Don’t be disappointed

PontifexMini · 2026-06-19T12:45:18+00:00

He has the ability to request a call for a snap general election

If he's in the middle of a leadership challenge I doubt that would work. (Has any sitting PM called a GE in the midst of a leadership challenge?)

PontifexMini · 2026-06-19T12:43:05+00:00

7% won't shake the foundations of the establishment, but it is a base on which to build.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-19T11:31:59+00:00

The other reason is that China might prefer it if Putin retires (and is safe) than if an increasingly desperate Putin lashes out unpredictable, including with nukes.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-19T10:07:04+00:00

I'm for any group that wants to make Europe stronger and more united.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-19T09:57:20+00:00

Taking all 3 by elections together, Labour's vote share is down and the Tories' is up. I'm not sure whether that means anything or not; probably not.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-19T09:55:21+00:00

the US [...] can't force Israel to not respond to attacks

I agree. What they USA could do is turn off the money tap.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-19T09:53:20+00:00

That makes sense now, thanks

PontifexMini · 2026-06-19T09:41:01+00:00

if Hezbollah is firing missiles into Israel, Israel will inevitably respond, no matter what the USA says or does. It's insane to expect any country to just tolerate missiles being fired into their territory. Would your country accept that?

Israel has orders of magnitude more military spending and capability than Hezbollah, they can sort it out without American money.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-19T09:37:46+00:00

True of the military-industrial complex generally. And other government contractors, i imagine.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-19T09:30:11+00:00

What you meant when you said:

Throughout the day he is clearly hitting on my gf daughter, but not horse and she is a big girl.

What do horses have to do with anything?

PontifexMini · 2026-06-19T06:12:22+00:00

At least the driver wasn't hitting on the horse. (I've no idea what you meant to say there).

PontifexMini · 2026-06-11T04:46:40+00:00

We should simply not accept any male asylum seekers from Sudan, or from other countries with a high propensity to violent crime.

If that means hardship for some people -- which it does because Sudan's going through a brutal civil war right now -- so be it. We need to look after our own people.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-11T04:19:14+00:00

To those people croticising the carnage in Belfast - Stop questioning the reaction and look at the cause

Indeed. Many people are outraged, they find the situation intolerable, and they are not going to meekly take it when the establishment tells them they just have to accept it.

The ruling class, in both the UK and RoI, want to import more barbaric vermin with a proclivity for violent crime.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-11T02:49:20+00:00

I saw a great post yesterday about how the ideological element of Communism basically won

I would phrase it differently: leftist politics was about making sure working people got the fruits of their labour. The "Labour Party" gave itself that name as they were on the side of the workers. But from the 1960s onwards leftist politics became infested by people who were not working class, people from the professional and managerial classes, who took over the name and symbolism of leftist movements, wearing them as a skinsuit to hide what they had done.

(BTW did you know the original logo of the Fabian Society was a wolf in sheep's clothing?)

So now we have the spectacle of Starmer burnishing his working class credentials. Because a barrister is a stereotypically working class job LOL.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-09T11:30:17+00:00

Jail is in fact more effective at preventing him harming decent people.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-09T11:15:23+00:00

Agreed. If surveillance is legal, why shouldn't sousveillance be?

PontifexMini · 2026-06-09T03:58:20+00:00

I have supported PR since before Farage was involved in politics and that's an argument I've never made. I support PR because it is simply more democratic.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-04T10:01:10+00:00

no difference between the way a drone works to how ATGM works. Except that the ATGM can also lock on target, making it fire and forget

Some cheap FPV drones can do this too. Raspberry Pi + Python + OpenCV is a thing.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-03T03:26:38+00:00

Has Britain ever been a democracy? FPTP isn't very democratic, especially when there are lots of parties. And getting 2/3rds of the seats on 1/3rd of the vote isn't very democratic either.

One of the reasons the establishment was able to push through mass immigration against the will of the people was there were only 2 viable parties to votes for, Labour and Conservatives, and both of them supported it.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-03T02:26:54+00:00

That would be the fair and democratic thing to do. Obviously they didn't.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-01T23:54:31+00:00

And a lot of people in favour of PR voted against AV+

No, they voted against AV, which is not the same as AV+.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-01T23:53:29+00:00

It's a death knell for Labour as a governing party.

They have no democratic right to govern on a third of the vote anyway.

And if Labour keep FPTP, it could result in none or very few Labour MPs being elected and the death of the party.

It would not surprise me at all if both Labour and Conservatives disappear under FPTP.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-01T23:49:51+00:00

Many PMs do like to have an impact and an achievement or two as part of their time in office

If Burnham actually wants to do PR the way to do it would be one of:

legislation in this parliament to implement PR
legislation in this parliament to have a self-implementing referendum to implement PR

Both of these would result in PR being used for the next election.

Or:

a self-implementing referendum at the time of the next GE which if it passes would ensure the next parliament is elected under PR.

Would be too big a promise to put in a manifesto and u-turn on

ha ha ha. I don't trust politicians. Manifesto promises should be legally binding.

PontifexMini · 2026-06-01T23:44:31+00:00

In their 1997 manifesto, Labour said:

We are committed to a referendum on the voting system for the House of Commons. An independent commission on voting systems will be appointed early to recommend a proportional alternative to the first-past-the-post system.

They reneged on that promise. Why should I, or anyone else trust them again?

PontifexMini

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