Off Topic Politics Thread

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I just wish that the views of the majority on this thread were mirrored in the UK as a whole but unfortunately there are too many like Os looking blame people at the bottom of society rather than those at the top who hold all the wealth and power and that's why the Tories keep getting elected and their fat cats mates keep getting obscenely richer.
We used to be a compassionate country willing to help people in desperate need from all over the world but the heavily biased right wing press have made bogeymen of them and stirred up fear and hatred and otherised refugees from other countries.
 
Expecting references to "social security or benefit scroungers" in the scandal rags/twatter and similar social media disgraces as the run up to election gathers pace..
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Benefit_scrounger
It's worth noting - "The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country, the Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country, the Times is read by people who actually do run the country, the Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country, the Financial Times is read by people who own the country, the Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country and the Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is."

—Jim Hacker, Yes, Prime Minister
Don’t really understand the Mirror one in that quote. And the Daily Mail one seems to have changed since the days of Yes, Prime Minister. The rest seem quite accurate.
 
I know it's a radical idea but rather than criminalising refugees, why not, I don't know, go after the actual criminals who are sending overloaded dinghies into the channel instead?
David Blunkett had a good idea for this, no idea whether it would be practical or not. He suggested that all seaworthy boats should be licensed and no one should be allowed to buy one without a license.
 
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I know it's a radical idea but rather than criminalising refugees, why not, I don't know, go after the actual criminals who are sending overloaded dinghies into the channel instead?
That is a stated aim of the incompetent incumbents. Surely it's not beyond the wit of man to mount multi national intelligence gathering operations to apprehend the trafficking networks from source to boat crossing. Opening overseas asylum application centers is a far better use of funds than the stop the boat measures and the farcical failed Rwanda program.
 
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Contrary to the belief on here I am not some crazy right wing loony.

You directly quote QAnon conspiracy theories.
You think there's a group running the world.
You think drag queen story hours in the USA are a major problem worth worrying about here in the UK.
You think Joe Biden is a criminal heading a conspiracy to keep his son's laptop out of the news or something (I lose track).
You think there's a conspiracy between the US government and tech companies to guide the news.
Same for the UK government.
You think that a few thousand people fleeing persecution and arriving on our shores is a national crisis.

Took me about two minutes to come up that list. With time I reckon I could manage 30 or more.

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
 
You directly quote QAnon conspiracy theories.
You think there's a group running the world.
You think drag queen story hours in the USA are a major problem worth worrying about here in the UK.
You think Joe Biden is a criminal heading a conspiracy to keep his son's laptop out of the news or something (I lose track).
You think there's a conspiracy between the US government and tech companies to guide the news.
Same for the UK government.
You think that a few thousand people fleeing persecution and arriving on our shores is a national crisis.

Took me about two minutes to come up that list. With time I reckon I could manage 30 or more.

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
If it looks like ****, smells like **** and tastes like **** then it probably is ****.
 
You directly quote QAnon conspiracy theories.
You think there's a group running the world.
You think drag queen story hours in the USA are a major problem worth worrying about here in the UK.
You think Joe Biden is a criminal heading a conspiracy to keep his son's laptop out of the news or something (I lose track).
You think there's a conspiracy between the US government and tech companies to guide the news.
Same for the UK government.
You think that a few thousand people fleeing persecution and arriving on our shores is a national crisis.

Took me about two minutes to come up that list. With time I reckon I could manage 30 or more.

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

Aside from the qanon thing, all of the things on that list are provably true using incontrovertible evidence.

Just because you only listen to left wing UK media sources doesn’t make me wrong.

You can continue to bury your head in the sand if you like though.
 
Your IQ has to be about 4, genuinely. I try and engage with your posts in good faith sometimes, but it’s honestly like speaking to a dribbling child
I was replying to Vin's post re ducks, a bit of tongue in cheek humour, sweet **** all to do with you. At least my IQ is in positive which can't be said for yours, your crackpot conspiraloon posts are incontrovertible evidence of that incontrovertible fact.
 
The government of Georgia is backsliding toward authoritarianism, introducing a new law (modeled after one in Russia) that would allow them to crack down on media outlets and NGOs. Tens of thousands have taken to the streets to protest:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-6489221

Notably, the protests are rather heavily focused on the fact that passage of the law will hinder deepening of relations with the EU...something the government of Georgia actually supports (it's at least nominally left-leaning). Yet protesters are still waving the EU flag and directing a lot of their ire toward Russia -- "Putin is a dickhead" seems to be a popular chant -- because they're aware that any move that alienates Georgia from the EU is likely to push it back toward Russia's orbit.

This is why I find the narrative that the west is responsible for the Ukraine war so lacking in respect for the actual desires of the people involved. The former SSRs really, really don't want to be under Russia's thumb. To the extent that, when their largely pro-EU government starts undermining freedom of speech and association, their first fear is "this will eventually lead us back to Russian hegemony", rather than the more direct threat to their domestic democratic system.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...t-for-democratic-success-amid-further-clashes
 
Aside from the qanon thing, all of the things on that list are provably true using incontrovertible evidence.

Just because you only listen to left wing UK media sources doesn’t make me wrong.

You can continue to bury your head in the sand if you like though.
Provably true? Incontrovertible evidence? Seriously?

Perhaps start with the easy one - “Joe Biden is a criminal”. Is he? What has he been convicted of? Indeed the latest right wing thing is “show me the tapes”.

Refugees from small boats are a “national crisis”. Again - how? Incontrovertible evidence please. Not opinion pieces or conjecture. Please consider I am asking how they are “national” level crisis. Not whether it is a problem that should be reduced

Drag queen story hours in the US being a “major problem” in the UK. Perhaps I’m being pedantic with the semantics on this one but how do they impact the U.K. until they are copied over on a large scale. And again “major” problem. How widespread even are such shows in both the US and the U.K.? Note I am not commenting on whether or not they are a problem. But if we go with the logic that they are a problem (just for the sake of argument) - how are they a “major” one? Incontrovertible evidence please. (It doesn’t exist for these story hours because they are such a recent phenomenon there is simply no evidence of the outcomes of them positive or negative but you claim such evidence does exist)

There isn’t the evidence you claim there is for the points raised. Sure there might be evidence certain things are occurring. There is probably even anecdotal evidence of potential outcomes. But there isn’t going to be “incontrovertible evidence” that these things are major problems

As to government colluding with media to shape the narrative? Pfft. That has existed since mass media has. It isn’t some major conspiracy and isn’t really a shock to many. But you are still falling for their distraction tactics. Hook line and sinker. Drag queen story hour and small boats are the equivalent of jangling some keys to distract a puppy.

And not far up you were criticising Gary linekar for speaking out against the narrative crafted by the government with the assistance of the press and the bbc. So which is it? Governments colluding with the media to mould the narrative is fine if it is a narrative that you agree with? But it is an outrage and a major scandal if you don’t agree? Small boats being a major crisis - fine and dandy. Covid requiring lockdowns and vaccines - nope that is all evil propaganda designed to control us and how we think…

If it wasn’t for the restrictions of human biology my head would be spinning in circles right now trying make sense of the staggering lack of consistency here.
 
I know it's a radical idea but rather than criminalising refugees, why not, I don't know, go after the actual criminals who are sending overloaded dinghies into the channel instead?
The people who need to be held to account are the ones that have closed all the legal refugee routes and forced the refugees into the hands of the criminal gangs.
Open up legal routes and the boat crossings will stop, or at least significantly reduce in number.
Personally I think the government should be charged with manslaughter for the part they have played in forcing desperate people to take these risks, and then dying.
 
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Nail on head from James O’Brien

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And notice how he also talks about control over the media. But in this case it is about the actual control of the media that happens. The control that Os doesn’t mention very often or seem to care about
 
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I was replying to Vin's post re ducks, a bit of tongue in cheek humour, sweet **** all to do with you. At least my IQ is in positive which can't be said for yours, your crackpot conspiraloon posts are incontrovertible evidence of that incontrovertible fact.

Behave, it was obviously aimed at me.

I don’t fully support the authoritarian socialist government, pro-handing-out-money-to-everyone agenda that everyone else here supports so you resorted to insults as usual.
 
And notice how he also talks about control over the media. But in this case it is about the actual control of the media that happens. The control that Os doesn’t mention very often or seem to care about

Weirdly, Os hasn't had a single thing to say about the Fox News communications which came to light thanks to the Dominion lawsuit, which show far more direct collusion between the media and government than anything in the Twitter Files, by many orders of magnitude.

Here is Rupert Murdoch admitting that they leaked Joe Biden's campaign ads to the Trump White House:

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And urging them to shape coverage positively for the GOP because "we cannot afford to lose the Senate":

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