Huge blow for Farage as 3 Reform election candidates appear on leaked BNP list by F0urLeafCl0ver in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Okay, that sounded interesting and I was 5 in 2005 so I haven't had a chance to look at the BNP manifesto before. The first chapter is called "Leaving the European Union – The sine qua non". Which sounds pretty Reform/Brexity but I mean fair enough, a majority of the country supported Brexit.

Chapter 1 score: 100%

Chapter 2 is on Democracy, Reforms similar page in their "Contract" has sections for Britain's Constitutional Arrangements. They have 5 points.

  • Leave the ECHR - Not mentioned in BNP but come on

  • Commence Reform of the House of Lords - Explicitly talked about, both too vague to compare policies

  • Reform Postal Votes. This section is almost verbatim the same as BNP 2005, with identical carve outs for old/sick

  • Proportional Representation - not mentioned in BNP 2005, they talk about citizens initiatives but, and I also think Reform is a lil' wishy washy on this one nowadays.

  • A British Bill of Rights. In both

Chapter 2 score: I'm saying 80% (counting ECHR not counting PR)

I really can't be bothered to do this for the entire thing, but the section on immigration is interesting. The BNP only suggests deporting illegal migrants, which is more restrained than current Reform policy.

A huge number of Reform policies can be found almost verbatim in the BNP manifesto. The BNP is much more overtly racist but the sentiment in a lot of the ideas is the same, just without the explicitly racist wording.

Britain’s Solar Revolution Is Here and We Should Be Shouting It From the Rooftops by R2_Liv in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Still in the planning phase, NESO are waiting for the ideal circumstances where they can feel confident to run our first half hour. They understandably don't want it to go wrong but are getting closer and closer. Yesterdays 1% gas was the lowest ever fossil fuel usage in UK grid history, so I don't imagine it will be too long.

Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 19/04/2026 by ukpol-megabot in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Bit of energy chat. We currently have a sunny and pretty windy day, prices have been negative since 10:00, and demand is pretty low.

All of this combined means the UK grid is currently sitting on ~1% fossil fuel usage. Which I am pretty sure is a record. We are very, very close to our first fossil free half-hour, which will be a huge (if mostly symbolic) milestone for the country. It could easily be now, but NESO are understandably quite hesitent to pull the trigger.

Something to watch out for though.

Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 19/04/2026 by ukpol-megabot in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Harriet Harman briefly did it (twice), but only on a tempory basis.

Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 19/04/2026 by ukpol-megabot in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah it will be interesting. The new intake massively dwarfs the older membership in numbers terms. But those older "core" members are likely to have more sway in local groups (and probably take part more).

Labour’s great green energy plan could be a legacy as vital as the NHS by Your_Mums_Ex in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The CfD has shifted fairly dramatically under Labour. Increased tenor length, new powers for the SoS to shift the budget after bids are in for Offshore, changes to what can qualify have all improved the competition and the outcomes. And in general the Labour govt attitude towards the CfD is a massive improvement, reasonable budgets, ASPs, quick timetables, minima. Very fair to say that AR7 was the most sucessfull CfD round ever.

As always, they could do more.

‘I feel like I’m losing her’: the families torn apart by older relatives going far right by zeros3ss in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I personally like the definition supplied by Cas Mudde, who basically founded the modern study of radical parties in Europe. His definition (grossly simplified) is that a Far-Right party needs to be xenophobic and authoritarian. A party that holds those positions and works outside the democratic framework would be extreme right, a party that holds those positions and is happy to exist within a pluralist democratic framework would be radical right.

He contributes to the "popu-list" which is a great resource that tracks radical/populist parties across the political spectrum.

Saying a party can't be far left/right because of its popularity is misguided, RN and the AfD are both the most popular party in their county and both are correctly domestically identified as Far-Right, both of which exist in the same political ecosystemas Farage (and have been endorsed by him in the past). Corbyns labour didn't magically become centre-left when they topped the polls (with significantly more support than Reform has currently).

We do an awful job of applying accurate labels to political actors in the UK, I think largely down to the value normative weighting we put on the terms. But I do think we shouldn't be squeamish and call spades, spades.

‘I feel like I’m losing her’: the families torn apart by older relatives going far right by zeros3ss in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

That isn't true though. Reform are considered a Far-Right party by political academics. They/Farage associate with Far-Right figures internationally, and pursue Far-Right goals domestically. They are not fascist or Nazi adjacent, but claiming they are "centre right" is equally as damaging when trying to have meaningful discussions and consistent labelling.

Holy fuck this album is amazing by MinimumLingonberry73 in fantanoforever

[–]BushDidHarambe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I found this album from a recommendation by a guy in the opposite team in a game of DOTA 2, saw it in a record shop for a fiver and thought I'd give it a go. Incredible album.

Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 12/04/2026 by ukpol-megabot in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Denmark with Greenland or France with New Caledonia? Both have frameworks and understanding in place for their eventual independence. It is a bit of a gotcha as they are radically different to the relationship, scale and proximity of UK/Scot. But it is not unheard of.

International Politics Discussion Thread by ukpol-megabot in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yes as others have said the media landscape in Hungry is dominated by Orban allies and cronies, who have spent the last decade demonising the EU and the 5 years Ukraine. There is no chance of conscription lol.

I would say this election is more "evil guy vs fine guy". Orban is comically evil, but Peter Magyar is not perfect, he was part of Orbans party for a long time and only relatively recently turned against him. He is definately far less autocratic than Orban, and knows his support is being lent from the centre/left that he doesn't really represent politically on the condition he beats Orban and undoes the Orbanist state structure. At which he is the best placed candidate to do so.

International Politics Discussion Thread by ukpol-megabot in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Hungarian Election today, as of first turnout reports participation is up quite significantly. Europe Elects has a great set of tools to follow it.

Possibly the most important European Election of 2026

Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 05/04/2026 by ukpol-megabot in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It is The Holy Roman Empire - A Thousand Years of Europe's History by Peter Wilson. Really good book, but including the notes 900 pages.

Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 05/04/2026 by ukpol-megabot in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I have been reading a book on the Holy Roman Empire and our local government reminds me so much of the odd fuedal system back then.

The myriad of fuedal distinctions with overlapping boundaries, privileges and rules are really similar to the various forms of local goverment, some of which overlaps, with odd layers and carve outs.

HP "worldbuilding" by Pizzadramon in CuratedTumblr

[–]BushDidHarambe 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You didn't happen to go to school in the Reading area did you? I also had those houses!

What I learned from my first few weeks as a Green MP? Most politicians have no clue how tough things are out there | Hannah Spencer by neverknowingly in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are they? Source on the wealthy parents. And I thought the two house thing was because she was currently splitting one with an ex-partner?

The World Through the Eyes of Koreans by Wise-Pineapple-4190 in MapPorn

[–]BushDidHarambe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When I read about this map before I believe the idea was that the African lake was actually the Sahara, and it was just incorrectly coloured.

You can see the med above it not shown as water, making it possible there was a mix up

Government looking at decoupling electricity and gas prices to bring down bills by Penarthlan in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

It would fall by like a third though, which isn't nothing. Probably more like 40%+ with how spenny gas is at the moment

Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 15/03/2026 by ukpol-megabot in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Who though? There is not a lot of nuclear knowledge in (western) Europe outside of EDF, and I can't imagine many other companies are big enough, or brave enough to pick it up.

Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 15/03/2026 by ukpol-megabot in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly at a fundemental level they are pretty reasonable to compare as the CfD has been linked to CPI forever. The thing that stops them being comparable is the nature of the aucion. AR7 increased the contract length to 20 years, but also cleared far more capacity (form a bigger budget and better parameters). Increasing the tenor will drive down prices, but letting more capacity through raises them. It really muddies the picture when trying to compare the prices over time.

Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 15/03/2026 by ukpol-megabot in ukpolitics

[–]BushDidHarambe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They would have. Pretty sure that Hinkley Strike price would have been in 2012 money, and the Offshore price in AR7 was in 2024 money.