Off Topic Politics Thread

Examples?

 

I'ts just over a hundred years since the liberals relinquished power to form a coalition during WW1. They are not the most popular at the moment but I am betting they just might start to rise again at the next general election. I have a sneaking feeling that just maybe if we have an Election within the next 3 months they will be part of a coalition. Who knows what then will happen in the future!!

 

I’m terrified ...... not only for myself as I get older, but for the children and grandchildren. What the hell are we doing? If I could find a country who would take me, I’d move - seriously. This is only going to get worse (and those few pro-Brexit people I know accuse me of “scaremongering”

 

How anybody can look at at this picture and not think "what a moronic ****" is beyond me...

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One of Martin Amis' books describes the USA quite well at this time...

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No, you're not the only one who fears what is coming down the line. Even ignoring Brexit and Trump, climate change will lead to resource wars and mass migration, and bigots will exploit the situation.

I recommend helping to run a scout troop, Sunday school or youth group. There's a lot of darkness coming down the line and the next generation is going to need more than its share of paragons and saints.

 

The word on the street is that the leak of the Kim Darroch email came from Boris Johnson’s office...

 

MP’s have been debating and voting on amendments to the Northern Ireland Bill, which mean that Parliament has to have weekly updates by Ministers. This is a backdoor way of preventing Boris proroguing Parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit.

The government lost by 315 - 274, with 17 Tory MP’s voting against the government, and several Cabinet Ministers abstaining.

The Bill now has to go back to the Lords as the Commons amended a Lords amendment, so they have to agree the wording.

 

If there any further proof the BBC are not pro-Brexit, but merely reporting what is important and what is in the public interest, they put this up as their main headline:

BBC News - No-deal Brexit could cause £30bn economic hit, watchdog says
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49027889

The BBC isn't perfect by any means. But they are independant of government, and governments, especially right wing ones in the UK seem to loathe them.

 

I usually agree with most of your comments, but I am not sure that I agree with the BBC being independent, simply because, IMO, they are constantly dancing to the Tory party tune, and seem to be bending over backwards to promote their policies, whilst undermining Labour.
Factor in that pretty much every political commentator, working for the BBC, has roots in the Tories, I would suggest they are about as far from being independent of the government, as is possible.

 

Right now both sides seem to be says that it is dancing to the other's tune and i've definitely heard people say its anti government.
This is one of the main reasons I think its relatively neutral though with both thinking it's on the other side I do think its values makes it lean to the left though.

I think it has a set of rules that it tries to follow which at least make it more truthful than most and at least try to provide multiple viewpoints to most discussions even if the overall content is weighted to one side.

It is definitely a mouthpiece for the government when the government request it however.

 

As someone who's not into politics this is pretty much how I see the bbc too.

 

Strange because the BBC is definitely NOT a Government mouthpiece.

 

The generally right-wing media would like it gone
The Tory party would like it gone

Does this tell us something?

Imagine life without it. Look at the US for example

 

You couldn’t make this up! Tory Party members as young as FIFTEEN have been allowed to vote in the leadership ballot, despite the Tories officially being against lowering the voting age to 16:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-voting-boris-johnson-hypocrisy-a9007851.html

 

I'm not trying to say it's not independent, but if the government says that it's in the public interest for something to be known then it's in the charter for the BBC to report it assuming the BBC believes the same. Additionally since the BBC is so transparent to the government with all the audits and reports that have to be presented to the government it's in their mutual interest for the BBC to be the government's first choice to report something.

 

Indeed.

 

It's not a case of the BBC believing one way or the other. Their duty is to report whether you like the news or not. That way, you know at least whether the government is trying to pull a fast one or not. I've lived overseas. The BBC is something other countries' populations wish they could have. In the past, when the political opposition has been as weak as ****, the BBC has effectively stood in where the opposition wouldn't or couldn't. The thing is, it's always been in the UK, and we take it for granted. And I do too, except when I look at news from the States or elsewhere, like Australia. Oh boy, can that be a lopsided comedy. Sometimes you wonder if they'd recognise the truth if it bit them on the arse. And the heart of it is down to advertising. ITV, etc, have it harder here because they have the BBC as the quality yardstick.