The Politics Thread

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So, is Farage the Democratic 'plant' or is it Trump? Or maybe both??? <laugh>
 
Spur of the Moment said:
So, is Farage the Democratic 'plant' or is it Trump? Or maybe both??? <laugh>
Click to expand...

:)

In a way, the post-election stats will be a lot like Gordon Brown and
"bigot-gate" . After the event, the pollsters wanted to see what the
effects of what was ostensibly a PR eff-up. Yet the polls showed
no effective change in support.

The polls had nominally identified the % of the electorate who will
vote Labour no matter what (the Tories will have their own % too) .
Given that it seems some vaguely intelligent Republicans are horrified
by Trump and may not be voting for him. come November the USA will
know the Republican 'no matter what' % value.
 
I never imagined I would find myself defending Gordon Brown, but any comparison with Trump or Farage is a bridge too far!! <laugh>

On a serious note - and I am prepared to be corrected by our friends permanantly across the Pond - having worked for US multinationals and lived in the States for a while, I find it surprising that any US political party would consider focusing on a Z-list nobody politician from the UK to try and turn the tide on a massively failing campaign. International awareness is not exactly a strongpoint.......
That to me just demonstrates the true desperation of their situation.
 
Did anyone ever get to the bottom of why Nigel Farage was at the German embassy last week?
His spokesman denied that he was even there, claiming that there was no evidence to support such a claim.
Someone at UKIP dropped him in it though, as they attempted to defend him by denying that he was there to apply for citizenship.

If I had to guess, then I'd probably go with something to do with his kids and dual citizenship.
All four of them can attain EU passports, so they probably think it's for the best.
His first two are eligible for Irish ones and the latter two can pick up German ones, which might be what he was sorting out.
 
"We could devote the front page to the Tories ripping £22bn of funding out of the NHS over the next five years, or even their stealthy attempts to scrap the Human Rights Act, but I'm sure smearing Jeremy Corbyn is far more important to the British public" - every single newspaper editor in this country
 
humanbeingincroydon said:
"We could devote the front page to the Tories ripping £22bn of funding out of the NHS over the next five years, or even their stealthy attempts to scrap the Human Rights Act, but I'm sure smearing Jeremy Corbyn is far more important to the British public" - every single newspaper editor in this country
Click to expand...

Corbyn hardly did his own reputation any good this week with the VirginTrain-Gate. The honorable 'man of the people' descending into the regular political quagmire of deceit is not a great idea - even if the issue itself is a valid one.
The most disappointing aspect for me was that his team managed to find a train that actually had empty seats on it!! <laugh>
 
Spur of the Moment said:
Corbyn hardly did his own reputation any good this week with the VirginTrain-Gate. The honorable 'man of the people' descending into the regular political quagmire of deceit is not a great idea - even if the issue itself is a valid one.
The most disappointing aspect for me was that his team managed to find a train that actually had empty seats on it!! <laugh>
Click to expand...

Obviously not Southern then!?....
 
Spur of the Moment said:
Corbyn hardly did his own reputation any good this week with the VirginTrain-Gate. The honorable 'man of the people' descending into the regular political quagmire of deceit is not a great idea - even if the issue itself is a valid one.
The most disappointing aspect for me was that his team managed to find a train that actually had empty seats on it!! <laugh>
Click to expand...
Except several people who were on the train with Corbyn have corroborated his story.

However, here's where Virgin's version of the "story" really starts to unravel: Virgin's argument is that Corbyn walked past empty seats while the train was still in London, and forty-odd minutes later he returned to the carriage to sit down. What happened in the 40+ minutes between the two clips? The train stopped at Peterborough.

But the real story, apart from this being a smokescreen while the Tories push through yet more draconian policies with barely a word printed until after the fact, is that Virgin broke the law by releasing the CCTV footage, which considering they would have had to clear this with their legal team means one of two things: either Virgin's legal team are utterly incompetent, or Virgin ignored their advice and thought a slap on the wrist would be worth it given Corbyn is for re-nationalising the railways and against privatising the NHS - which would hit Virgin Rail and Virgin Health as hard in the pocket as the ground hit Branson in the face when he fell of his bike.
 
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This is an actual transcript of The Other Bloke addressing a hustings debate in Glasgow the other day:

“I think Kezia (Dugdale) is going a brilliant job, I think she is doing a fantastic job.”
- laughter from the assembled audience -
"I am really worried that I am hearing a Labour audience laughing and jeering at the leader of Scottish Labour. If we're worried about entryism, I presume you still support the leader of the Scottish Labour party? Because I do – I think she’s doing a great job.”

Talk about committing political suicide.

Firstly, the fact of the matter is Kezia Dugdale is not doing "a fantastic job" - politics in Scotland is a two-horse race between the SNP and Labour, yet in May's parliamentary elections she guided Labour into third place behind the Tories - the Tories, in Scotland! - so to claim she's doing "a fantastic job" deserves the ridicule the claim got.

Of course it's no surprise why The Other Bloke would support Dugdale: last week she gave him her backing, pissing off the other Scottish Labour MPs in doing so, and it's not surprising that she's a member of Progress.

As for his meltdown, it sums up the Anyone But Corbyn brigade's cry bully tactics in one succinct soundbite.

Firstly because accusing a room full of people of entryism because they gave his claims of Kezia Dugdale doing "a fantastic job" the level of respect that it deserved, which made him simultaneously look like a complete idiot and a paranoiac ranting about how everyone is against him, but mainly because he's in no position to point the finger and claim people fail to support their party leader considering the only reason he was on the podium in the first place was because he doesn't support his party leader.
 
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PleaseNotPoll said:
General Chat is like 4Chan. The high level of offensiveness serves to keep out all but the most thick-skinned.
This forum was started because of the perceived over-moderation of another successful one.
GC's basically that sentiment taken to an extreme.

I used to post on there a few years ago and got into a debate with one particular nutcase.
He invited me to mate an associate of his, who'd been in the news for his controversial views.
Who was it? Anjem Choudary, currently awaiting trial, having been accused of recruiting for ISIS.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I remember this! <laugh> He was called 'thefanwithnoname' or something like that, wasn't he?
He actually personally invited you to meet Choudary if I remember correctly. What a fruitcake!

Don't think I could have a proper discussion on there again after that!
 
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BrunelGooner said:
Oh yeah, I remember this! <laugh> He was called 'thefanwithnoname' or something like that, wasn't he?
He actually personally invited you to meet Choudary if I remember correctly. What a fruitcake!

Don't think I could have a proper discussion on there again after that!
Click to expand...
Yep, that was him. Went missing for a while after starting a new job as a chef, IIRC.
Just checked and he's posting on GC again, now. First thread that I've found is posting conspiracy crap about Bin Laden. <doh>
 
PleaseNotPoll said:
Yep, that was him. Went missing for a while after starting a new job as a chef, IIRC.
Just checked and he's posting on GC again, now. First thread that I've found is posting conspiracy crap about Bin Laden. <doh>
Click to expand...

Yeah, I remember. Him, you and I used to have quite a few disagreements about Islam and religion in general. I mean, I agreed with some of the stuff he said, but there's other things (his defence of Anjem Choudary for one!) where I was just in utter disbelief and couldn't believe he was saying these things.

As soon as he invited you to meet Choudary in person, I knew it was time to distance myself from him. <laugh>
I'd love to know what his views on Anjem are now that he's been imprisoned.
 
BrunelGooner said:
Yeah, I remember. Him, you and I used to have quite a few disagreements about Islam and religion in general. I mean, I agreed with some of the stuff he said, but there's other things (his defence of Anjem Choudary for one!) where I was just in utter disbelief and couldn't believe he was saying these things.

As soon as he invited you to meet Choudary in person, I knew it was time to distance myself from him. <laugh>
I'd love to know what his views on Anjem are now that he's been imprisoned.
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He'll think that he's being victimised or something. He has similar views himself.
I know plenty of Muslims and I've never heard any of them say anything positive about Choudary.
They all think that he's an extremist prick who gives the whole religion a bad name.
I've even heard him called an intelligence agency plant, as everyone around him gets locked up but he doesn't.
That's not the case anymore, I guess! <laugh>
 
PleaseNotPoll said:
He'll think that he's being victimised or something. He has similar views himself.
I know plenty of Muslims and I've never heard any of them say anything positive about Choudary.
They all think that he's an extremist prick who gives the whole religion a bad name.
I've even heard him called an intelligence agency plant, as everyone around him gets locked up but he doesn't.
That's not the case anymore, I guess! <laugh>
Click to expand...

There was an article I read a while back about Choudary that was basically saying that because he used to be a lawyer, he knew where the line was when it came to freedom of expression, so he always knew never to cross it.

I'm not familiar with what the law is when it comes to what you can and can't say, but I find it quite bizarre that he wasn't locked up earlier after the stuff he got involved in when he created Al-Muhajiroun. Not only that, but he was seen on the news categorically claiming that people should join ISIS and that the 'allegations' about coercion, raping women and beheading people was all 'untrue' <doh>.

The fact that there are people who support him merely because he knows a few technical Islam terms and is relatively articulate is frightening.
 
BrunelGooner said:
There was an article I read a while back about Choudary that was basically saying that because he used to be a lawyer, he knew where the line was when it came to freedom of expression, so he always knew never to cross it.

I'm not familiar with what the law is when it comes to what you can and can't say, but I find it quite bizarre that he wasn't locked up earlier after the stuff he got involved in when he created Al-Muhajiroun. Not only that, but he was seen on the news categorically claiming that people should join ISIS and that the 'allegations' about coercion, raping women and beheading people was all 'untrue' <doh>.

The fact that there are people who support him merely because he knows a few technical Islam terms and is relatively articulate is frightening.
Click to expand...
I think that he crossed the line a bunch of times, despite vaguely attempting to avoid doing so.
Here's one example where he clearly indicates that he's a terrorist:
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No idea how he got away with admitting that, to be honest.

If I had to guess how he avoided prosecution for so long, I'd suggest that he was heavily monitored and allowed massive leeway.
I think that we'll find out in time just how many people they picked up because of contact with him.
 
PleaseNotPoll said:
I think that he crossed the line a bunch of times, despite vaguely attempting to avoid doing so.
Here's one example where he clearly indicates that he's a terrorist:
You must log in or register to see media
No idea how he got away with admitting that, to be honest.

If I had to guess how he avoided prosecution for so long, I'd suggest that he was heavily monitored and allowed massive leeway.
I think that we'll find out in time just how many people they picked up because of contact with him.
Click to expand...

I'd love to know why and how he changed so much, He used to get pissed and was on the pull all the time in his university days, then he does a complete U-Turn and starts preaching this hateful, violent message of Islam (whilst also distorting Islamic history) and trying to wage war against the 'non-believers'.

Funny that he always used to tell other people to do these things e.g. joining IS, but would never be willing to do them himself.
 
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