Politics Thread!

[snaff]

Labour in 1 month and the country is already on fire.

[tufty]

Oh, lets have a look. See what Reuters has to say, they are /always/ balanced and usually the primary source for anything not pulled directly from social media.

Violent disorder swept across several British cities on Saturday, injuring police and damaging property in the most widespread rioting in the country for 13 years, following the murder of three young girls in northwest England.

OK.

Riots involving hundreds of anti-immigration protesters have erupted in towns and cities after false information spread rapidly on social media that the suspect in Monday's knife attack at a children's dance class in Southport was a radical Muslim migrant.

Oh. False information, is it? Let's look at that.

The suspect arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of three children in northwest England was born in the UK, according to police, contrary to online posts claiming he was an asylum seeker who arrived in the country by boat in 2023.

Deliberately lighting a fire under racial tension in the UK by spreading false information? I can't imagine who might be profiting from this. Oh, hang on. Yes, I can.

[snaff]

Deliberately lighting a fire under racial tension in the UK by spreading false information? I can't imagine who might be profiting from this. Oh, hang on. Yes, I can.

Yes, Israel and your neo-con friends:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/why-are-u ... extremist/

[tufty]

Oh, mixing some anti-semitic dogwhistling in with the anti immigrant bile? Niiiiice.

[Deckard]

Just twats - and by the bbc reports not even local twats ! Bring them all to justice as I am sure there will be enough video evidence to prosecute everyone of them and anyone doing a Trump by inciting them....

[Harlequin]

Just twats - and by the bbc reports not even local twats ! Bring them all to justice as I am sure there will be enough video evidence to prosecute everyone of them and anyone doing a Trump by inciting them....

Quite a few could be tricky to trace via video alone. I have been seeing many covered faces in the pictures.

[Whiteball]

The real problem is even if they do identify any of them all they will get is slap on the wrist and told don't do it again.

We desperately need to reform the system and have proper deterents.

[Deckard]

The London lot in 2011 prosecuted by Starmer all got jail time -

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug ... -sentences

[tufty]

The London lot in 2011 prosecuted by Starmer all got jail time

…and since then, the Tories made it easier to prosecute. So there's that.

Saying "we need a better deterrent" is bullshit. A better deterrent doesn't work if people think they won't get caught. If people thought they would get caught, they wouldn't crime. It used to be that certain crimes would get you killed if you were caught and prosecuted, but it didn't stop people doing those crimes. Because people never think they will get caught. Not now, and not then.

Crime, and particularly violent crime, is pretty much static or slightly descending in the UK. Calling for more draconian powers is down to fear incited by the media.

As for finding them, I'm certain that 99% were not smart enough to leave their mobile phones at home. And in most cities here's enough surveillance camera coverage to track people, get them covering up, and follow them through the rioting. All it takes is a will, and the money, to do it. I think they should, at least for those who appear to be leading, but I also think they should go even harder after those who were inciting and spreading false information.

[PFVA]

Allow me to moan

Cost of Living

Clothing detergent 1.7 Liners 9.89 €uros!

9.89 € !!! 9.89€!!!

That's basic hygiene!!!

How can it cost

9.89€ ???


Note: Price includes 23% sales tax

[Little stoned kiwi]

Allow me to join you.


Pies. We love pies in New Zealand. Every petrol station and corner shop sells them and they are now over NZ$7 each.

Let the food riots begin. It's time.

[Mat]

Olive oil has more than tripled in price since 2020 >:E

...I guess I really am middle class.

But saying that, it is an interesting canary-in-the-coal-mine.
These prices have primarily been affected by increasing temperatures in the Mediterranean making olive groves less productive.

[PFVA]

I followed this one on TV and I found it funny


Puidgemont has announced he would be going to Cataluña, he shows up in public surrounded by thousands of people basically protecting him with their presence, makes a speech, and leaves back to his exile in Belgium.

The center right and the right in Spain are screaming all over the place about him not being arrested.

How can you arrest someone when there is thousands of people protecting him? Not to mention that the Catalonian police maybe sympathetic to him or have family that is out in the streets too.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyw28eey8wo

[KlaxonCow]

Liz Truss giving a talk, where she was supporting a Trump victory, when - ironically, just as she was quoting that infamous "It's the economy, stupid" quote - Led by Donkeys unfurled a remote-controlled banner which says "I crashed the economy", with a picture of a lettuce with googly eyes.



She thinks it's not funny. I beg to differ.

"Lions, lead by donkeys", indeed.

[KlaxonCow]

Ms.Truss is suggesting she left for security reasons, not embarrassment nor shame.

Which is a shame unto itself, as if the public had seen her exhibit even the tiniest bit of remorse for her part in making everybody's mortgage payments worse, they could have perhaps had some semblance of sympathy.

She's also questioned if the reaction would have been the same if it had been far-right activists.

I mean, if these far-right activists had also just done the equivalent of unfurling a silly meme of a lettuce with googly eyes behind, say, Jeremy Corbyn then, yes, i think the reaction would have been identical. Well, no, Corbyn would have smiled and made a joke about it. You know he would. He's actually got a sense of humour.

But, of course, the real reason why the far-left and far-right might get dissimilar treatment is that if the far-right had done this then it wouldn't have just been a meme banner, it would have been a nail bomb or something instead. And the message would have called for the death of all blacks or Jews or gays or something.

That's the essential difference. The far-left embarrasses you - as you should feel embarrassed - with a meme and a simple statement of fact (because she absolutely did crash the economy, as a demonstrable factual statement). The far-right sets your town on fire, and tries to injure or kill anyone who might look a bit like an asylum seeker (whether they actually are or not) that they can find.

The difference in treatment is not ideologically-based, it's consequence-based. The far-left go on strike - which is disruptive, of course, but in an orderly fashion, with a view to forcing negotiations - but the far-right set things on fire and try to destroy civil order itself.

So, no, Liz, it's not actually unfair. And, as I say, if you had just once demonstrated remorse that you'd made a mistake and had worsened the economy - which people would, I'm sure, be entirely willing to accept was not at all intentional or deliberate, just misguided - then folks would have long since stopped ribbing you about this.

It's your continued refusal to accept reality that is encouraging folks to continually shove it in your face, because they just want that acknowledgement from you that you part-contributed to their higher mortgage payments. Just say "sorry, that wasn't the plan. It was supposed to help, but it backfired. I apologise". That's all they're looking for.

Like, you're not Prime Minister. You're not even an MP. You have no power anymore. People are not protesting you for change - because you have no ability to do anything useful for anybody right now. They're just looking for that apology. A hint of remorse for having done a bad thing. That's all.

Seriously, expect more lettuce memes. You've demonstrated that it gets to you, so they absolutely will continue to haunt you with this, at every available opportunity.

If you'd made a joke, pulled it down and then carried on with your talk, then that would have been the end of it.

It's absolutely what Maggie would have done - that lady was, indeed, not for turning. The IRA actually tried to bomb her and she carried on. Whilst I hated Maggie's policies, I would never accuse her of being incompetent or stupid (indeed, if only she had been incompetent and stupid like modern Tories, then her policies would never have actually been implemented).