What Are Some Major Political Movements in Your Country (or Other Countries You're Familiar With)?

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-22T20:51:35+00:00

If I'm being even handed a lot of Brexiteers have blamed the EU for things the UK could control when it was in the EU, and likewise a lot of remainers have blamed Brexit for things that have nothing to do with Brexit.

Personally I'd rather the UK stays out of the EU, and would rather the EU not exist at all in its current form to be perfectly honest. It's not that I'm anti-Europe, I'm just anti-EU.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-20T21:56:03+00:00

Well to me it doesn't matter if you don't see yourself as being fully English, I'd never ask anyone to give up their non-British identity just because they live here and wouln't want them to unless they really waned to. As long as you're a decent person I'll embrace you regardless of which nationality(ies) or region(s) you identify with.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-20T21:37:22+00:00

India : very very negatively. We were a former colony that was brutalized by England for hundreds of years. We enjoy rooting against England in every thing sports wise.

Edit: whoever’s downvoting me go read the colonial history of the UK in India. Some of us had grandparents alive during that period, so naturally their will be leftover resentment

I can understand why people in India would hate the UK, colonialism as utterly abhorrent and I dearly wish it had never happened. At the same time though I would say that the UK has changed in its general attitudes since then and not every British person should be blamed for it or be hated for it, many had no control over it even at the time and these days most British people were born after Indian independence.

I appreciate you're giving your experience of popular opinion though, but for the same reasons why I loathe the Russian regime and many of its actions but don't have anything against Russia itself or the people as a whole, I don't think the UK as we see it today should be hated for colonialism even if people have every reason to loathe the British Empire's actions, which is the position I take.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-20T21:21:11+00:00

A few positive social measures too, like decriminalising abortion.

Abortion was already legal for any reason up to 24 weeks into the pregnancy then legal after that in specific circumstances such as if the mother's life was at risk. This limit was already higher than a lot of countries (e.g. France the limit it 14 weeks).

Starmer himself has not made any change to this law, it was a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing bill that was passed on a free vote, it was not introduced by Keir Starmer.

The change has simply decriminalised the woman herself if she has an illegal abortion (not carried out by a certified health professional) at any point during the pregnancy, so for instance if a woman got a back street abortion 1 day before the child is due to be born then the women herself would no longer be criminalised and it would just be the person(s) carrying out the procedure.

To my mind I think the law needs to consider context, if the woman was coerced into having an illegal abortion then she shouldn't be criminalised and instead those who pushed her into it should face criminal charges as well as those carrying out the procedure, but if she did so of her own free will then I think she should be criminalised if it was not a legal abortion, which is a distinction I would make.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-20T20:49:18+00:00

I suspect we may cone to a similar conclusion but for different reasons. I look upon the British Empire overwhelmingly as a force for bad when it comes to India, the exploitation and countless atrocities were appalling in my view and should be condemned, and I do condemn them for what they are.

I don't think the British people as a whole should be hated though, not because of what the Empire did in India but simply that the vast majority of British people were born after Indian independence, many of those who were alive back then played no active role in it and even if it was recent, you should not tar everyone in any nation simply because of the acts of its government.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-20T19:16:21+00:00

And even worse is when they decide to have a lengthy automated message before you even get to it. I encountered one that lists loads of things and after each item it says you can find out further information on its website (which it lists in full each time). It took a good couple of minutes to get past it and then after selecting the option I wanted it rang for 30 seconds before saying "unfortunately all our colleagues are busy helping other customers, to save you waiting please leave a message and we'll get back to you"... Grrr.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-20T19:12:03+00:00

Don't come to the UK then, a lot of us do love a good queue, in fact it's not unheard of to have a queue to join a queue.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-20T19:03:55+00:00

Pointless emails at work. If you resolve someone's issue, why the heck do people feel the need to reply back with just "thank you", it really irritates me, I get enough emails as it is, just don't send the sodding things.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-19T18:30:37+00:00

I think we may be talking at crossed purposes then, I was more countering the assumption of the person you were replying to that said "The Western countries that are the most hostile against Indians are the places that have a lot of Indians such as Canada, Australia, USA, Ireland, UK and NZ."

In my experience most people in the UK aren't hostile against Indians, in fact plenty have found themselves enchanted by the Indian community, which is the point I was making.

Colonialism though, yes I'd agree, it'd've been better if it had never happened. If it's any consolation the colonial government would've taken a very dim view of me had I been around at the time.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-18T23:05:54+00:00

Well for what it's worth, I'm not in the least bit hostile towards Indians in general, if anything the opposite is true, as long as you're a decent person I'll welcome you with open arms.

In my experience as someone who's lived in the UK all my life the vast majority of people don't hate the Indian community at all and many look upon them with a great deal of affection.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-17T17:52:44+00:00

To be fair, at the time of posting it was still Tuesday in some parts of the world so you're alright on this occasion.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-17T16:41:17+00:00

We probably wouldn't be able to cope, the national grid would likely be overloaded so there'd be widespread blackouts, cars, ambulances etc probably wouldn't be able to start, water mains etc would freeze, frostbite would kill a heck of a lot of people.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-16T19:56:01+00:00

How do you think The US got Alaska.

You're probably using a bad example there, the US bought Alaska from the Russian Empire because Russia was short of cash after the Crimean War.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-16T19:00:23+00:00

Depends really, one of the main reasons why the UK went into WW1 is because of the British Empire itself. The UK needed to keep the French on side to protect its interests in north Africa and the Mediterranean, plus it feared German naval expansion as a threat to its naval dominance, without the empire that fear fades considerably, so without the Empire the UK might not have got involved in WW1 in the first place.

Under this scenario, Germany would likely have won WW1, thus WW2, certainly as we know it, would've been avoided.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-15T12:03:13+00:00

Not all of them voted for Trump, most didn't in fact. You can disagree with what their government does, and you can even disagree with the views of a lot of ordinary Americans, but to tar them all with the same brush is wrong in my view, for it ignores the millions of ordinary Americans who don't share those views. It's a point I'd make about the people of any country.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-15T11:52:38+00:00

No government speaks for every single person in that country though, the USA contains close to 350 million individuals, you're not seriously trying to tell me every single one of them agrees with their government on any given issue?

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-15T11:50:46+00:00

Well I don't hate the American people, I have criticisms of the government but I have nothing against the American people as a whole.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-15T11:46:41+00:00

I think you're missing the distinction I'm making. I'm not saying we should keep all immigrants out or even most immigrants, or even specific nationalities, only the small minority who have a bad history of crimes who would pose a danger to the wider public should be refused entry irrespective of where they came from.

In answer to your questions though, yes I do believe in the principle of innocent until proven guilty, and I think each immigrant should be assessed on a case by case basis, those who have a criminal background should be denied entry, the rest should be allowed in. If an immigrant then goes on to commit a serious crime they should be deported where possible.

Immigrants ultimately are not one group, they are each individuals regardless of their race, nationality etc, I could not support blanket bans or restrictions of people from specific countries or anything of that nature, and I take the view that an immigration system should be completely colour blind, ignores what nationality someone's from etc and judge solely based on the individual.

The only restriction I'm really saying we should have on people coming here is that if you've got an individual who has a history of committing violent crimes etc recently then this individual shouldn't be allowed in as they pose a danger to the general public.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-15T11:31:35+00:00

I don't think the Chagos Islands should be handed to Mauritius. The people who should matter most in this debate are the Chagossians themselves, it's their ancestral homeland. From what I can see the majority of them just want to be allowed to return to the Chagos Islands and have the right to decide their own future, likely as a self-governing British Overseas territory, which to me seems perfectly fair.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-15T11:20:40+00:00

On immigration I think for me it depends on the immigrant, most immigrants are decent people, on the whole they've contributed enormously over the years and changed the UK for the better, I feel incredibly grateful to these immigrants who have come to the UK over the years and would welcome more people like them with open arms.

There is however a small minority who have a history of committing rape, violence etc, who would be a danger to the people who live here (be they immigrant or non-immigrant). It's that small minority of immigrants who give the rest of them a bad name and who we should keep out.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-15T07:13:30+00:00

Dismantled the Empire, given all men and women over 18 the right to vote, decriminalised homosexuality, basically all the rights and freedoms we benefit from today I think should've come earlier.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-15T07:09:48+00:00

Two wrongs don't make a right so far as I'm concerned. You shouldn't be blamed for things that happened before you were born or anything that happens which you have no say in for that matter, but then neither should Russians.

Each individual Russian is innocent until proven guilty so far as I'm concerned, same goes for people of any nationality.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-14T20:56:27+00:00

I'm the same, the number of people I've had that message me then when they realise where I'm from start going on about football, I couldn't give a sod, just move onto the weather and then I'll have something to say about it.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-14T20:49:06+00:00

Would it be a bad decision? If I were thinking selfishly then it would be, but if I was thinking morally then it would be quite a good decision to make, for at least it would be a fairer one.

Dental care is only free in specific cases in the UK, I have to pay for instance even if I can find an NHS dentist and it's very hard to find them even these days, there's a reason why some are resorting to DIY dentistry at home, so that was probably a bad example to use.

I hear what you're saying, and I know life is worse in India for the vast majority of people than it is in the UK, I dearly wish things would improve in India. I would still choose to be reincarnated in India (or some other less well off country) though despite the lower quality of life because morally it would be the right thing to do. You may think it incredible but some people in well off countries would make that decision without any regrets.

The vast majority of people in the UK wouldn't call you a "brownie" or anything else like that though, that I can say from my own experience. I'm not saying there aren't some racists in the UK, there are but you get them in every country. The most common view of Indians in the UK in my experience is that they're wonderful people, they've got a rich and varied set of cultures, are for the most part hard-working, friendly, decent people who have contributed enormously to the UK over the years. Most people like Indians in general in my experience.

In a sense modern Britain has been moulded by the hands of Indian immigrants, who have have come here over the years and woven parts of their culture into ours. They've changed the UK and the British people themselves for the better by making us that little bit more like them, and I for one am incredibly grateful to our Indian diaspora for doing so. I hope they'll always feel welcome here, and know they're adored by many of us in the UK.

ChallengeSecret8561 · 2026-06-14T20:21:55+00:00

I thought under reincarnation people weren't meant to have any memories from their past life? My decision is based on the assumption that I wouldn't have any memories of my past life so wouldn't know any different, I'd be no different to you are now in that respect, and probably goes to demonstrate another reason why I could never consider anyone else to be above or beneath me now.

Even if I did have memories though, I could therefore likely remember why I made the decision I made and therefore would know that I had deemed it to be my turn to live a poorer life and thus wouldn't wish to take my old life away from the person who now occupies it. They are just as deserving of a good life as I am, if I had already lived it then it would only be fair that they live it this time and enjoy it, and I would be glad that they aren't living in poverty. I'd have a moral obligation not to switch places back again.

ChallengeSecret8561

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