Off Topic The politics thread - Starmer/Reeves/Farage etc.

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Disagree. Time to move away from personality politics and base it on what's best for society. I admit Starmer has struggled with several policies, but his aim is true.
It’s all becoming a bit hysterical tbh.

People seem to be wanting chaos during a period when we have war in Europe and another, with the USA involved, in the Middle East …

… people demanding the King dissolves Parliament, or whatever, need to get out more.
 
It’s all becoming a bit hysterical tbh.

People seem to be wanting chaos during a period when we have war in Europe and another, with the USA involved, in the Middle East …

… people demanding the King dissolves Parliament, or whatever, need to get out more.
The press questions were embarrassing, scripted... they hadn't listened to what starmer had said, just interested in some agenda.
 
Disagree. Time to move away from personality politics and base it on what's best for society. I admit Starmer has struggled with several policies, but his aim is true.

I fully believe having Burnham in the party would be a massive benefit to Labour, not simply to challenge in a leadership campaign.

If that arises then so be it, he can then challenge but Starmer could do with people like him by his side now.

Thought Starmer gave a good speech today, but he needs to act quickly and go further than just British Steel, improving EU ties and job opportunities.
 
I fully believe having Burnham in the party would be a massive benefit to Labour, not simply to challenge in a leadership campaign.

If that arises then so be it, he can then challenge but Starmer could do with people like him by his side now.

Thought Starmer gave a good speech today, but he needs to act quickly and go further than just British Steel, improving EU ties and job opportunities.
I think Burnham is a massive distraction causing instability around labour and leading to chaos. He hasn't got a seat, so time to drop the what ifs. The press are on an agenda and hopefully Starmer proves them wrong. Reynar it seems has backed down.
 
I think Burnham is a massive distraction causing instability around labour and leading to chaos. He hasn't got a seat, so time to drop the what ifs. The press are on an agenda and hopefully Starmer proves them wrong. Reynar it seems has backed down.
All this ****e is distracting the government from the boring everyday business they're supposed to be getting on with.

I'd really like the current administration to get back to work and for the news channels to concentrate on the various wars, the economy, etc. The woman challenging the PM, Andy Burnham and everyone else we're paying taxes to/for need to do what they're paid for ...

... we're paying people for an elaborate form of improv-street theatre at the moment.
 
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Taking back control

Donations from abroad
Reform UK relies heavily on donations, about two-thirds of which come from wealthy individuals.

At the heart of this set-up sits Harborne, a British-Thai billionaire businessman who is currently the largest single donor to a UK political party in history, having contributed more than 22 million pounds ($30m) to Reform.

In 2025 alone, he donated 12 million pounds ($16.3m).

His relationship with Farage has also been shrouded in controversy. The Guardian recently revealed Reform UK’s leader had received a 5 million-pound ($6.8m) gift from Harborne that was not initially declared in early 2024, weeks before Farage announced his bid to become an MP and run in Clacton.

Under House of Commons rules, new MPs must register all “registrable benefits” received in the 12 months before their election. The Conservative Party referred Farage to the parliamentary standards commissioner for investigation, questioning why such a large sum was hidden from the public.

Farage said the money was gifted to him “so that I would be safe and secure for the rest of my life”.

Harborne has made much of his fortune from his 12 percent stake in Tether, a cryptocurrency that Farage now regularly promotes on media appearances.


Farage’s trips to Abu Dhabi, Maldives
In December, the UAE paid approximately 1,000 pounds ($1,360) for Farage to visit Abu Dhabi and forked out $9,000 for Paddock passes at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as shown in the UK Parliament Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

The Financial Times, quoting people familiar with the matter, reported Reform UK treasurer Nick Candy had arranged the trip as the UAE’s leadership “was keen to speak with Reform owing to a shared opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood”.

Harborne is also estimated to have spent an estimated 25,000 pounds ($33,900) flying Farage out to the Maldives for a three-day trip that the Reform UK leader listed as a “humanitarian aid mission”.
Listen man,( :emoticon-0105-wink: ), none of this dogma makes any difference. Almost nobody in our City is voting for Farage as an individual,it's obvious people are voting for a fundamental change,which none of the other parties seem remotely able to deliver. For the last 30 years we've seen our towns and our cities overrun with a huge cultural change....even more so than after WW2.....wherein people can see their communities disintegrating with massive influx of people speaking different languages,establishing certain businesses....very often not what they seem. This is not racism.....wanting to preserve your community and way of life from influx of others is not racism......something there are several on here would do well to try to understand.The pressure on our public services,travel,housing, has changed this country forever.....not to mention the horrible impact social media is having on our kids....and I haven't even mentioned the NHS and so important elderly care. It was struggling to cope before 2004,but if anyone thinks that allowing unlimited numbers of people to come here to work in the system would somehow create growth is complete fallacy.We need more people to work in our public services because there are too many people arriving from other places than we could cope for before....and we were already at breaking point.
If this was the 16th century,I'd turn up at the Tower to watch Blair,that greedy,self-interested,treasonous individual, lose his head.
At the time of publishing, Reform had not responded to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Paid speaking events abroad
Farage is also flown around the world to speak at various events.

In November, Bassim Haidar, a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire entrepreneur and prominent donor to Reform UK, spent about 55,000 pounds ($74,528) to fly out Farage and two of his aides to the United States for a “speaking engagement and charity event”, according to the register.

Haidar uses Dubai as his primary business headquarters, while his main European residential base is in Greece.

In February 2025, GB News, a media outlet which has produced biased coverage about Muslims according to a recent study, paid Farage 7,924 pounds ($10,737) to cover the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an annual gathering of conservatives in the US, organised by the American Conservative Union, at which he also held a speech. CPAC covered the cost of his accommodation.
Hey,you can slag Farage off ad infinitum. It doesn't mean a thing. The facts are that the upsurge in popularity for Reform is a direct result of ordinary,working class people feeling their culture,
 
Listen man,( :emoticon-0105-wink: ), none of this dogma makes any difference. Almost nobody in our City is voting for Farage as an individual,it's obvious people are voting for a fundamental change,which none of the other parties seem remotely able to deliver. For the last 30 years we've seen our towns and our cities overrun with a huge cultural change....even more so than after WW2.....wherein people can see their communities disintegrating with massive influx of people speaking different languages,establishing certain businesses....very often not what they seem. This is not racism.....wanting to preserve your community and way of life from influx of others is not racism......something there are several on here would do well to try to understand.The pressure on our public services,travel,housing, has changed this country forever.....not to mention the horrible impact social media is having on our kids....and I haven't even mentioned the NHS and so important elderly care. It was struggling to cope before 2004,but if anyone thinks that allowing unlimited numbers of people to come here to work in the system would somehow create growth is complete fallacy.We need more people to work in our public services because there are too many people arriving from other places than we could cope for before....and we were already at breaking point.
If this was the 16th century,I'd turn up at the Tower to watch Blair,that greedy,self-interested,treasonous individual, lose his head.

Hey,you can slag Farage off ad infinitum. It doesn't mean a thing. The facts are that the upsurge in popularity for Reform is a direct result of ordinary,working class people feeling their culture,
That's a good post tbf and your reasoning is probably behind a majority of people voting for Reform and behind their 'growing popularity' for want of a better term.

However, I think a lot of other people quite rightly focus on a lot of the candidates from within Reform who have been shown to be inherently racist and if a party can allow these people to stand for them, then it doesn't look good for Reform. Yes they have suspended individuals, the Sunderland one in the last few days but shouldn't this all be checked and pulled apart by the party beforehand? They've had this problem since they formed in all fairness so you'd think they'd be hot on it to prevent further embarrassment?

I agree the huge influx of people has put an even bigger burden on resources such as the countries financial state, NHS etc but Reform just don't seem to be putting the best foot forward and constantly putting said foot in it.
 
Listen man,( :emoticon-0105-wink: ), none of this dogma makes any difference. Almost nobody in our City is voting for Farage as an individual,it's obvious people are voting for a fundamental change,which none of the other parties seem remotely able to deliver. For the last 30 years we've seen our towns and our cities overrun with a huge cultural change....even more so than after WW2.....wherein people can see their communities disintegrating with massive influx of people speaking different languages,establishing certain businesses....very often not what they seem. This is not racism.....wanting to preserve your community and way of life from influx of others is not racism......something there are several on here would do well to try to understand.The pressure on our public services,travel,housing, has changed this country forever.....not to mention the horrible impact social media is having on our kids....and I haven't even mentioned the NHS and so important elderly care. It was struggling to cope before 2004,but if anyone thinks that allowing unlimited numbers of people to come here to work in the system would somehow create growth is complete fallacy.We need more people to work in our public services because there are too many people arriving from other places than we could cope for before....and we were already at breaking point.
If this was the 16th century,I'd turn up at the Tower to watch Blair,that greedy,self-interested,treasonous individual, lose his head.

Hey,you can slag Farage off ad infinitum. It doesn't mean a thing. The facts are that the upsurge in popularity for Reform is a direct result of ordinary,working class people feeling their culture,

I’m assuming that’s guesswork and not based on facts.

My guess is that, without Farage, this party would be nowhere near where they are now and, if he left the country, it would fade away again. I believe his appeal is his racism and honestly don’t see what else he has.

When you say, ‘ … people can see their communities disintegrating with massive influx of people speaking different languages’ I can see your point but think it’s more in people’s minds than in their reality.

Reform won’t be able to turf out 30 years worth of foreigners and their children, it’s literally impossible. Over centuries Great Britain interfered with endless countries so the rich could become richer. As a consequence we were forced to welcome endless nationalities, endless religions and endless languages. It’s too late to put the genie back in the bottle, we’re stuck with it.

Shame but that’s where we are.
 
I’m assuming that’s guesswork and not based on facts.

My guess is that, without Farage, this party would be nowhere near where they are now and, if he left the country, it would fade away again. I believe his appeal is his racism and honestly don’t see what else he has.

When you say, ‘ … people can see their communities disintegrating with massive influx of people speaking different languages’ I can see your point but think it’s more in people’s minds than in their reality.

Reform won’t be able to turf out 30 years worth of foreigners and their children, it’s literally impossible. Over centuries Great Britain interfered with endless countries so the rich could become richer. As a consequence we were forced to welcome endless nationalities, endless religions and endless languages. It’s too late to put the genie back in the bottle, we’re stuck with it.

Shame but that’s where we are.
I agree with a lot of what you say,but not all.It's not in people's minds...it's their reality, every single day,which is why they're looking for change.Farage's appeal isn't racism...it's about trying to preserve the culture and community we once had,sadly invaded. Contrary to the left propoganda.....that isn't racism. If it were so,every culture,tradition and way of life invaded by others since time began would be determined racist.There's no way the people of Sunderland have suddenly become racist! People on here and elsewhere need to think...and think hard!
However,your last comments are spot on. There's no way this country can reverse the last 30 years instigated after the second war and compounded in his infinite arrogance and self-interest by the treasonous Blair,compounded by the shameless idiot Cameron and other foolish individuals.
I totally agree with you,it's too late,the horse has gone and the stable door is shut,shame,but that's where we are.
I'm in the twilight of my years,my kids are grown and gone.So glad I'm not looking to this future,but I fear for them.
 
I agree with a lot of what you say,but not all.It's not in people's minds...it's their reality, every single day,which is why they're looking for change.Farage's appeal isn't racism...it's about trying to preserve the culture and community we once had,sadly invaded. Contrary to the left propoganda.....that isn't racism. If it were so,every culture,tradition and way of life invaded by others since time began would be determined racist.There's no way the people of Sunderland have suddenly become racist! People on here and elsewhere need to think...and think hard!
However,your last comments are spot on. There's no way this country can reverse the last 30 years instigated after the second war and compounded in his infinite arrogance and self-interest by the treasonous Blair,compounded by the shameless idiot Cameron and other foolish individuals.
I totally agree with you,it's too late,the horse has gone and the stable door is shut,shame,but that's where we are.
I'm in the twilight of my years,my kids are grown and gone.So glad I'm not looking to this future,but I fear for them.

Trump initially claimed he wanted to free the Iranian people and said help was on its way. He asked them to rise up and risk their lives by defying the Iranian regime. If they’d relied on Trump and done that, they’d now be fleeing the country in their thousands.

We already have many wealthy Iranians in the UK, from previous conflicts, as well as working class people. Those fleeing Iran, because of Trump’s disastrous war would head for Europe or anywhere else they might be able to find refuge.

Farage backed Trump when he said he’d free the Iranian people and wanted the UK to back him in every way possible. So, having supported the fleeing Iranians would he now turn his back and refuse them asylum?

That would be like asking Indians, Jamaicans, etc, to help us beat Hitler then denying them help in return. The UK has made mistake after mistake and they’re coming back to haunt us, too late now to turn back the clocks.
 
I’m assuming that’s guesswork and not based on facts.

My guess is that, without Farage, this party would be nowhere near where they are now and, if he left the country, it would fade away again. I believe his appeal is his racism and honestly don’t see what else he has.

When you say, ‘ … people can see their communities disintegrating with massive influx of people speaking different languages’ I can see your point but think it’s more in people’s minds than in their reality.

Reform won’t be able to turf out 30 years worth of foreigners and their children, it’s literally impossible. Over centuries Great Britain interfered with endless countries so the rich could become richer. As a consequence we were forced to welcome endless nationalities, endless religions and endless languages. It’s too late to put the genie back in the bottle, we’re stuck with it.

Shame but that’s where we are.
The only people who are looking to turf out 30 years of foreigners are the racists mate, who don't recognise people for who they are. A lot of these 30 years worth of foreigners and their children make a valuable contribution to society and arrived here legally.

The normal man/woman in the street, however, is majorly worried by the floods of immigrants who are landing on our shore day after day without going through the legal channels, draining resources which could be better used elsewhere and they've seen the Tories and Labour fail miserably to deal with the problem swiftly and effectively. Currently 11% of the prison population is made up of those who have come to this country from abroad. That is an indication of a failure in the vetting system and these individuals need moving back to whence they came.

Instead of spending the money on food and shelter for an indefinite period, we need to employ more civil servants to process these people quickly. It's not fair on these people or the British tax payer to retain them indefinitely. Keep the ones who can demonstrate that they are fleeing tyranny along with the ones who are qualified in the employment sectors that we need people for. The others should be returned to the countries of their birth and encouraged to apply via the legal channels if they still feel they want to live here.

The recent elections demonstrated the feelings of a large swathe of the British public in no uncertain terms, who feel that the traditional parties are not dealing with this problem. The beneficiaries of this are the parties who state that they would deal with this problem. In this case, Reform. If the problem had been environmental instead of a mass immigration problem, then the British public wouldn't have turned to Reform, they would have voted in great numbers for the Green Party.

It's time for the major parties to recognise that the vast majority of people who voted Reform, did so in protest, in the hope that at least one of these traditional parties stand up and face this problem and deal with it, instead of being concerned by what the rest of Europe thinks and kowtowing to the ECHR.

The problem is a question of mass immigration not racism, but unfortunately the lack of a plan to deal with it is playing right into the hands of the racists.
 
Disagree. Time to move away from personality politics and base it on what's best for society. I admit Starmer has struggled with several policies, but his aim is true.

In some ways (this is a football forum) Starmer is like that striker that works hard, runs his socks off, but unfortunately doesn't score...
Even taking into account the RW press Torygraph, Daily Heil etc the state of the economy, migration etc that Labour inherited, not counting the misjudgement about Mandelson...

Perhaps it is so bad now it can only get better. The RW media are have already labelled Red Ange ( although posh tory/reform boys are obviously terrified of her.)

Stop Reform and Fa gash by explaining what cnuts they are, just like the Trump moronic Maga's there will always be a core of BNP supporters.
 
I’m assuming that’s guesswork and not based on facts.

My guess is that, without Farage, this party would be nowhere near where they are now and, if he left the country, it would fade away again. I believe his appeal is his racism and honestly don’t see what else he has.

When you say, ‘ … people can see their communities disintegrating with massive influx of people speaking different languages’ I can see your point but think it’s more in people’s minds than in their reality.

Reform won’t be able to turf out 30 years worth of foreigners and their children, it’s literally impossible. Over centuries Great Britain interfered with endless countries so the rich could become richer. As a consequence we were forced to welcome endless nationalities, endless religions and endless languages. It’s too late to put the genie back in the bottle, we’re stuck with it.

Shame but that’s where we are.
Depends on the change people are seeing in their areas I think, I can go to several areas in my town and can see a change. Concord front street in particular has changed, almost every shop has been replaced with a takeaway but thats every high street in the country I suppose. Does that not reflect a huge sign of communities disintegrating ?? People would meet and talk as they shopped, that part of life has gone in lots of towns around the country.
 
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<laugh> In some ways (this is a football forum) Starmer is like that striker that works hard, runs his socks off, but unfortunately doesn't score...
Even taking into account the RW press Torygraph, Daily Heil etc the state of the economy, migration etc that Labour inherited, not counting the misjudgement about Mandelson...

Perhaps it is so bad now it can only get better. The RW media are have already labelled Red Ange ( although posh tory/reform boys are obviously terrified of her.)

Stop Reform and Fa gash by explaining what cnuts they are, just like the Trump moronic Maga's there will always be a core of BNP supporters.
So let’s get this right,
Your saying with Brexit, Covid the Ukraine war and having Boris as leader the 100’s of thousands of job losses and businesses shutting down under Labour is the Tories fault.
I know you Labour luvvies like to get your pound of flesh from Brexit but bloody hell man <laugh>
Talk about carrying a grudge <laugh>
 
Depends on the change people are seeing in their areas I think, I can go to several areas in my town and can see a change. Concord front street in particular has changed, almost every shop has been replaced with a takeaway but thats every high street in the country I suppose. Does that not reflect a huge sign of communities disintegrating ?? People would meet and talk as they shopped, that part of life has gone in lots of towns around the country.

It’s a huge sign that communities are getting the culture they want, some people are so lazy they don’t even want ‘takeaways’, they want food delivered to their front door.

When I was a kid the people would have a village fete on the green, leek shows, flower shows, the men had pigeon crees and allotments. etc. My Dad had a greenhouse to grow tomatoes, a potato plot, rabbits for the pot.

I’m not getting all nostalgic but there wouldn’t be Indians & Chinese people, or takeaways, if they had no customers. If every ‘foreigner’ was expelled, as Farage wants, would the empty shops suddenly be occupied, I don’t think so.

If people are so distressed about their communities disintegrating you’d think they’d do something about it rather than just think chucking out the foreigners would make it all wonderful.
 
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It’s a huge sign that communities are getting the culture they want, some people are so lazy they don’t even want ‘takeaways’, they want food delivered to their front door.

When I was a kid the people would have a village fete on the green, leek shows, flower shows, the men had pigeon crees and allotments. etc. My Dad had a greenhouse to grow tomatoes, a potato plot, rabbits for the pot.

I’m not getting all nostalgic but there wouldn’t be Indians & Chinese people, or takeaways, if they had no customers. If every ‘foreigner’ was expelled, as Farage wants, would the empty shops suddenly be occupied, I don’t think so.

If people are so distressed about their communities disintegrating you’d think they’d do something about it rather than just think chucking out the foreigners would make it all wonderful.
The same when I was young, there is still a lot of allotments but the yearly shows are now a thing of the past in my area, Leek shows were huge, we used to love the big pots of broth that was made afterwards. When a shop closes now though you just know its going to reopen as a takeaway or barbers or vape shop, where do they get the money from to fund it should be the question asked.
 
The same when I was young, there is still a lot of allotments but the yearly shows are now a thing of the past in my area, Leek shows were huge, we used to love the big pots of broth that was made afterwards. When a shop closes now though you just know its going to reopen as a takeaway or barbers or vape shop, where do they get the money from to fund it should be the question asked.

They sell takeaways and vapes tbf.

My local village shop is Asian owned, Celtic supporter. and they’re open 7 days a week 8/6 …

… if it closed I doubt a Jock would want to take it on.
 
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