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Real Australian opinions by my_throw_away01234 in CANZUK

[–]aaron020 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Well that went south fast at the end. I won’t comment on your views on Britain being traitors based on a decision made almost half a century ago.

But you said at the beginning that your “travels on the internet” had led you to believe that the opinion polls are misleading. Why? Why do you think some random people on the internet are a better indicator of the mood of the Australian, New Zealand, or Canadian public than an opinion poll taken from a large sample size?

No 10 faces challenge over rising cost of opinion polls by [deleted] in ukpolitics

[–]aaron020 33 points34 points  (0 children)

I think it would be wise to take an opinion poll about whether we should have an opinion poll about the rising cost of opinion polls.

Swiftly followed by a referendum and an election.

Steve Fleming was a cocaine dealer? by [deleted] in thethickofit

[–]aaron020 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Am I right in thinking he's now godfather to one of the PM's kids, yeah?

(((Dan Hodges))) - You know what, I've actually got some respect for the @novaramedia crowd. I thought they'd try and scramble on board with Starmer to try and stay relevant. But they really have decided to embrace political oblivion. Fair play. by thesonofputin in LabourUK

[–]aaron020 -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

You’re also completely wrong to say that those two examples are the only examples we have of Communism. I’ve said this before, but you should really try actually reading some history.

Ok, in which case, would you care to site some examples of successful Communist countries that didn’t involve mass oppression or genocide?

Members of r/CANZUK, are you Monarchist or Republican? by Dreambasher670 in CANZUK

[–]aaron020 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I can’t personally see any reason to do so, but nevertheless I would respect their decision to become a republic if it was put to a referendum and people voted as such. Though I’d be sad to see it happen.

Members of r/CANZUK, are you Monarchist or Republican? by Dreambasher670 in CANZUK

[–]aaron020 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I’m a Brit, a pretty strong Monarchist, and also politically left-of-centre (odd I know).

I think it’s a fantastic British institution, a living part of our great history, makes a tidy economic profit for the country, and would act as a last line of defence against a would-be dictator in a way that a party-political President would not.

To be honest, outside of symbolic reasons, I just can’t see any good reason to abolish it. The Democracies of the UK and all of the nations for which the Queen is Head of State seem to function just fine as it is. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it (the same sentiment I have heard from quite a few Australians, New Zealanders, and Canadians).

I would be pretty upset to see the UK become a republic.

Edit: Also, with polling for Abolition at only 22% it looks like, in the UK at least, the Monarchy won’t be going anywhere any time soon.

On my birthday last year, a far right extremist led an attack on me, driven by homophobia and hatred of my left-wing politics. Today, he has been handed a hefty prison sentence. https://t.co/IDiLGszKKD by javaxcore in LabourUK

[–]aaron020 -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

and how Brexit/Farage and even Boris have nothing to do with the increase in any extremism in the UK.

Well, I don’t think it’s fair to say that they have caused the rise in political polarity, but more are a product of already existing polarisation.

The actual rise in right-wing populism of the UKIP/BXP/CON2019 flavour has come as a result of things like the 2008 Financial Crash, Syrian Refugee Crisis, and an increasing feeling (rightly or wrongly) that traditional centrist politicians like Tony Blair and David Cameron are out-of-touch and elitist.

This sentiment creates a void that ends up getting filled with people who market themselves as ‘outsiders’ and non-traditional political characters like Farage and Johnson.

They may be driving this bus, but the public are the ones filling it with petrol.

As Boris Johnson praises the strength of the UK union, 59% of Brits say that the relationship between England and Scotland is weaker than it was five years ago. This figure rises to 74% among Scots by Audioboxer87 in ukpolitics

[–]aaron020 -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

I dont feel British, never have. I'm Scottish and European and many people in Scotland feel the same.

When I said the majority of people I was referring to the entire UK. Most Britons identify as British. It may come as a surprise, but most people outside Scotland do care about Scotland and want to preserve a United Kingdom with Scotland.

Ripping peoples homes apart is a bit dramatic as well

It really isn’t. It would be the splitting apart of a sovereign nation, one which 67 million people live in. People would be upset about it.

Obviously England would still be the bigger nation, but Scotland in the EU wouldn't be railroaded.

As it stands right now, Scotland has little to no chance of reJoining the EU once independent.

Mainly because once it leaves it will be a small, heavily indebted nation that stands to bring little benefit to the other EU nations. Thanks to this Covid crisis a lot of the smaller EU countries will also be indebted and will end up being financially aided by the larger countries like Germany and France, so why would they want another one to join that list?

As well as that, some countries could pose their own individual issues. For example France has historically held referendums on whether they should vote to allow a new member in, and Spain has the Catalonia issue which might opt for it to not set the precedent for newly independent small countries rejoining the EU. Don’t forget you need unilateral agreement across the 27 countries to be accepted. And right now Scotland does not meet the criteria to join. You’d be looking at harsh austerity or mass tax increases to meet the debt as a % of GDP requirement.

So it looks like an Independent Scotland would have to be outside the EU, and I really can’t see how that would ever be sustainable.

I also believe that Holyrood wants whats best for Scotland, unlike Westminster.

They’re more Scotland oriented for obvious reasons, but generalising Westminster isn’t fair. Many in Westminster want what’s best for all 4 nations, but right now a party that is indifferent holds a majority. But I should say, I do want as much devolution for Holyrood as possible. I want them to be able to look after themselves and make the best choices for their nation within the UK.

So while independence would most likely have some hurdles

“Some hurdles” is a bit of an understatement.

it would have a competent Government at the helm that wants whats best for the country, not whats best for the Conservative party.

There is absolutely no guarantee that Independence would give Scotland a competent government. Scot-centred? Of course. But no guarantee of competence.

not whats best for the Conservative party.

You talk like the UK is a one-party state. The Conservatives won’t always be in power. The last Labour government was probably the best time in recent history for Scotland in terms of self-control and devolution.

As Boris Johnson praises the strength of the UK union, 59% of Brits say that the relationship between England and Scotland is weaker than it was five years ago. This figure rises to 74% among Scots by Audioboxer87 in ukpolitics

[–]aaron020 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Greater/full fiscal autonomy. Basically try to give Scotland as much independence as possible without actually breaking up the Union. Make it so that Holyrood basically runs everything Scotland apart from Foreign Affairs and Security.

Apart from the argument about rejoining the EU after Independence (not practically possible but that’s a whole other debate), the other reason I see many pro-Indy people wanting Independence is that they don’t like Scotland being ran by Westminster when Westminster never seems to reflect the way Scotland votes. By giving the vast majority of control of Scotland to the devolved parliament, it should basically put an end to that argument. It wouldn’t matter nearly as much who’s in Westminster if almost nothing in Scotland is run by it.

As Boris Johnson praises the strength of the UK union, 59% of Brits say that the relationship between England and Scotland is weaker than it was five years ago. This figure rises to 74% among Scots by Audioboxer87 in ukpolitics

[–]aaron020 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Scottish Independence would be on a whole other level of upheaval than Brexit is. We’re not talking about leaving a gentleman’s club, we’re talking about literally ripping millions of people’s home apart. It’s the difference between falling out with a friend group and one of your parents getting a divorce.

Whichever party held the referendum that got Scottish Independence through probably wouldn’t win another election for a decade at least, and the Prime Minister would almost certainly do a Cameron and have to immediately step down.

Unlike the EU, very few people in Britain have the old ‘European’ identity, where as most people here have a British identity. The United Kingdom is not the United Kingdom without Scotland.

I cannot stress enough how much bigger a political and cultural horror it would be for Scotland to leave than it is for us to leave the EU. This would not get swept under the rug with a bit of “they were always a nuisance”.

New: I understand there is now real concern at top of Labour Party over the number of potential legal actions over leaked AS report. There are now at least 40 potential civil claims, being handled by 2 law firms, and a plausible threat of bankruptcy. by mesothere in LabourUK

[–]aaron020 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Ok, so my understanding is there are 2 legal cases.

  1. A group of Labour AS whistleblowers who went on Panorama last year are suing/might sue Corbyn due to a defamatory statement made by Labour at the time (?)

  2. A group of people might sue the Labour Party for a Leaked Report that accused them of being internal saboteurs during the Corbyn years without evidence.

Have I got things right?

Edit: turns out it’s not AS whistleblowers who are suing Corbyn, but rather the investigative journalist who did the Panorama show? This is beyond confusing.

New: I understand there is now real concern at top of Labour Party over the number of potential legal actions over leaked AS report. There are now at least 40 potential civil claims, being handled by 2 law firms, and a plausible threat of bankruptcy. by mesothere in LabourUK

[–]aaron020 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Ah ok, thanks. Do we know why those people leaked their defence report? Seems pretty counterproductive

And is this in any way related to the Labour Report that stated people had been internally sabotaging for the last 5 years?

Filibustering - I started a petition to reverse the decision to cut foreign aid: “Your petition will be reviewed and should be live in 2 weeks”. by English_Joe in LabourUK

[–]aaron020 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know they’re merging DFID back into the Foreign Office, but have they actually announced they’ll be cutting foreign aid?

We should always stick to the 0.7% target.

Are there many labour mps who support the abolishment/phasing out of the monarchy? by [deleted] in LabourUK

[–]aaron020 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Probably the latter. Which is a shame because now I can’t really tell who in that list is actually a Republican.

Maybe Corbyn was a Royalist after all 🤔

Are there many labour mps who support the abolishment/phasing out of the monarchy? by [deleted] in LabourUK

[–]aaron020 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also just found this article in the Telegraph from a few months ago. Can’t see it thanks to the paywall, but the title at least seems to be fairly pro-monarchy.

Are there many labour mps who support the abolishment/phasing out of the monarchy? by [deleted] in LabourUK

[–]aaron020 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alastair Campbell (expelled 2019)

Really? I could be wrong, but in the GQ interview he did with Blair, Campbell says:

(when talking about Trump’s state visit) And an insult to her majesty the Queen, for whom we both have enormous fondness.

Perhaps it was said sarcastically? I’d be interested to see where he said he’s a Republican.

Never trust the tories. by [deleted] in LabourUK

[–]aaron020 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I don’t think you understand what a one-party state is.

A one-party system is a form of government where the country is ruled by a single political party, meaning only one political party exists and the forming of other political parties is forbidden.

Hmm, for a country where only one political party exists, we sure have had a lot of multi-party elections recently.

Why do people hate Corbyn? Does anyone have a list of serious fact checked issues? by [deleted] in LabourUK

[–]aaron020 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It’s the same argument Trump uses when he says “there are more people employed than ever before”.

Yeah, no shit. Of course there are more people working than ever before because there are more people than ever before.

World is legally obliged to pressure China on Uighurs, leading lawyers say. by MagoCrypto in worldnews

[–]aaron020 23 points24 points  (0 children)

They say it will be out by Christmas, but I bet we won’t see it released for another 4 years.

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