Off Topic Politics Thread

He really is such a racist, every opportunity he spouts off.
And I think you will find there’s a queue wanting to punch that racist face of his

 

On our local news they interviewed a couple of the onlookers, who said that they had come to protest about the new Police Act but were disgusted by the actions of a minority. Certainly nothing to do with BLM. They'll be lumping everyone who is discontented about anything into the mythical Antifa banner next.

All I can say is I'm glad my older stepdaughter is still in New Zealand, as Bridewell police station is where she works in the victim support department.

 

I bags I am second after you only I have a length of lead pipe.

 

How ironic is it that the government are said to be considering a hands on approach to how Liverpool is run, as a result of there being reports of corruption?
That the person who is overseeing this is Robert Jenrick, the MP who tried to save a Tory donor £40 million in taxes, beggars belief.
Seriously I have never known a more corrupt UK government in my lifetime, than the ones we have had since 2010.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-56475162

 

It’s such a dreadful situation, as this is exactly playing into Patel and Johnson’s hands as they can now say “see? We told you so. We need to crack down on protests to stop this happening.” And all the blinkered readers of the Daily Fail, Torygraph, Excess and Scum will believe what their papers say and vote the corrupt branch of bastards in again ....
I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but there’s a bit of a parallel here between the violence which caused Hitler’s rise to power in Germany ...... I’m not saying it was orchestrated by strands of the far right, but I can’t help thinking that, if moronic demonstrators didn’t think that burning, looting and hurting police wasn’t going to hurt their cause, then they have even less brain cells than I thought .....

 

The riot in Bristol is a disaster but the majority of people were there to protest in a peaceful manner. As with these things, it just takes a few mindless idiots to turn a protest into mayhem. To be fair to the police, they did show a great deal of restraint and only reacted when their vehicles were being torched. As Dave said, this just reinforces the government agenda in the minds of a lot of people. It couldn't have turned out any worse.

I have resigned from XR because of the every radical hard core element who are intent on pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable in a decent society. A lot of folk will support and even join in with peaceful protests, and I'm one of them, but I am not interested in aggression or wanton destruction of property. It's stupid and it does nothing other than completely destroy the whole core message. If the government go ahead with this police bill we are in for a lot more of what happened in Bristol, and none of us need that, especially in the middle of a pandemic.

 

Oh don’t think I haven’t thought of some kind of right wing agent provocateurs being responsible Dave, it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility at all. But that’s an easy jump to make. Certainly we should trust the local police to find who was chucking petrol bombs and deal with them before drawing any conclusions.

It’s more likely that those idiots were exactly that, non-aligned, frustrated idiots, but let’s wait and see.

 

You mention agent provocateurs.
I watched an inconclusive video, this morning, that raises this exact question.
In the video a masked man, wearing a distinctive hat, was having a chat with a police officer. The masked man then pointed towards the police line and the police officer nodded.
The police officer then watched the guy walk off, out of camera shot, but then the guy appears on the frontline and that is when the first clash with the police happened.
As I say, inconclusive, but allows the question to be raised.

 

Sturgeon did not break the ministerial code.

 

VINDICATED despite all the efforts of the lying cheats who are running the country.

The one person with true leadership qualities of all the UK's countries' leaders. You know who is the worst.

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As I understand it Greensill went bust.
I also understand it that Cameron contacted Sunak on a private number that isn’t covered under the scrutiny processes that are in place, so very sneaky.
Does anyone know if the loans were repaid, before the company went under or has Cameron been able to cover his losses, as a shareholder, by syphoning taxpayers money into his offshore accounts, leaving us out of pocket?
What I read indicated that the loan applications were denied, but the attachment says otherwise.

 

Needless to say, Ruth Davidson et al haven`t given her an apology, and continue their pathetic mud-slinging.

 

A good piece on the UKs slide into authoritarianism.

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/o...sB8GBLQWV4UVPfoNvKUSadpD0ahNoLPgC9qeoSKQ4Xirk

 

Busy day for Nicola, as the Scottish government publishes the draft bill for indyref2:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-56482881

 

A few points I would like to add...

I read over the weekend that the measures in Liverpool that are being put in place are as a consequence of the allegations being made are more serious. The allegations against the ex-mayor, whilst contested, include intimidation as well as bribery. What has gone on in Liverpool is more than incompetence or slight financial irregularities.

The issue of the right to protest is difficult but I think that the people protesting also have an obligation not to facilitate the transmission of the virus. I agree with the issues that are being protested about and, in other circumstances, would have argued that the protests in Bristol had some justification. It is also worthwhile pointing out that the government was democratically elected and is not a dictatorship as has been described on this thread. In this instance, I think that it is a bit irresponsible, especially as there are now others ways to protest as opposed to going out on to the streets.

I love the comment about the French woman thinking that the English never took to the streets. It is a common perception in France that we are more reluctant to protest and are far more accommodating than on the continent. Of course, the French love to assemble en masse and this has been part of their culture since 1789. In the Uk, the protests almost seem quaint in comparison with what happens elsewhere. Even when there were riots throughout the country throughout the summer about ten years ago, the "protest" ultimately transpired to be more about nicking a pair of Nike trainers as to righting any social injustices.

The main problem for me is that no one is really holding the government to account. The fact that parliament is largely operating outside Westminster is making it difficult to scrutinize and this is not helped by the fact that Labour are totally ineffective. At the moment, the most credible opposition is the SNP and the comments made a few days by Len McCluskey are a clear viewed indictment of the failure of Sir Keir Starmer. It is as much a consequence of the failure of our opposition as the opportunism of the government that is allowing the likes of The Police Bill to be passed.

With regard to the longevity of Boris, I still have my doubts. The success with the vaccine and the turmoil in the EU probably demonstrate that the Euro-crats are not fit to govern and we are well shot of them. However, I think we are a long way from seeing the economic impact on trade and will not do so until the pandemic has concluded. The tragedy for me is what a Corbyn government would have been able to do in these circumstances and perhaps genuinely exploit the emergency measures that have necessarily been in place to make the kind of changes that would have benefitted everyone in the long term. I think that he would have nationalised a lot of businesses and not just the utilities as opposed to have introducing the furlough scheme. It would have been an ideal opportunity to recalibrate the country along socialist principles that would shape not only the short term future, but would have improved it in the long term too.

 

Just like to point out, about your first paragraph, that the most intimidating force in the country is the Tory government.
They are also the party receiving millions of pounds in return for favours, so whilst not belittling what is suspected of having happened, the potential replacement is known to be crooked.
With Liverpool also being predominantly Labour, the Tory government imposing themselves on the city will be like a red rag to a bull.

 

The House of Lords inserted an amendment into the Fire Safety Bill which would prevent leaseholders being held responsible for the cost of remedial work being carried out on properties with unsafe cladding.
The government voted it down.
Hopefully this means 100s of thousands more votes not being given to them in ensuing elections.