Political Discussions And Ranting Thread

[YoungWillz 19,155]

I am struggling to divine where Oliver Dowden stands this morning on Laura K.

 

He seems to be agreeing that Lee Anderson was right to raise his concerns. Dowden also seems not to condemn Anderson's use of language. So was Anderson suspended for show?

[Brad252 450]

Anderson is a useful idiot for the Tories, someone they have to claim to be on the side of working people, but also someone with a low support base and very likely to lose their seat come the election. He can be thrown under the bus easily, whereas Braverman and Truss' comparable, if not worse acts, go unpunished for now, because their support bases are too high for Sunak to have the balls to deal with.

[En Passant 2,965]

3 hours ago, TQR said:

Rubbish. (excuse my opinion)

 

Um, isn't that what I was alluding to his posts being anyway? I thought I was.

Aaaaanyway, the only reason I've not blocked him, and some others really, is you then just get holes in continuity and other people reply to them regardless making it slower to skim the contents of a thread than just to leave as is (for me anyway).

[The Old Crem 3,185]

40 minutes ago, YoungWillz said:

I am struggling to divine where Oliver Dowden stands this morning on Laura K.

 

He seems to be agreeing that Lee Anderson was right to raise his concerns. Dowden also seems not to condemn Anderson's use of language. So was Anderson suspended for show?

He was suspended so that they wouldn’t be any headlines about them not suspending him. They worried about him defecting to Reform (He has changed parties before so loyalty is not a strong point). Have a feeling it will backfire and he will switch anyway 

[TQR 12,321]

9 minutes ago, En Passant said:

 

Um, isn't that what I was alluding to his posts being anyway? I thought I was.

Aaaaanyway, the only reason I've not blocked him, and some others really, is you then just get holes in continuity and other people reply to them regardless making it slower to skim the contents of a thread than just to leave as is (for me anyway).

 

Nah, I was just saying "rubbish" to the abuse of the privilege of having opinions. Apologies, was meant to be jovial but it didn't read that way, my bad.

 

Tbh your reason there is why I don't tend to block people, that and a difference of opinion/intellect/whatever else mostly adds colour to a place. But now I'm resolving to ignore the small handful of people who just make the site worse with the shit they spout (Crem and a couple of others I won't name publicly), so continuity holes it is.

[En Passant 2,965]

2 minutes ago, TQR said:

meant to be jovial but it didn't read that way, my bad.

 

No worries, I scanned it a couple of times cause I can appear caustic and not mean it too. Hence my question mark style response.

I've fallen foul of something I've written in jest just not appearing that way to others too often (Iirc I may have done it once too often about Basildon as an example, mea culpa).

As far as I can tell It's a hazard because the alternative is spelling it out in a long diatribe to avoid any chance of misinterpretation at which point its very length removes any pretence of the initial punchy humour you intended in the first place...a bit like this sentence.

 

Text is a crappy medium for nuance, at least if you are trying to be brief and making snappy gags can be quite hit and miss.

[The Old Crem 3,185]

5 hours ago, TQR said:

I've just seen all the recent Liz Truss stuff. I genuinely think she's in need of an intervention. Talking about the "woke establishment" being out to get her (Daily Mail: 'At last! A true Tory budget'). And going down the "deep state" rabbit hole! Good god. The only deep state was her approval rating:

 

 

She's right at home in America, throwing her lettuce behind Trump and howling at the moon with Steve "flood the zone with shit" Bannon.

‘NEW: Liz Truss thinks she can be the “queen-maker” in the next Tory leadership contest and may back Priti Patel as MPs believe she wants to be her chancellor 

[@thetimes] ‘

https://x.com/politlcsuk/status/1761711599054696593?s=61
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tory-mps-plotting-replace-rishi-sunak-tqhkxg60s
 

Further evidence for the fact she seems to be loosing it by thinking Priti Patel would be a popular choice for Tory Leader. She tended to have low approval ratings with the public. A Patel /Truss double act would not exactly be popular. 

[RoverAndOut 3,520]

6 minutes ago, The Old Crem said:

‘NEW: Liz Truss thinks she can be the “queen-maker” in the next Tory leadership contest and may back Priti Patel as MPs believe she wants to be her chancellor 

[@thetimes] ‘
 

Future evidence for the fact she seems to be loosing it by thinking Priti Patel would be a popular choice for Tory Leader. She tended to have low approval ratings with the public. A Patel /Truss double act would not exactly be popular. 

 

I like the fact you're questioning her sanity for thinking Patel can win a leadership contest, when the maddest thing stated there is that the woman who trashed the economy inside 6 weeks thinks she would be made Chancellor of the Exchequer.

[The Old Crem 3,185]

3 minutes ago, RoverAndOut said:

 

I like the fact you're questioning her sanity for thinking Patel can win a leadership contest, when the maddest thing stated there is that the woman who trashed the economy inside 6 weeks thinks she would be made Chancellor of the Exchequer.

I’m not entirely ruling out anyone winning the Tory leadership election (Truss won by a landslide remember)- just that they would both be deeply unpopular with the public going by their low approval ratings but Truss seems to in denial (Unlike the current members of Government who very much seem to know they heading for heavy defeat and that they not popular.).

[Commtech Sio Bibble 1,375]

I've just learnt that Members of the Scottish Parliament are allowed to be Lords or MPs simultaneously, which doesn't sit right with me. The Welsh assembly doesn't allow it (unless a Lord suspends their peerage) and Stormont doesn't usually allow it but has some weird temporary situation going on that I can't get my head around, and on a national level you can't be a Lord and an MP at the same time. Any elected official shouldn't be representing two areas at once, as they would struggle to equally balance both roles. I've always felt sorry for the constituents of the Prime Minister's constituents (or high ranking cabinet ministers) as they obviously won't get the local representation in Parliament that back-bench MPs can give. But that's not a solvable issue without deconstructing the parliamentary system, whereas a piece of legislation blocking sitting members of the Lords /Commons from being MSPs at the same time would be a lot simpler to pass.

[RoverAndOut 3,520]

7 minutes ago, Commtech Sio Bibble said:

I've just learnt that Members of the Scottish Parliament are allowed to be Lords or MPs simultaneously, which doesn't sit right with me. The Welsh assembly doesn't allow it (unless a Lord suspends their peerage) and Stormont doesn't usually allow it but has some weird temporary situation going on that I can't get my head around, and on a national level you can't be a Lord and an MP at the same time. Any elected official shouldn't be representing two areas at once, as they would struggle to equally balance both roles. I've always felt sorry for the constituents of the Prime Minister's constituents (or high ranking cabinet ministers) as they obviously won't get the local representation in Parliament that back-bench MPs can give. But that's not a solvable issue without deconstructing the parliamentary system, whereas a piece of legislation blocking sitting members of the Lords /Commons from being MSPs at the same time would be a lot simpler to pass.

 

I can only speak for my own experience, and Jack Straw was quite an active local MP in addition to being Home and then Foreign Secretary. He used to spend his Fridays in the area, having surgeries and attending functions and had an active office that dealt with queries during the week. He was also known to stand in Blackburn town centre on his soapbox talking through Labour policies, particularly around election time of course but not exclusively. I'm aware that is not always the case with cabinet minister MPs, however.

 

No idea on the particulars of the Scottish situation, but I know Salmond and co. held seats in Parliament while also sitting in Holyrood. I think it is frowned upon though - he gave it up when he became First Minister if I remember rightly. The Metro Mayors have stood down as MPs too.

[prussianblue 798]

Salmond was indeed an MP while simultaneously being an MSP. Between 2007 and 2010 he was an MP and First Minister. In his case he was representing more or less the same constituents, just with different parliamentary mandates, which doesn't strike me as too much of an issue.

 

Current Scottish Tory leader/waste of space Douglas Ross is an MP and MSP. Somewhat farcically he became leader before he had a seat in Holyrood, so had to use Ruth Davidson as a sort of proxy for a year. He has a third job as a professional football referee. 

[Commtech Sio Bibble 1,375]

2 minutes ago, RoverAndOut said:

 

I can only speak for my own experience, and Jack Straw was quite an active local MP in addition to being Home and then Foreign Secretary. He used to spend his Fridays in the area, having surgeries and attending functions and had an active office that dealt with queries during the week. He was also known to stand in Blackburn town centre on his soapbox talking through Labour policies, particularly around election time of course but not exclusively. I'm aware that is not always the case with cabinet minister MPs, however.

 

No idea on the particulars of the Scottish situation, but I know Salmond and co. held seats in Parliament while also sitting in Holyrood. I think it is frowned upon though - he gave it up when he became First Minister if I remember rightly. The Metro Mayors have stood down as MPs too.

I'm sure it differs, my local MP spends has a couple of high-ranking non-cabinet positions and he spends half his week in Westminster and half his week in the constituency. He's also a Twat but that's not relevant. 

 

With Salmond he gave up his seat in the commons after 3 years of being First Minister but similarly Douglas Ross is an MSP and an MP and he's leader of the opposition (Scottish Conservatives). I don't think it being frowned upon is good enough, it's frowned upon the appoint cabinet ministers from the Lords but that didn't stop Sunak from giving Foreign Secretary to David Cameron (and he wasn't even a Lord at that point).

[YoungWillz 19,155]

36 minutes ago, Commtech Sio Bibble said:

I've just learnt that Members of the Scottish Parliament are allowed to be Lords or MPs simultaneously, which doesn't sit right with me. 

Not sure of your source. Afaik, all MSPs have given up their position in the Scottish Parliament before being inducted into the Lords.

 

Of course this doesn't apply to the SNP who don't take seats in the Lords, only the Unionist parties have done that to date.

[Commtech Sio Bibble 1,375]

3 minutes ago, YoungWillz said:

Not sure of your source. Afaik, all MSPs have given up their position in the Scottish Parliament before being inducted into the Lords.

 

Of course this doesn't apply to the SNP who don't take seats in the Lords, only the Unionist parties have done that to date.

It's not Sitting MSPs joining the Lords, it's sitting Lords joining the Scottish Parliament. David Steel became an MSP about 2 years after he became a Lord.

[YoungWillz 19,155]

2 minutes ago, Commtech Sio Bibble said:

It's not Sitting MSPs joining the Lords, it's sitting Lords joining the Scottish Parliament. David Steel became an MSP about 2 years after he became a Lord.

All the more reason to abolish or reform the damn upper chamber, imo.

[prussianblue 798]

Dual (or more) mandates were the norm in France. MPs would commonly also be local mayors, and there was huge overlap between local, regional, national and European representation in different combinations.

[Father Brown 93]

8 hours ago, Commtech Sio Bibble said:

I'm sure it differs, my local MP spends has a couple of high-ranking non-cabinet positions and he spends half his week in Westminster and half his week in the constituency.

Parliamentary business tends to be lighter at the end of the week. My MP tends to be about locally on Fridays as well. 

[TQR 12,321]

These cunts. Labour MP Angela Rayner makes modest profit from house she once bought: front page news. Tory peer Michelle Mone makes £230m from dodgy PPE contract and buys a superyacht? Total silence.

 

[Clorox Bleachman 2,030]

8 hours ago, TQR said:

These cunts. Labour MP Angela Rayner makes modest profit from house she once bought: front page news. Tory peer Michelle Mone makes £230m from dodgy PPE contract and buys a superyacht? Total silence.

Clorox Sr made a £201k profit (shared between 9 siblings) on my grandparents' (immaculate) council house. Hypocrites! They must resign!!

[YoungWillz 19,155]

What the hell was Starmer doing at PMQs?

 

The guy has a chance to set out at least where hope lies for this country, if even on one issue. Instead, we see the unedifying spectacle of each party throwing culture wars at each other. Absolutely ghastly.

 

More shite than floats down England's rivers.

[Brad252 450]

With Galloway expected to win, one of the more 'trivial' goals of his is to get Primark back in Rochdale. Maybe he can buy his next catsuit from it when it opens.

 

[YoungWillz 19,155]

The fools of Rochdale have elected Galloway.

 

I can tell you right now who will represent. Those he has always represented. The Arab states. Oil and gas suppliers.

 

His rambling speech at the count paid lip service to the needs of Rochdale. His true alliance is of course to the deserts of the Middle East. They have but a few months to realise their mistake in electing this self-important fluffed up politician who lines his pockets with oil money.

 

Other than that, I'm equivocal about him. 

[prussianblue 798]

8 hours ago, Brad252 said:

With Galloway expected to win, one of the more 'trivial' goals of his is to get Primark back in Rochdale. Maybe he can buy his next catsuit from it when it opens.

 

 

That's quite the collection of policy stances and dogwhistles. He's a right-wing petite bourgeois reactionary if you take any of it at face value.

 

Love the mental image of him performing citizens arrests on grooming gang members. Maybe he can do it in a catsuit and be a Rochdale-based superhero?

[The Old Crem 3,185]

6 hours ago, YoungWillz said:

The fools of Rochdale have elected Galloway.

 

I can tell you right now who will represent. Those he has always represented. The Arab states. Oil and gas suppliers.

 

His rambling speech at the count paid lip service to the needs of Rochdale. His true alliance is of course to the deserts of the Middle East. They have but a few months to realise their mistake in electing this self-important fluffed up politician who lines his pockets with oil money.

 

Other than that, I'm equivocal about him. 

Not sure he likes the oil and gas suppliers that much. Majority of them are now considerably less anti Israel than he is.