let's not kid ourselves. Neither China nor the OPEC countries want a pro-western government in Moscow. Perhaps the war/Putin are seen as more trouble than they are worth.
    OPEC countries are not exactly known for their abundance of agriculture, or self-sufficiency in food.

    MBS and Putin have had willy-waving contests before, such as during the pandemic, but the facts are that the Saudis can sustain lower oil prices way beyond the point at which the Russian economy is screwed more than it is already.

    Xi will be looking forward to Putin’s demise, there’s a massive opportunity for Russia to become China’s bitch once VVP is out of the way.
    Spot on. And, more to the point, why wouldn't he? Russia has huge resources and huge areas of sparsely populated land, much of which was once Chinese. The longer this war goes on, the better for China.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541

    (Deleted)

    It's quicker. And it merges socialist views with ultra-liberal views together nicely, so correctly reflects the values divide.
    You don’t really understand socialism or liberalism do you. You just have a series of names hats you put on things that trouble you.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 15,678

    Love the use of 'libs' by @Casino_Royale and @Sandpit below.

    Another American usage coming into use by the British right.

    It's idiotic because in this country we have a party with "Liberal" in its title that, far from being on the left, actually propped up the Tories in government for five years while presiding over ruinous cuts to local public services! Socialist isn't a dirty word in this country like in the US. Please, PB right wingers, don't call people on the left "Libs", it just makes you look even more dumb than you actually are.
    Speaking of how people characterise their political opponents, Sturgeon is apparently an anti-British Marxist.

    Nicola and Ralph Miliband up a tree
    Plotting the downfall of this country



    https://twitter.com/JaydaBF/status/1688837659647430657?s=20
    Although that remark is so poorly punctuated it's hard to even know what she means. Has the right in this country always been this moronic?
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541
    Pulpstar said:

    Sandpit said:

    At what point does a lawyer cross a legal line when advising a client?

    Is it okay to say, for example: “Yes I know you said you came from Albania to work in your friend’s car wash, but you need to say that you came from Iran with your boyfriend, because they don’t like gays in Iran”?

    That particular example would surely be over the SRA strike off line.
    The SRA can only fine. To get someone struck off they need to successfully prosecute before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. One of my principals when I was a trainee sat on the SDT, which was fascinating, and if there’s a solicitor you really don’t like you can bring a private prosecution if the SRA refuse to. Although if you lose it’ll cost you a lot.
  • DougSeal said:

    (Deleted)

    It's quicker. And it merges socialist views with ultra-liberal views together nicely, so correctly reflects the values divide.
    You don’t really understand socialism or liberalism do you. You just have a series of names hats you put on things that trouble you.
    Names must be called! Do you know what would happen if they aren't? Labour might win the election! Then we would have a broken legal system where massive cuts mean mega delays, a Border Force not able to control the border, a Home Office unable to do basic administration, an invading horde of small boats with nowhere to put the arrivals and no way to deport any of them, and a succession of panic measure immigration bills which fall over at the first legal challenge and need replacing the following year with one even more panicked.

    There - think about the consequences. Imagine if all that happened! Awful chaos...
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,635
    Scott_xP said:

    There's absolutely zero chance of Sunak calling an earlier-than-necessary election unless the polls show a very significant narrowing of Labour's lead. And there's no sign of the polls narrowing. So he will hang on in quiet desperation, which is the English way, hoping that something turns up.

    I quoted Genesis. You quoted Pink Floyd.

    Fellow PBers, we need more prog rock quotes in this thread to illustrate. A pink moon is on its way, and its name is Serkeir...
    SKS is King Crimson, obviously.
    And Richi is the Flying (Chocolate) Teapot
    Sounds a bit racist to me Scott
  • Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    And right thinking people on pb may not agree, but an awful lot of people in the U.K. don’t believe someone arriving from France is coming from an unsafe country.*


    *Not my view, France is an absolute hell hole…**

    **And yes, I know there is no requirement to claim asylum in the first safe country.
    The paradox of the average bigot.

    The UK is the best country in the world, the Frogs are revolting.

    Also.

    Where are all them asylum seekers flocking from? Why do they want to come here rather than stay in France?

    I daresay they haven't lost a moment's sleep over it.
    Not really a paradox and easily explainable.

    You can understand the reasons why migrants would prefer the UK over France - language, lack of a national identity system making it easier to get lost in the system, extensive family networks (helps with the last point), free use of health facilities plus benefits such as housing provided by authorities who do not ask too many questions and are willing to accept your explanation.

    However, that does not mean you think France is a hell hole. Sure, it is certainly a tougher country for migrants to live in because of the rules, restrictions etc but a lot of peoples' views are "if you are truly fleeing death and persecution, then surely a live in France is infinitely better?" The true answer, of course, is yes but many migrants are looking to come in for economic reasons.

    It doesn't make you a bigot to think that way. But you are a bigot - in a different way - if you make no attempt to understand somebody's views and characterise them in simplistic terms.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,268
    Pulpstar said:

    Sandpit said:

    At what point does a lawyer cross a legal line when advising a client?

    Is it okay to say, for example: “Yes I know you said you came from Albania to work in your friend’s car wash, but you need to say that you came from Iran with your boyfriend, because they don’t like gays in Iran”?

    That particular example would surely be over the SRA strike off line.
    I’d have thought so too.

    I suspect that the Home Office thinks that this is the sort of thing that’s going on, with the lawyers refining their arguments over time, then applying arguments that they know will win to any number of cases irrespective of the actual facts.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,789

    Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    And right thinking people on pb may not agree, but an awful lot of people in the U.K. don’t believe someone arriving from France is coming from an unsafe country.*


    *Not my view, France is an absolute hell hole…**

    **And yes, I know there is no requirement to claim asylum in the first safe country.
    The paradox of the average bigot.

    The UK is the best country in the world, the Frogs are revolting.

    Also.

    Where are all them asylum seekers flocking from? Why do they want to come here rather than stay in France?

    I daresay they haven't lost a moment's sleep over it.
    Not really a paradox and easily explainable.

    You can understand the reasons why migrants would prefer the UK over France - language, lack of a national identity system making it easier to get lost in the system, extensive family networks (helps with the last point), free use of health facilities plus benefits such as housing provided by authorities who do not ask too many questions and are willing to accept your explanation.

    However, that does not mean you think France is a hell hole. Sure, it is certainly a tougher country for migrants to live in because of the rules, restrictions etc but a lot of peoples' views are "if you are truly fleeing death and persecution, then surely a live in France is infinitely better?" The true answer, of course, is yes but many migrants are looking to come in for economic reasons.

    It doesn't make you a bigot to think that way. But you are a bigot - in a different way - if you make no attempt to understand somebody's views and characterise them in simplistic terms.
    So there aren't actually any bigots (paradoxical or otherwise) here? Golly, thanks for explaining that to me.
  • MiklosvarMiklosvar Posts: 1,855

    Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    And right thinking people on pb may not agree, but an awful lot of people in the U.K. don’t believe someone arriving from France is coming from an unsafe country.*


    *Not my view, France is an absolute hell hole…**

    **And yes, I know there is no requirement to claim asylum in the first safe country.
    The paradox of the average bigot.

    The UK is the best country in the world, the Frogs are revolting.

    Also.

    Where are all them asylum seekers flocking from? Why do they want to come here rather than stay in France?

    I daresay they haven't lost a moment's sleep over it.
    Not really a paradox and easily explainable.

    You can understand the reasons why migrants would prefer the UK over France - language, lack of a national identity system making it easier to get lost in the system, extensive family networks (helps with the last point), free use of health facilities plus benefits such as housing provided by authorities who do not ask too many questions and are willing to accept your explanation.

    However, that does not mean you think France is a hell hole. Sure, it is certainly a tougher country for migrants to live in because of the rules, restrictions etc but a lot of peoples' views are "if you are truly fleeing death and persecution, then surely a live in France is infinitely better?" The true answer, of course, is yes but many migrants are looking to come in for economic reasons.

    It doesn't make you a bigot to think that way. But you are a bigot - in a different way - if you make no attempt to understand somebody's views and characterise them in simplistic terms.
    Genuine LOL the other day: someone who had successfully got asylum here from Pakistan, presumably on grounds the authorities there would string him up as soon as look at him, complaining on twitter about the red tape involved in him going back there to attend his cousin's wedding.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,268
    edited August 2023
    Breaking: Man stabbed outside British Museum, another man in custody. Museum evacuated, and closed until further notice.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/08/british-museum-stabbing-london-latest-news/

    Edit: Met statement:

    Police have arrested a man on suspicion of GBH following an incident at the junction of Russell Street and Museum Street around 10am on Tuesday 8 August.

    “A man was treated for a stab wound to the arm at the scene and taken by London Ambulance Service to hospital.

    “His condition is being assessed.

    “This was an isolated incident and there is no outstanding risk to the public. It is not being treated as terror-related.

    “The scene may be in place for much of today.

    “Anyone with information or footage which could assist the police investigation is asked to contact police on 101, quoting CADF 2184/08AUG, or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 10,688
    Miklosvar said:

    Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    And right thinking people on pb may not agree, but an awful lot of people in the U.K. don’t believe someone arriving from France is coming from an unsafe country.*


    *Not my view, France is an absolute hell hole…**

    **And yes, I know there is no requirement to claim asylum in the first safe country.
    The paradox of the average bigot.

    The UK is the best country in the world, the Frogs are revolting.

    Also.

    Where are all them asylum seekers flocking from? Why do they want to come here rather than stay in France?

    I daresay they haven't lost a moment's sleep over it.
    Not really a paradox and easily explainable.

    You can understand the reasons why migrants would prefer the UK over France - language, lack of a national identity system making it easier to get lost in the system, extensive family networks (helps with the last point), free use of health facilities plus benefits such as housing provided by authorities who do not ask too many questions and are willing to accept your explanation.

    However, that does not mean you think France is a hell hole. Sure, it is certainly a tougher country for migrants to live in because of the rules, restrictions etc but a lot of peoples' views are "if you are truly fleeing death and persecution, then surely a live in France is infinitely better?" The true answer, of course, is yes but many migrants are looking to come in for economic reasons.

    It doesn't make you a bigot to think that way. But you are a bigot - in a different way - if you make no attempt to understand somebody's views and characterise them in simplistic terms.
    Genuine LOL the other day: someone who had successfully got asylum here from Pakistan, presumably on grounds the authorities there would string him up as soon as look at him, complaining on twitter about the red tape involved in him going back there to attend his cousin's wedding.
    There are hypocritical asylum seekers. There are hypocritical politicians. There are hypocritical benefit claimants. There are hypocritical top rate tax payers.
  • Miklosvar said:

    Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    And right thinking people on pb may not agree, but an awful lot of people in the U.K. don’t believe someone arriving from France is coming from an unsafe country.*


    *Not my view, France is an absolute hell hole…**

    **And yes, I know there is no requirement to claim asylum in the first safe country.
    The paradox of the average bigot.

    The UK is the best country in the world, the Frogs are revolting.

    Also.

    Where are all them asylum seekers flocking from? Why do they want to come here rather than stay in France?

    I daresay they haven't lost a moment's sleep over it.
    Not really a paradox and easily explainable.

    You can understand the reasons why migrants would prefer the UK over France - language, lack of a national identity system making it easier to get lost in the system, extensive family networks (helps with the last point), free use of health facilities plus benefits such as housing provided by authorities who do not ask too many questions and are willing to accept your explanation.

    However, that does not mean you think France is a hell hole. Sure, it is certainly a tougher country for migrants to live in because of the rules, restrictions etc but a lot of peoples' views are "if you are truly fleeing death and persecution, then surely a live in France is infinitely better?" The true answer, of course, is yes but many migrants are looking to come in for economic reasons.

    It doesn't make you a bigot to think that way. But you are a bigot - in a different way - if you make no attempt to understand somebody's views and characterise them in simplistic terms.
    Genuine LOL the other day: someone who had successfully got asylum here from Pakistan, presumably on grounds the authorities there would string him up as soon as look at him, complaining on twitter about the red tape involved in him going back there to attend his cousin's wedding.
    There are hypocritical asylum seekers. There are hypocritical politicians. There are hypocritical benefit claimants. There are hypocritical top rate tax payers.
    What still boggles my tiny mind is that no matter how patently incompetently this government handles every aspect of migration, its MPs and shills insist theirs is the *only* way and any other alternative would be patently incompetent.

    Its the playground "your mum" answer to policy making. "This is a disaster", "yebbut, your mum"
  • MiklosvarMiklosvar Posts: 1,855

    Miklosvar said:

    Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    And right thinking people on pb may not agree, but an awful lot of people in the U.K. don’t believe someone arriving from France is coming from an unsafe country.*


    *Not my view, France is an absolute hell hole…**

    **And yes, I know there is no requirement to claim asylum in the first safe country.
    The paradox of the average bigot.

    The UK is the best country in the world, the Frogs are revolting.

    Also.

    Where are all them asylum seekers flocking from? Why do they want to come here rather than stay in France?

    I daresay they haven't lost a moment's sleep over it.
    Not really a paradox and easily explainable.

    You can understand the reasons why migrants would prefer the UK over France - language, lack of a national identity system making it easier to get lost in the system, extensive family networks (helps with the last point), free use of health facilities plus benefits such as housing provided by authorities who do not ask too many questions and are willing to accept your explanation.

    However, that does not mean you think France is a hell hole. Sure, it is certainly a tougher country for migrants to live in because of the rules, restrictions etc but a lot of peoples' views are "if you are truly fleeing death and persecution, then surely a live in France is infinitely better?" The true answer, of course, is yes but many migrants are looking to come in for economic reasons.

    It doesn't make you a bigot to think that way. But you are a bigot - in a different way - if you make no attempt to understand somebody's views and characterise them in simplistic terms.
    Genuine LOL the other day: someone who had successfully got asylum here from Pakistan, presumably on grounds the authorities there would string him up as soon as look at him, complaining on twitter about the red tape involved in him going back there to attend his cousin's wedding.
    There are hypocritical asylum seekers. There are hypocritical politicians. There are hypocritical benefit claimants. There are hypocritical top rate tax payers.
    Oh, sure. as a matter of fact I have a lot of sympathy for "economic migrants" because I know what third world poverty is like - economic migrancy is not a quest for a slightly bigger plasma TV - and if they can game the system good for them. The anecdote is funny in its own right, and the point it makes is about the system itself more than about those gaming it.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,568

    Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    And right thinking people on pb may not agree, but an awful lot of people in the U.K. don’t believe someone arriving from France is coming from an unsafe country.*


    *Not my view, France is an absolute hell hole…**

    **And yes, I know there is no requirement to claim asylum in the first safe country.
    So much wrong with this post and shows a lot of the reasons why a party that has talked about stopping asylum and reducing immigration for twenty years and been in power for most of them has absolutely failed to deliver.

    There is no such thing as right thinking people.
    (Almost) No-one thinks France is an unsafe country.
    France takes more asylum seekers than the UK.

    But mostly why this weird fixation on claiming asylum seekers have to claim asylum in the first safe country, when you know that is not the law, and the governing party against the asylum seekers have no plan to make it the law.

    It wouldn't work anyway and just lead to spillover conflicts in distressed regions.

    There are lots of ways to reduce asylum claims and/or immigration if we really want to. Moaning about the status quo is not a solution.
  • Wulfrun_PhilWulfrun_Phil Posts: 4,780
    Still no new poll of VI in Scotland. 6 weeks since the last one. We used to get 3 or 4 every month.



  • Still no new poll of VI in Scotland. 6 weeks since the last one. We used to get 3 or 4 every month.



    They might say something beastly about the party of the Lady in the Van. So have been banned by Youseless decree.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,789
    Great to have a distinguished sword bearer blessing us inhabitants of the territories with her sugary wisdom.


  • LeonLeon Posts: 54,617
    Miklosvar said:

    Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    And right thinking people on pb may not agree, but an awful lot of people in the U.K. don’t believe someone arriving from France is coming from an unsafe country.*


    *Not my view, France is an absolute hell hole…**

    **And yes, I know there is no requirement to claim asylum in the first safe country.
    The paradox of the average bigot.

    The UK is the best country in the world, the Frogs are revolting.

    Also.

    Where are all them asylum seekers flocking from? Why do they want to come here rather than stay in France?

    I daresay they haven't lost a moment's sleep over it.
    Not really a paradox and easily explainable.

    You can understand the reasons why migrants would prefer the UK over France - language, lack of a national identity system making it easier to get lost in the system, extensive family networks (helps with the last point), free use of health facilities plus benefits such as housing provided by authorities who do not ask too many questions and are willing to accept your explanation.

    However, that does not mean you think France is a hell hole. Sure, it is certainly a tougher country for migrants to live in because of the rules, restrictions etc but a lot of peoples' views are "if you are truly fleeing death and persecution, then surely a live in France is infinitely better?" The true answer, of course, is yes but many migrants are looking to come in for economic reasons.

    It doesn't make you a bigot to think that way. But you are a bigot - in a different way - if you make no attempt to understand somebody's views and characterise them in simplistic terms.
    Genuine LOL the other day: someone who had successfully got asylum here from Pakistan, presumably on grounds the authorities there would string him up as soon as look at him, complaining on twitter about the red tape involved in him going back there to attend his cousin's wedding.
    Was he MARRYING the cousin?
  • MiklosvarMiklosvar Posts: 1,855
    Leon said:

    Miklosvar said:

    Sandpit said:

    This is the new great white hope of Toryism?



    https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1688822346277105664?s=20

    I’ve said it before, but many voters don’t understand why we can’t simply put irregular arrivals on a bus to Dover, and back from whence they came on the first available ferry.
    And right thinking people on pb may not agree, but an awful lot of people in the U.K. don’t believe someone arriving from France is coming from an unsafe country.*


    *Not my view, France is an absolute hell hole…**

    **And yes, I know there is no requirement to claim asylum in the first safe country.
    The paradox of the average bigot.

    The UK is the best country in the world, the Frogs are revolting.

    Also.

    Where are all them asylum seekers flocking from? Why do they want to come here rather than stay in France?

    I daresay they haven't lost a moment's sleep over it.
    Not really a paradox and easily explainable.

    You can understand the reasons why migrants would prefer the UK over France - language, lack of a national identity system making it easier to get lost in the system, extensive family networks (helps with the last point), free use of health facilities plus benefits such as housing provided by authorities who do not ask too many questions and are willing to accept your explanation.

    However, that does not mean you think France is a hell hole. Sure, it is certainly a tougher country for migrants to live in because of the rules, restrictions etc but a lot of peoples' views are "if you are truly fleeing death and persecution, then surely a live in France is infinitely better?" The true answer, of course, is yes but many migrants are looking to come in for economic reasons.

    It doesn't make you a bigot to think that way. But you are a bigot - in a different way - if you make no attempt to understand somebody's views and characterise them in simplistic terms.
    Genuine LOL the other day: someone who had successfully got asylum here from Pakistan, presumably on grounds the authorities there would string him up as soon as look at him, complaining on twitter about the red tape involved in him going back there to attend his cousin's wedding.
    Was he MARRYING the cousin?
    Statistically quite likely.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,218

    Love the use of 'libs' by @Casino_Royale and @Sandpit below.

    Another American usage coming into use by the British right.

    It's idiotic because in this country we have a party with "Liberal" in its title that, far from being on the left, actually propped up the Tories in government for five years while presiding over ruinous cuts to local public services! Socialist isn't a dirty word in this country like in the US. Please, PB right wingers, don't call people on the left "Libs", it just makes you look even more dumb than you actually are.
    I agree, it's deplorable. Let's preserve any positive connotations the word 'liberal' has left on these shores in a post-Lib Dem era.
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 13,677

    Great to have a distinguished sword bearer blessing us inhabitants of the territories with her sugary wisdom.


    She quite obviously got ChatGPT to write that.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,209

    Scott_xP said:

    There's absolutely zero chance of Sunak calling an earlier-than-necessary election unless the polls show a very significant narrowing of Labour's lead. And there's no sign of the polls narrowing. So he will hang on in quiet desperation, which is the English way, hoping that something turns up.

    I quoted Genesis. You quoted Pink Floyd.

    Fellow PBers, we need more prog rock quotes in this thread to illustrate. A pink moon is on its way, and its name is Serkeir...
    SKS is King Crimson, obviously.
    And Richi is the Flying (Chocolate) Teapot
    Sounds a bit racist to me Scott
    You are not right in the head then.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,789

    Still no new poll of VI in Scotland. 6 weeks since the last one. We used to get 3 or 4 every month.



    It's mainly the press and the media that sponsor the polls, so you'd think they'd be dying to feed their current 'Its over for the SNP' narrative with some polling.
  • Great to have a distinguished sword bearer blessing us inhabitants of the territories with her sugary wisdom.


    Unions based on shared culture and history as well as economic rationality, you say?

    What a good idea, as the Iron Lady said.

    Meanwhile, this is from the shadow Biz Sec, and probably explains why Rishi can't call an election any time soon;

    Sometimes, when pondering the complex and significant economic challenges the UK faces in terms of growth, productivity and business investment, I ask myself:

    ‘What if we were a country that just built enough houses and had trains that run on time?’


    https://twitter.com/jreynoldsMP/status/1688831815975333888
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,283
    malcolmg said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    There's absolutely zero chance of Sunak calling an earlier-than-necessary election unless the polls show a very significant narrowing of Labour's lead. And there's no sign of the polls narrowing. So he will hang on in quiet desperation, which is the English way, hoping that something turns up.

    I quoted Genesis. You quoted Pink Floyd.

    Fellow PBers, we need more prog rock quotes in this thread to illustrate. A pink moon is on its way, and its name is Serkeir...
    My name is Panurge and I have come from hell.

    There is no fucking way the little shit will "go early". Has any PM ever done that when they are so fucked in the polls?
    "There is no fucking way the little shit will "go early" ". Are you referring to your friend Putin?
    Certainly not you he was referring to or it would have been "humungous steaming shit"
    Lol. While I was out Malcolmg entered the room to lower the average IQ of the forum. I wish he would let us know when his trolley pushing shifts are at Halfords, so I can know when to avoid his puerile senile dribbling.
  • GhedebravGhedebrav Posts: 3,860

    Love the use of 'libs' by @Casino_Royale and @Sandpit below.

    Another American usage coming into use by the British right.

    It's idiotic because in this country we have a party with "Liberal" in its title that, far from being on the left, actually propped up the Tories in government for five years while presiding over ruinous cuts to local public services! Socialist isn't a dirty word in this country like in the US. Please, PB right wingers, don't call people on the left "Libs", it just makes you look even more dumb than you actually are.
    Speaking of how people characterise their political opponents, Sturgeon is apparently an anti-British Marxist.

    Nicola and Ralph Miliband up a tree
    Plotting the downfall of this country



    https://twitter.com/JaydaBF/status/1688837659647430657?s=20
    Although that remark is so poorly punctuated it's hard to even know what she means. Has the right in this country always been this moronic?
    Jayda is her own special brand of moron tbf.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 15,678

    Great to have a distinguished sword bearer blessing us inhabitants of the territories with her sugary wisdom.


    Unions based on shared culture and history as well as economic rationality, you say?

    What a good idea, as the Iron Lady said.

    Meanwhile, this is from the shadow Biz Sec, and probably explains why Rishi can't call an election any time soon;

    Sometimes, when pondering the complex and significant economic challenges the UK faces in terms of growth, productivity and business investment, I ask myself:

    ‘What if we were a country that just built enough houses and had trains that run on time?’


    https://twitter.com/jreynoldsMP/status/1688831815975333888
    Reynolds is excellent, and a really nice guy too.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 54,617
    Andy Street is doing good clever politics on that pub that got torched and demolished

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/08/west-midlands-mayor-calls-for-crooked-house-pub-to-be-rebuilt-brick-by-brick


    Tories need more like him. Instinctive politicians

  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,789
    ..

    Great to have a distinguished sword bearer blessing us inhabitants of the territories with her sugary wisdom.


    Unions based on shared culture and history as well as economic rationality, you say?

    What a good idea, as the Iron Lady said.

    Meanwhile, this is from the shadow Biz Sec, and probably explains why Rishi can't call an election any time soon;

    Sometimes, when pondering the complex and significant economic challenges the UK faces in terms of growth, productivity and business investment, I ask myself:

    ‘What if we were a country that just built enough houses and had trains that run on time?’


    https://twitter.com/jreynoldsMP/status/1688831815975333888
    Only non-exceptional countries bother with such mundane stuff.
    Not swimming in a sea of shit could be added to the bread and butter list.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,209

    malcolmg said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    There's absolutely zero chance of Sunak calling an earlier-than-necessary election unless the polls show a very significant narrowing of Labour's lead. And there's no sign of the polls narrowing. So he will hang on in quiet desperation, which is the English way, hoping that something turns up.

    I quoted Genesis. You quoted Pink Floyd.

    Fellow PBers, we need more prog rock quotes in this thread to illustrate. A pink moon is on its way, and its name is Serkeir...
    My name is Panurge and I have come from hell.

    There is no fucking way the little shit will "go early". Has any PM ever done that when they are so fucked in the polls?
    "There is no fucking way the little shit will "go early" ". Are you referring to your friend Putin?
    Certainly not you he was referring to or it would have been "humungous steaming shit"
    Lol. While I was out Malcolmg entered the room to lower the average IQ of the forum. I wish he would let us know when his trolley pushing shifts are at Halfords, so I can know when to avoid his puerile senile dribbling.
    Sad one dimensional crock of shit foreskin, at least try to change one word in your pathetic attempts at insults. A 5 year old could do better, a worm has more brains than you. Just go spend your JSA.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,283

    Love the use of 'libs' by @Casino_Royale and @Sandpit below.

    Another American usage coming into use by the British right.

    It's idiotic because in this country we have a party with "Liberal" in its title that, far from being on the left, actually propped up the Tories in government for five years while presiding over ruinous cuts to local public services! Socialist isn't a dirty word in this country like in the US. Please, PB right wingers, don't call people on the left "Libs", it just makes you look even more dumb than you actually are.
    Speaking of how people characterise their political opponents, Sturgeon is apparently an anti-British Marxist.

    Nicola and Ralph Miliband up a tree
    Plotting the downfall of this country



    https://twitter.com/JaydaBF/status/1688837659647430657?s=20
    Although that remark is so poorly punctuated it's hard to even know what she means. Has the right in this country always been this moronic?
    The hard/far right almost certainly. Corbyn was of course the most stupid person by a long way to lead a mainstream British party and those of you of a left persuasion might be surprised to realise he is not of the right.

    And for frothing English hating Scottish Nationalists I pass you Exhibit Malcolmg, graduate of the University of Life, and far and away the most obnoxious and stupid moron to contribute to this otherwise excellent site.
  • MiklosvarMiklosvar Posts: 1,855

    Great to have a distinguished sword bearer blessing us inhabitants of the territories with her sugary wisdom.


    Unions based on shared culture and history as well as economic rationality, you say?

    What a good idea, as the Iron Lady said.

    Meanwhile, this is from the shadow Biz Sec, and probably explains why Rishi can't call an election any time soon;

    Sometimes, when pondering the complex and significant economic challenges the UK faces in terms of growth, productivity and business investment, I ask myself:

    ‘What if we were a country that just built enough houses and had trains that run on time?’


    https://twitter.com/jreynoldsMP/status/1688831815975333888
    Punctual trains, space to live in, and just a hint that the will of the people is being thwarted by unnecessary complexity.

    Ho hum.
  • https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 59,953

    If we towed back everyone to France (with their agreement) and took in a quota, to an agreed set of rules, whilst also helping other European countries enforce their borders to diminish future flows, it would go away.

    That's kinda the arrangement we had when we were in the EU with the Dublin regulation. However, we left the EU and didn't negotiate any sort of replacement arrangement. That was the choice of the Conservative government. Solution: vote out the Conservatives.
    Nope. The Dublin regulation purely prevented an applicant from submitting applications in multiple Member States. Numbers returned, when it was operation, were very modest. It does nothing to facilitate the return of an individual who made no application in any Member State, but did decide to do so in the UK, so would make no difference to repatriating across the channel the vast majority of boat crossings. So this would need to be a new agreement that's quite different.

    It's remarkable your post got five likes, and shows just how superficial debate on this subject is. People (not you to be fair) seem to mainly be interested in a pissing contest.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,541

    Love the use of 'libs' by @Casino_Royale and @Sandpit below.

    Another American usage coming into use by the British right.

    It's idiotic because in this country we have a party with "Liberal" in its title that, far from being on the left, actually propped up the Tories in government for five years while presiding over ruinous cuts to local public services! Socialist isn't a dirty word in this country like in the US. Please, PB right wingers, don't call people on the left "Libs", it just makes you look even more dumb than you actually are.
    I agree, it's deplorable. Let's preserve any positive connotations the word 'liberal' has left on these shores in a post-Lib Dem era.
    Is the Canadian Liberal Party or the Australian one more to your tastes?
  • ChrisChris Posts: 11,728

    malcolmg said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    There's absolutely zero chance of Sunak calling an earlier-than-necessary election unless the polls show a very significant narrowing of Labour's lead. And there's no sign of the polls narrowing. So he will hang on in quiet desperation, which is the English way, hoping that something turns up.

    I quoted Genesis. You quoted Pink Floyd.

    Fellow PBers, we need more prog rock quotes in this thread to illustrate. A pink moon is on its way, and its name is Serkeir...
    My name is Panurge and I have come from hell.

    There is no fucking way the little shit will "go early". Has any PM ever done that when they are so fucked in the polls?
    "There is no fucking way the little shit will "go early" ". Are you referring to your friend Putin?
    Certainly not you he was referring to or it would have been "humungous steaming shit"
    Lol. While I was out Malcolmg entered the room to lower the average IQ of the forum. I wish he would let us know when his trolley pushing shifts are at Halfords, so I can know when to avoid his puerile senile dribbling.
    "puerile senile ..."

    Maybe at least have a dictionary at hand when you're trying to insult people, so it doesn't end up as blatant gibberish!
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 59,953

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    Except that's not what that article talks about. It talks about sexual misconduct in parliament by other gay politicians.

    Did you even read it?
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,283
    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    There's absolutely zero chance of Sunak calling an earlier-than-necessary election unless the polls show a very significant narrowing of Labour's lead. And there's no sign of the polls narrowing. So he will hang on in quiet desperation, which is the English way, hoping that something turns up.

    I quoted Genesis. You quoted Pink Floyd.

    Fellow PBers, we need more prog rock quotes in this thread to illustrate. A pink moon is on its way, and its name is Serkeir...
    My name is Panurge and I have come from hell.

    There is no fucking way the little shit will "go early". Has any PM ever done that when they are so fucked in the polls?
    "There is no fucking way the little shit will "go early" ". Are you referring to your friend Putin?
    Certainly not you he was referring to or it would have been "humungous steaming shit"
    Lol. While I was out Malcolmg entered the room to lower the average IQ of the forum. I wish he would let us know when his trolley pushing shifts are at Halfords, so I can know when to avoid his puerile senile dribbling.
    Sad one dimensional crock of shit foreskin, at least try to change one word in your pathetic attempts at insults. A 5 year old could do better, a worm has more brains than you. Just go spend your JSA.
    Those anger management courses still not succeeding I see, and I guess your most recent BTec from the University of Life still hasn't improved your wit or eloquence. Maybe you should try loosening your jackboots or spend less time jerking off to pictures of Alex Salmond to improve your mood?
  • MiklosvarMiklosvar Posts: 1,855
    Leon said:

    Andy Street is doing good clever politics on that pub that got torched and demolished

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/08/west-midlands-mayor-calls-for-crooked-house-pub-to-be-rebuilt-brick-by-brick


    Tories need more like him. Instinctive politicians

    I believe you can make such an order if and only if you can prove it was deliberately demolished. His letter rather pathetically skirts round the fact that he knows this perfectly well.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,218
    DougSeal said:

    Love the use of 'libs' by @Casino_Royale and @Sandpit below.

    Another American usage coming into use by the British right.

    It's idiotic because in this country we have a party with "Liberal" in its title that, far from being on the left, actually propped up the Tories in government for five years while presiding over ruinous cuts to local public services! Socialist isn't a dirty word in this country like in the US. Please, PB right wingers, don't call people on the left "Libs", it just makes you look even more dumb than you actually are.
    I agree, it's deplorable. Let's preserve any positive connotations the word 'liberal' has left on these shores in a post-Lib Dem era.
    Is the Canadian Liberal Party or the Australian one more to your tastes?
    I was thinking more of its philosophical connotations - J. S. Mill etc.
  • MiklosvarMiklosvar Posts: 1,855

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    So, what, it is OK to grope C Bryant's arse if you are only doing it because you are in the closet because society?
  • SirNorfolkPassmoreSirNorfolkPassmore Posts: 7,123
    edited August 2023

    Still no new poll of VI in Scotland. 6 weeks since the last one. We used to get 3 or 4 every month.



    July and August always seem to be particularly fallow for polling in Scotland. Electoral Calculus list suggests there was only one over the two months last year, and none at all the year before that. You'd have thought they might have broken the pattern a bit, though, given movement in Scottish politics recently.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,218
    Leon said:

    Andy Street is doing good clever politics on that pub that got torched and demolished

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/08/west-midlands-mayor-calls-for-crooked-house-pub-to-be-rebuilt-brick-by-brick


    Tories need more like him. Instinctive politicians

    What strikes me is, if the hinted at arson were true, how f-ing stupid that developer (presumably a housing developer?) would have to be to want to obliterate that building rather than incorporate it into the development somehow?
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,283
    Chris said:

    malcolmg said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    There's absolutely zero chance of Sunak calling an earlier-than-necessary election unless the polls show a very significant narrowing of Labour's lead. And there's no sign of the polls narrowing. So he will hang on in quiet desperation, which is the English way, hoping that something turns up.

    I quoted Genesis. You quoted Pink Floyd.

    Fellow PBers, we need more prog rock quotes in this thread to illustrate. A pink moon is on its way, and its name is Serkeir...
    My name is Panurge and I have come from hell.

    There is no fucking way the little shit will "go early". Has any PM ever done that when they are so fucked in the polls?
    "There is no fucking way the little shit will "go early" ". Are you referring to your friend Putin?
    Certainly not you he was referring to or it would have been "humungous steaming shit"
    Lol. While I was out Malcolmg entered the room to lower the average IQ of the forum. I wish he would let us know when his trolley pushing shifts are at Halfords, so I can know when to avoid his puerile senile dribbling.
    "puerile senile ..."

    Maybe at least have a dictionary at hand when you're trying to insult people, so it doesn't end up as blatant gibberish!
    If I need any advice on use of the English language I might have a pleasant interaction with @Leon, but you won't be anywhere near my list of advisors. On the other hand if I need to put together a focus group to enable me to understand unpopular odious twats then I can assure you I will be in touch. In the meantime please go and try and make a friend. I know it is a great challenge for you.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,703

    Love the use of 'libs' by @Casino_Royale and @Sandpit below.

    Another American usage coming into use by the British right.

    It's idiotic because in this country we have a party with "Liberal" in its title that, far from being on the left, actually propped up the Tories in government for five years while presiding over ruinous cuts to local public services! Socialist isn't a dirty word in this country like in the US. Please, PB right wingers, don't call people on the left "Libs", it just makes you look even more dumb than you actually are.
    Speaking of how people characterise their political opponents, Sturgeon is apparently an anti-British Marxist.

    Nicola and Ralph Miliband up a tree
    Plotting the downfall of this country



    https://twitter.com/JaydaBF/status/1688837659647430657?s=20
    Although that remark is so poorly punctuated it's hard to even know what she means. Has the right in this country always been this moronic?
    The hard/far right almost certainly. Corbyn was of course the most stupid person by a long way to lead a mainstream British party and those of you of a left persuasion might be surprised to realise he is not of the right.

    And for frothing English hating Scottish Nationalists I pass you Exhibit Malcolmg, graduate of the University of Life, and far and away the most obnoxious and stupid moron to contribute to this otherwise excellent site.
    I remain convinced that you and Malcolm are a delightful old couple with a raffish theatrical past who engage in ironic banter on PB in between making each other cups of tea and buttery crumpets in front of the fire somewhere in Sussex.
    Get them on Gogglebox.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 10,688

    If we towed back everyone to France (with their agreement) and took in a quota, to an agreed set of rules, whilst also helping other European countries enforce their borders to diminish future flows, it would go away.

    That's kinda the arrangement we had when we were in the EU with the Dublin regulation. However, we left the EU and didn't negotiate any sort of replacement arrangement. That was the choice of the Conservative government. Solution: vote out the Conservatives.
    Nope. The Dublin regulation purely prevented an applicant from submitting applications in multiple Member States. Numbers returned, when it was operation, were very modest. It does nothing to facilitate the return of an individual who made no application in any Member State, but did decide to do so in the UK, so would make no difference to repatriating across the channel the vast majority of boat crossings. So this would need to be a new agreement that's quite different.

    It's remarkable your post got five likes, and shows just how superficial debate on this subject is. People (not you to be fair) seem to mainly be interested in a pissing contest.
    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-december-2022/how-many-people-are-detained-or-returned#returns has numbers, while https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/deportation-and-voluntary-departure-from-the-uk/ has some analysis as well. Numbers returned under Dublin might have been modest, but they were far more than are returned since we left the EU with no replacement arrangement. Numbers returned had been falling under the Conservative government before Brexit, so there are other factors.

    So, we can conclude from that that the Conservatives are failing on deportations, both because of the failure to replace arrangements in the EU with anything *and* for other reasons (like chronic underfunding). I think my overall conclusion still holds.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 10,688
    DougSeal said:

    Love the use of 'libs' by @Casino_Royale and @Sandpit below.

    Another American usage coming into use by the British right.

    It's idiotic because in this country we have a party with "Liberal" in its title that, far from being on the left, actually propped up the Tories in government for five years while presiding over ruinous cuts to local public services! Socialist isn't a dirty word in this country like in the US. Please, PB right wingers, don't call people on the left "Libs", it just makes you look even more dumb than you actually are.
    I agree, it's deplorable. Let's preserve any positive connotations the word 'liberal' has left on these shores in a post-Lib Dem era.
    Is the Canadian Liberal Party or the Australian one more to your tastes?
    Or the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia?
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 13,677

    Love the use of 'libs' by @Casino_Royale and @Sandpit below.

    Another American usage coming into use by the British right.

    It's idiotic because in this country we have a party with "Liberal" in its title that, far from being on the left, actually propped up the Tories in government for five years while presiding over ruinous cuts to local public services! Socialist isn't a dirty word in this country like in the US. Please, PB right wingers, don't call people on the left "Libs", it just makes you look even more dumb than you actually are.
    Speaking of how people characterise their political opponents, Sturgeon is apparently an anti-British Marxist.

    Nicola and Ralph Miliband up a tree
    Plotting the downfall of this country



    https://twitter.com/JaydaBF/status/1688837659647430657?s=20
    Although that remark is so poorly punctuated it's hard to even know what she means. Has the right in this country always been this moronic?
    The hard/far right almost certainly. Corbyn was of course the most stupid person by a long way to lead a mainstream British party and those of you of a left persuasion might be surprised to realise he is not of the right.

    And for frothing English hating Scottish Nationalists I pass you Exhibit Malcolmg, graduate of the University of Life, and far and away the most obnoxious and stupid moron to contribute to this otherwise excellent site.
    I remain convinced that you and Malcolm are a delightful old couple with a raffish theatrical past who engage in ironic banter on PB in between making each other cups of tea and buttery crumpets in front of the fire somewhere in Sussex.
    Then tea cups are put down, a tense silence fills the drawing room and the fisting begins.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,812
    Miklosvar said:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    So, what, it is OK to grope C Bryant's arse if you are only doing it because you are in the closet because society?
    Yes, it's quite the leap from Bryant's piece to get to where @RochdalePioneers has gone.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 15,678
    Dura_Ace said:

    Love the use of 'libs' by @Casino_Royale and @Sandpit below.

    Another American usage coming into use by the British right.

    It's idiotic because in this country we have a party with "Liberal" in its title that, far from being on the left, actually propped up the Tories in government for five years while presiding over ruinous cuts to local public services! Socialist isn't a dirty word in this country like in the US. Please, PB right wingers, don't call people on the left "Libs", it just makes you look even more dumb than you actually are.
    Speaking of how people characterise their political opponents, Sturgeon is apparently an anti-British Marxist.

    Nicola and Ralph Miliband up a tree
    Plotting the downfall of this country



    https://twitter.com/JaydaBF/status/1688837659647430657?s=20
    Although that remark is so poorly punctuated it's hard to even know what she means. Has the right in this country always been this moronic?
    The hard/far right almost certainly. Corbyn was of course the most stupid person by a long way to lead a mainstream British party and those of you of a left persuasion might be surprised to realise he is not of the right.

    And for frothing English hating Scottish Nationalists I pass you Exhibit Malcolmg, graduate of the University of Life, and far and away the most obnoxious and stupid moron to contribute to this otherwise excellent site.
    I remain convinced that you and Malcolm are a delightful old couple with a raffish theatrical past who engage in ironic banter on PB in between making each other cups of tea and buttery crumpets in front of the fire somewhere in Sussex.
    Then tea cups are put down, a tense silence fills the drawing room and the fisting begins.
    You had to go there.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,283
    Dura_Ace said:

    Love the use of 'libs' by @Casino_Royale and @Sandpit below.

    Another American usage coming into use by the British right.

    It's idiotic because in this country we have a party with "Liberal" in its title that, far from being on the left, actually propped up the Tories in government for five years while presiding over ruinous cuts to local public services! Socialist isn't a dirty word in this country like in the US. Please, PB right wingers, don't call people on the left "Libs", it just makes you look even more dumb than you actually are.
    Speaking of how people characterise their political opponents, Sturgeon is apparently an anti-British Marxist.

    Nicola and Ralph Miliband up a tree
    Plotting the downfall of this country



    https://twitter.com/JaydaBF/status/1688837659647430657?s=20
    Although that remark is so poorly punctuated it's hard to even know what she means. Has the right in this country always been this moronic?
    The hard/far right almost certainly. Corbyn was of course the most stupid person by a long way to lead a mainstream British party and those of you of a left persuasion might be surprised to realise he is not of the right.

    And for frothing English hating Scottish Nationalists I pass you Exhibit Malcolmg, graduate of the University of Life, and far and away the most obnoxious and stupid moron to contribute to this otherwise excellent site.
    I remain convinced that you and Malcolm are a delightful old couple with a raffish theatrical past who engage in ironic banter on PB in between making each other cups of tea and buttery crumpets in front of the fire somewhere in Sussex.
    Then tea cups are put down, a tense silence fills the drawing room and the fisting begins.
    A little light hearted scatting I feel might need to be undertaken first
  • MiklosvarMiklosvar Posts: 1,855
    edited August 2023

    Leon said:

    Andy Street is doing good clever politics on that pub that got torched and demolished

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/08/west-midlands-mayor-calls-for-crooked-house-pub-to-be-rebuilt-brick-by-brick


    Tories need more like him. Instinctive politicians

    What strikes me is, if the hinted at arson were true, how f-ing stupid that developer (presumably a housing developer?) would have to be to want to obliterate that building rather than incorporate it into the development somehow?
    "Britain’s “wonkiest pub” was subject to a request for listed status protection just one week before it burnt down.

    The Crooked House in the Black Country was a popular attraction, but the building was gutted by fire just one month after Marston’s sold the site to developers intending to change its use."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/07/britains-wonkiest-pub-crooked-house-burnt-down-to-be-listed/

    What are the odds?

    There's nothing clever or funny about being such a crap building, I imagine you wouldn't be able to hang a new picture in there without a structural engineer's say so, and that's without listing. Nothing is going to make it an attractive proposition as a private dwelling. Shame about the fire of course, but ...
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,268

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    Except that's not what that article talks about. It talks about sexual misconduct in parliament by other gay politicians.

    Did you even read it?
    That’s the Kevin Spacey and Philip Schofield argument, conflating openness about sexuality with sexual misbehavior.

    It’s not really a surprise that there’s sexually deviant behaviour going on in Parliament.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,180
    The Crooked House pub reminds me of a situation where fire was not used thirty or so years ago. (Nothing to do with me and my family.)

    There was a small listed cottage somewhere in Derbyshire. The owner started 'renovations'. This involved sorting out the drainage issues, putting in new cabling and water pipes etc. To enable these, he dug deep trenches around all four walls, then stopped work for the winter.

    Old cottages tend not to have very deep foundations. We were not surprised when the cottage had fallen down when we drove past one Monday morning. A year or two later, it had been replaced with a modern house two or three times its size.
  • https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    Except that's not what that article talks about. It talks about sexual misconduct in parliament by other gay politicians.

    Did you even read it?
    Yes. "“One of them, who was not out, did so repeatedly. Another, who is still in the house and still does not accept that he is gay, pushed me against a wall and felt my crotch."

    and

    "“I remember when I came out in 2001, I was regularly touched up by older, senior, gay – they weren’t out – MPs. I never felt I was able to report it because you end up being part of the story, and that’s the last thing you want. And I think a lot of women have been through that.”"

    It talks about sexual misconduct in parliament by other gay politicians *who are in the closet*.

    If they were out, would they be sneaking around grabbing Chris Bryant's arse as he has repeatedly suffered by closeted MPs?

    We need to stamp out the over-sexed grabby atmosphere in the parliamentary estate which has seen scandal after scandal. But we already know that. The new nugget in the article is that so many of the gay gropers aren't openly gay. They're still the Little Britain MP giving a press conference with wife and kids surrounding them.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,139
    Leon said:

    Andy Street is doing good clever politics on that pub that got torched and demolished

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/08/west-midlands-mayor-calls-for-crooked-house-pub-to-be-rebuilt-brick-by-brick


    Tories need more like him. Instinctive politicians

    But he's p*ssing in the wind Leon. The wonkiest pub in Britain has gone forever. The owner will be fined and after the dust has settled will be allowed to build whatever he desires. It is an outrage, but no one is going to rebuild it as a facsimile of the original. The developer wins.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,812
    Pulpstar said:

    Miklosvar said:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    So, what, it is OK to grope C Bryant's arse if you are only doing it because you are in the closet because society?
    Yes, it's quite the leap from Bryant's piece to get to where @RochdalePioneers has gone.
    Openly gay MPs - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LGBT_politicians_in_the_United_Kingdom

    52 I make it.
  • Sandpit said:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    Except that's not what that article talks about. It talks about sexual misconduct in parliament by other gay politicians.

    Did you even read it?
    That’s the Kevin Spacey and Philip Schofield argument, conflating openness about sexuality with sexual misbehavior.

    It’s not really a surprise that there’s sexually deviant behaviour going on in Parliament.
    Careful now. Spacey has been acquitted on every charge ever brought to court.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,308
    Eabhal said:
    Hostile actors? Bloody hell, the Tories are really desperate.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 54,617
    Miklosvar said:

    Leon said:

    Andy Street is doing good clever politics on that pub that got torched and demolished

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/08/west-midlands-mayor-calls-for-crooked-house-pub-to-be-rebuilt-brick-by-brick


    Tories need more like him. Instinctive politicians

    I believe you can make such an order if and only if you can prove it was deliberately demolished. His letter rather pathetically skirts round the fact that he knows this perfectly well.
    I think we can be fairly sure it was “deliberately demolished” as here is the footage of it being deliberately demolished by a great big JCB, a day after the fire.

    https://twitter.com/dadgey/status/1688829090403381248?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    This all smacks of panic to me. Someone torched it and was frightened by the massive online reaction which got police and politicians involved, now they’ve kicked off an even bigger reaction

    It won’t go away now
  • TazTaz Posts: 14,150

    Sandpit said:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    Except that's not what that article talks about. It talks about sexual misconduct in parliament by other gay politicians.

    Did you even read it?
    That’s the Kevin Spacey and Philip Schofield argument, conflating openness about sexuality with sexual misbehavior.

    It’s not really a surprise that there’s sexually deviant behaviour going on in Parliament.
    Careful now. Spacey has been acquitted on every charge ever brought to court.
    Not only that Pip has not even had any charges preferred against him.
  • Pulpstar said:

    Miklosvar said:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    So, what, it is OK to grope C Bryant's arse if you are only doing it because you are in the closet because society?
    Yes, it's quite the leap from Bryant's piece to get to where @RochdalePioneers has gone.
    I'm not sanctioning sexual assault of anyone by anyone. There is a major problem in parliament as I've already posted. Being in the closet does not excuse groping.

    I was observing the part of the story which hasn't been reported is the number of MPs who are still in the closet. Why are so many gay MPs still in the closet in 2023? It says something bad about society and politics that there is still enough of a stigma to keep some in fear like that.
  • MiklosvarMiklosvar Posts: 1,855

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    Except that's not what that article talks about. It talks about sexual misconduct in parliament by other gay politicians.

    Did you even read it?
    Yes. "“One of them, who was not out, did so repeatedly. Another, who is still in the house and still does not accept that he is gay, pushed me against a wall and felt my crotch."

    and

    "“I remember when I came out in 2001, I was regularly touched up by older, senior, gay – they weren’t out – MPs. I never felt I was able to report it because you end up being part of the story, and that’s the last thing you want. And I think a lot of women have been through that.”"

    It talks about sexual misconduct in parliament by other gay politicians *who are in the closet*.

    If they were out, would they be sneaking around grabbing Chris Bryant's arse as he has repeatedly suffered by closeted MPs?

    We need to stamp out the over-sexed grabby atmosphere in the parliamentary estate which has seen scandal after scandal. But we already know that. The new nugget in the article is that so many of the gay gropers aren't openly gay. They're still the Little Britain MP giving a press conference with wife and kids surrounding them.
    Loopy. Can I go about touching women's arses if society is depriving me of sex?
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,218
    Miklosvar said:

    Leon said:

    Andy Street is doing good clever politics on that pub that got torched and demolished

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/08/west-midlands-mayor-calls-for-crooked-house-pub-to-be-rebuilt-brick-by-brick


    Tories need more like him. Instinctive politicians

    What strikes me is, if the hinted at arson were true, how f-ing stupid that developer (presumably a housing developer?) would have to be to want to obliterate that building rather than incorporate it into the development somehow?
    "Britain’s “wonkiest pub” was subject to a request for listed status protection just one week before it burnt down.

    The Crooked House in the Black Country was a popular attraction, but the building was gutted by fire just one month after Marston’s sold the site to developers intending to change its use."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/07/britains-wonkiest-pub-crooked-house-burnt-down-to-be-listed/

    What are the odds?

    There's nothing clever or funny about being such a crap building, I imagine you wouldn't be able to hang a new picture in there without a structural engineer's say so, and that's without listing. Nothing is going to make it an attractive proposition as a private dwelling. Shame about the fire of course, but ...
    Developers are under all sorts of pressures to provide community spaces, plant trees, dig ponds, etc. as part of their planning permission. Surely something like that could have been devised - it's not like the building has a huge footprint that would jeopardise the profitability of the development.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 54,617

    Leon said:

    Andy Street is doing good clever politics on that pub that got torched and demolished

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/08/west-midlands-mayor-calls-for-crooked-house-pub-to-be-rebuilt-brick-by-brick


    Tories need more like him. Instinctive politicians

    What strikes me is, if the hinted at arson were true, how f-ing stupid that developer (presumably a housing developer?) would have to be to want to obliterate that building rather than incorporate it into the development somehow?
    Yes. It could easily have been absorbed into any development. If it doesn’t work as a pub make it a quirky cafe. Or a little museum. Or even just somewhere for kids to go and have fun

    But no. Burn it and tear it down in a weekend. Apparently the demolition guys were all wearing hoods so as to be unidentifiable. It couldn’t be more suspicious unless that had the entire cast of The Sopranos standing by and applauding
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,812
    Leon said:

    Miklosvar said:

    Leon said:

    Andy Street is doing good clever politics on that pub that got torched and demolished

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/08/west-midlands-mayor-calls-for-crooked-house-pub-to-be-rebuilt-brick-by-brick


    Tories need more like him. Instinctive politicians

    I believe you can make such an order if and only if you can prove it was deliberately demolished. His letter rather pathetically skirts round the fact that he knows this perfectly well.
    I think we can be fairly sure it was “deliberately demolished” as here is the footage of it being deliberately demolished by a great big JCB, a day after the fire.

    https://twitter.com/dadgey/status/1688829090403381248?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    This all smacks of panic to me. Someone torched it and was frightened by the massive online reaction which got police and politicians involved, now they’ve kicked off an even bigger reaction

    It won’t go away now
    Digger property of Lyndon Thomas Ltd. £663k of equity at Yr End 2022.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,268

    Sandpit said:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    Except that's not what that article talks about. It talks about sexual misconduct in parliament by other gay politicians.

    Did you even read it?
    That’s the Kevin Spacey and Philip Schofield argument, conflating openness about sexuality with sexual misbehavior.

    It’s not really a surprise that there’s sexually deviant behaviour going on in Parliament.
    Careful now. Spacey has been acquitted on every charge ever brought to court.
    I’m aware that his behaviour was found not to have been illegal, but at the time he came out and tried to garner sympathy for such, as a smokescreen for defending himself against allegations of misbehaviour.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/06/kevin-spacey-came-out-disguise-behaviour-uk-court-hears
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,283

    Sandpit said:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    Except that's not what that article talks about. It talks about sexual misconduct in parliament by other gay politicians.

    Did you even read it?
    That’s the Kevin Spacey and Philip Schofield argument, conflating openness about sexuality with sexual misbehavior.

    It’s not really a surprise that there’s sexually deviant behaviour going on in Parliament.
    Careful now. Spacey has been acquitted on every charge ever brought to court.
    There is also no sexual misbehaviour been proved against Schofield. The Daily Mail simply sought to create outrage amongst its sexually vanilla readership over the fact that an older man might be attracted to a younger one and visa versa. They then made up a load of bollox to justify their prurience by saying that Schofield "took advantage of his power" when it is perfectly possible that the young man might possibly have made the first advance for all they knew. It was just pure homophobia.
  • Eabhal said:
    Hostile actors? Bloody hell, the Tories are really desperate.
    "The streets are full of actors
    I don't know why"
  • Wulfrun_PhilWulfrun_Phil Posts: 4,780
    edited August 2023
    Leon said:

    Andy Street is doing good clever politics on that pub that got torched and demolished

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/08/west-midlands-mayor-calls-for-crooked-house-pub-to-be-rebuilt-brick-by-brick


    Tories need more like him. Instinctive politicians

    A politician who has given unequivocal support for HS2? A member of Johnson's rigged panel that still gave HS2 the go ahead in 2020 even after the huge expansion in costs had become apparent to all?

    No thanks.

  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,139
    Eabhal said:
    Perhaps we can get some answers from our Russian friend on Saturday.
  • Miklosvar said:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    Except that's not what that article talks about. It talks about sexual misconduct in parliament by other gay politicians.

    Did you even read it?
    Yes. "“One of them, who was not out, did so repeatedly. Another, who is still in the house and still does not accept that he is gay, pushed me against a wall and felt my crotch."

    and

    "“I remember when I came out in 2001, I was regularly touched up by older, senior, gay – they weren’t out – MPs. I never felt I was able to report it because you end up being part of the story, and that’s the last thing you want. And I think a lot of women have been through that.”"

    It talks about sexual misconduct in parliament by other gay politicians *who are in the closet*.

    If they were out, would they be sneaking around grabbing Chris Bryant's arse as he has repeatedly suffered by closeted MPs?

    We need to stamp out the over-sexed grabby atmosphere in the parliamentary estate which has seen scandal after scandal. But we already know that. The new nugget in the article is that so many of the gay gropers aren't openly gay. They're still the Little Britain MP giving a press conference with wife and kids surrounding them.
    Loopy. Can I go about touching women's arses if society is depriving me of sex?
    No. Next question.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,180
    Leon said:

    Miklosvar said:

    Leon said:

    Andy Street is doing good clever politics on that pub that got torched and demolished

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/08/west-midlands-mayor-calls-for-crooked-house-pub-to-be-rebuilt-brick-by-brick


    Tories need more like him. Instinctive politicians

    I believe you can make such an order if and only if you can prove it was deliberately demolished. His letter rather pathetically skirts round the fact that he knows this perfectly well.
    I think we can be fairly sure it was “deliberately demolished” as here is the footage of it being deliberately demolished by a great big JCB, a day after the fire.

    https://twitter.com/dadgey/status/1688829090403381248?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    This all smacks of panic to me. Someone torched it and was frightened by the massive online reaction which got police and politicians involved, now they’ve kicked off an even bigger reaction

    It won’t go away now
    TBF, and without knowing full details, it's common for structures to be demolished after very serious fires. For one thing, it's hard to safely go near them without knowing the structural condition - and you often have to go near them to do that. Particularly true for brick structures, where mortar, and the bricks themselves, can be highly heat-affected.

    Though it is also often done - see Notre Dame or the Glasgow Art School.
  • Great to have a distinguished sword bearer blessing us inhabitants of the territories with her sugary wisdom.


    I wouldn't mind giving Penny a bit of my, ah, sugary wisdom!

    EDIT: Oops, wrong forum!
  • Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    Except that's not what that article talks about. It talks about sexual misconduct in parliament by other gay politicians.

    Did you even read it?
    That’s the Kevin Spacey and Philip Schofield argument, conflating openness about sexuality with sexual misbehavior.

    It’s not really a surprise that there’s sexually deviant behaviour going on in Parliament.
    Careful now. Spacey has been acquitted on every charge ever brought to court.
    I’m aware that his behaviour was found not to have been illegal, but at the time he came out and tried to garner sympathy for such, as a smokescreen for defending himself against allegations of misbehaviour.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/06/kevin-spacey-came-out-disguise-behaviour-uk-court-hears
    Yes. He came out as gay to "defend himself" against something that he both denied and was not found to have happened in court...
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,789
    TimS said:

    Love the use of 'libs' by @Casino_Royale and @Sandpit below.

    Another American usage coming into use by the British right.

    It's idiotic because in this country we have a party with "Liberal" in its title that, far from being on the left, actually propped up the Tories in government for five years while presiding over ruinous cuts to local public services! Socialist isn't a dirty word in this country like in the US. Please, PB right wingers, don't call people on the left "Libs", it just makes you look even more dumb than you actually are.
    Speaking of how people characterise their political opponents, Sturgeon is apparently an anti-British Marxist.

    Nicola and Ralph Miliband up a tree
    Plotting the downfall of this country



    https://twitter.com/JaydaBF/status/1688837659647430657?s=20
    Although that remark is so poorly punctuated it's hard to even know what she means. Has the right in this country always been this moronic?
    The hard/far right almost certainly. Corbyn was of course the most stupid person by a long way to lead a mainstream British party and those of you of a left persuasion might be surprised to realise he is not of the right.

    And for frothing English hating Scottish Nationalists I pass you Exhibit Malcolmg, graduate of the University of Life, and far and away the most obnoxious and stupid moron to contribute to this otherwise excellent site.
    I remain convinced that you and Malcolm are a delightful old couple with a raffish theatrical past who engage in ironic banter on PB in between making each other cups of tea and buttery crumpets in front of the fire somewhere in Sussex.
    Get them on Gogglebox.
    'I say, Nutty..'
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,180

    Sandpit said:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/08/sexually-assaulted-mp-labour-chris-bryant

    The sad thing is that gay MPs still need to be in the closet. We've evolved significantly as a society over the last decade especially. Yet the fear of exposure from a society who is being whipped into a right wing frenzy to other anyone who doesn't conform to whatever the current Lee Anderson standard of behaviour is.

    Except that's not what that article talks about. It talks about sexual misconduct in parliament by other gay politicians.

    Did you even read it?
    That’s the Kevin Spacey and Philip Schofield argument, conflating openness about sexuality with sexual misbehavior.

    It’s not really a surprise that there’s sexually deviant behaviour going on in Parliament.
    Careful now. Spacey has been acquitted on every charge ever brought to court.
    There is also no sexual misbehaviour been proved against Schofield. The Daily Mail simply sought to create outrage amongst its sexually vanilla readership over the fact that an older man might be attracted to a younger one and visa versa. They then made up a load of bollox to justify their prurience by saying that Schofield "took advantage of his power" when it is perfectly possible that the young man might possibly have made the first advance for all they knew. It was just pure homophobia.
    AIUI Schofield's situation was very different, given that he got the man a job at the company, abusing and misusing his position.

    Most companies would sack an employee for such behaviour, and rightly so IMO. Whilst not illegal, it was wrong.
  • MiklosvarMiklosvar Posts: 1,855
    Leon said:

    Miklosvar said:

    Leon said:

    Andy Street is doing good clever politics on that pub that got torched and demolished

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/08/west-midlands-mayor-calls-for-crooked-house-pub-to-be-rebuilt-brick-by-brick


    Tories need more like him. Instinctive politicians

    I believe you can make such an order if and only if you can prove it was deliberately demolished. His letter rather pathetically skirts round the fact that he knows this perfectly well.
    I think we can be fairly sure it was “deliberately demolished” as here is the footage of it being deliberately demolished by a great big JCB, a day after the fire.

    https://twitter.com/dadgey/status/1688829090403381248?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    This all smacks of panic to me. Someone torched it and was frightened by the massive online reaction which got police and politicians involved, now they’ve kicked off an even bigger reaction

    It won’t go away now
    Ah OK the JCB may have been a mistake. if they have any sense they will have a surveyor's report after the fire saying JFC this buiding is lethally dangerous and needs demolished asap. BUT the point about the Punch Bowl is that it was listed, this is not. Not even sure they needed to torch it, unless they were getting in quick ahead of a fast track listing application (if such a thing is possible).
  • Leon said:

    Andy Street is doing good clever politics on that pub that got torched and demolished

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/08/west-midlands-mayor-calls-for-crooked-house-pub-to-be-rebuilt-brick-by-brick


    Tories need more like him. Instinctive politicians

    But he's p*ssing in the wind Leon. The wonkiest pub in Britain has gone forever. The owner will be fined and after the dust has settled will be allowed to build whatever he desires. It is an outrage, but no one is going to rebuild it as a facsimile of the original. The developer wins.
    I suspect Street's intervention has nothing to do with saving a wonky pub, and everything to do with a desire to expand the West Midlands Combined Authority to encompass a pretty reliable Conservative county.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 54,617

    Leon said:

    Andy Street is doing good clever politics on that pub that got torched and demolished

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/08/west-midlands-mayor-calls-for-crooked-house-pub-to-be-rebuilt-brick-by-brick


    Tories need more like him. Instinctive politicians

    But he's p*ssing in the wind Leon. The wonkiest pub in Britain has gone forever. The owner will be fined and after the dust has settled will be allowed to build whatever he desires. It is an outrage, but no one is going to rebuild it as a facsimile of the original. The developer wins.
    Pathetic defeatism

    String the culprits up, by their goolies

    At the very least we can make a horrifying example of these greedy fucks, so that others are less inclined to do the same shit
This discussion has been closed.