Remarkably that 7 way debate tonight was much more productive and interesting than the one to one between Sunak and Starmer. 6 fair to strong performances from all of Farage, Flynn, Cooper, Iorwerth, Rayner and Denyer. Then an absolute nightmare turn from Mordaunt, the poorest performer by miles, all she had was the debunked tax lie, some weird diatribe about Labour getting rid of the nuclear deterrent and shouting/sneering over others. I know there isn't a lot of talent in the Conservative Party these days, but whoever is 'advising' them must be a double agent or absolutely mugging them off. They are just getting absolutely everything wrong all the time. Must be well on track to be the worst campaign by a governing party post-war, they will surpass 1945 and 1997 with ease at this rate.
Interesting, good to understand the loopholes in the Elections Act of 2022. https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/digital-imprints-what-are-they-and-why-are-they-useful/ Also worth signing up to the Full Fact election email. https://fullfact.org/about/ https://fullfact.org/signup/
Farage isn't in it to win, he's just there to smash things. Nobody representing a one issue party is ever really relevant apart from the damage they cause.
That damage can be considerable, as we’ve seen with Brexit. If Reform were just a symptom of a splintering Tory Party, we should all be concerned, because assuming Labour do win the election, they’ll need a credible opposition; and a broken Tory Party lurching to the right can’t be that. But Reform are symptomatic of something far more sinister and far more threatening; Farage is a very British, Ealing Comedy version of Meloni in Italy and LePen in France, and threats like that from a far-right that is gaining traction across Europe, need to be taken seriously.
The Scottish National party’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn came out well in voicing what many politicians know but refuse to discuss, the failure of brexit. "He was applauded by the audience several times including for pointing out that university tuition was free in Scotland, for detailing the benefits of immigration for public services and for denouncing Brexit. “Let me say a few home truths, particularly to some members of this panel,” he said. “Migration is absolutely essential to our public services, our businesses and to our economic growth. “We need migrants, and this race to the bottom on migration driven by Nigel Farage, followed by the Conservative party and hotly chased by the Labour party, does not serve Scotland’s interests, and it does not serve your interests either, so rise up against it.”
I'm not under estimating the damage, I am just mystified by the importance that everyone puts on Farage and the airtime given him, which then allows him to do what he does. Given that he is only interested in one issue, why do we allow every debate to be shaped by a one issue politician? When he's prepared to talk about how a potential Reform party government would actually govern, then I'll listen and give him his due airtime.
Yeah, the media have helped create this monster, and can't seem to help feeding it. How many times has he been on Question Time? More than any other individual, I believe.
Has anyone ever discovered the truth about Farage’s citizenship? It was claimed that he was in the German embassy the day after the Brexit referendum, yet when asked if he had applied for German citizenship he was both defensive and evasive and hung the phone up on journalists quizzing him about it. His wife at the time (don’t know if he’s still with her) is German and his two children with her have dual citizenship. Would it be damaging for him if he was found to have German citizenship, given what he represents and the given the anti foreigner sentiment amongst his supporters? But having said that, I saw a video with a woman of Chinese extraction wearing a Reform T-shirt telling people that immigration isn’t good.
"SKWAWKBOX can reveal reports that not only did Nigel Farage apply for a German passport, but he did so on the day after the EU referendum – and is under police investigation for allegedly providing false information. Mr Farage was reported to the police by a concerned German citizen with an interest in British politics, who knew of the application and believed it could not have been made legitimately. German law normally requires 8 years residency – with only minimal absences – in order to qualify for a passport. For those with a German spouse – Mr Farage’s wife is German – the length of residency is reduced to 3 years’ continuous residency. Mr Farage has not, according to the complainant, come anywhere near meeting those requirements but, on the application form, used the Hamburg address of a relative of his wife to claim residency It now appears that the then-UKIP leader was campaigning to take Britain out of the EU while intending to retain EU citizenship for himself. Draw your own conclusions about that and what it means for him and whether his supposed disdain for the EU was anything more than ego-driven posturing to support a vanity project." https://skwawkbox.org/2016/12/30/pr...ip-and-hes-under-police-investigation-for-it/
Is there need for a debate? Oh just a thought but I think Farage should be pronounced 'Farrige as in garrige .
In Bristol, it's already pronounced as though it rhymes with forage, as does garage Bristol is an outlier though as I've heard sparrow pronounced sporrel
