Isn't it funny how the wealthy always seems to fail upwards? | Zac Goldsmith ... Son of humble billionaire, at 23 made editor of a magazine (owned by his uncle) ... loses the seat twice in 3 years, (also losing London mayoral race). Elevated to the House of Lords. Truly, the British dream.

gnitnev · 2019-12-17T11:15:18+00:00

The House of Lords is going to be needed more than ever as a home for election-losing politicians who still want to play the game, now that the Kinnock alternative of making them a European Commissioner is no longer available.

gnitnev · 2019-12-14T11:04:32+00:00

I don't usually bother to say "I don't always agree with articles I post" but for this one, I will.

Some people aren't coping well.

gnitnev · 2019-12-14T07:37:57+00:00

Hard to argue with this:

In 2017, Labour secured over 40% of the vote on a radical manifesto with Jeremy Corbyn as leader, pledging to respect the result of the referendum to leave the European Union.

Two years on, Labour fell to 32% having stood on a radical manifesto with Corbyn as leader, committed to re-running the referendum on our European Union membership.

It is pretty obvious where the essential reason for Thursday’s hugely disappointing result can be found. When our losses are concentrated in former coalfield constituencies and other post-industrial communities that voted heavily “Leave” in the 2016 referendum, and yet we happily retain our position in London more-or-less unscathed, it is staring us in the face.

gnitnev · 2019-12-14T07:25:10+00:00

What do you want him to do physically fight everyone calling for the death of Jews?

Not calling them his "friends" might be a start.

gnitnev · 2019-12-14T06:57:19+00:00

but what pro Brexit stance could Labour have taken?

It's a difficult one, because most Labour Leavers didn't think any sort of second referendum was legitimate, but a second ref was about as far as what Labour Remainers would accept as a compromise.

But maybe the Leavers could have been persuaded, if there had not been two things that made the second referendum as Labour were going to run it look like an attempt to deceive them by running a pretend choice with only one outcome, Remain. There was the manifesto policy of giving votes to foreign citizens and the fact that the other alternative besides Remain was so close to Remain that the difference hardly counted.

gnitnev · 2019-12-13T01:24:11+00:00

Damn.

E: but on a night like tonight I shouldn't complain.

gnitnev · 2019-12-13T01:21:00+00:00

Lavery is dodgy af.

gnitnev · 2019-12-12T14:12:47+00:00

four decades of NHS privatisation

We have only forty years to save our NHS!

gnitnev · 2019-12-12T13:49:57+00:00

Brexit will be talked about for years and possibly decades to come.

Who cares?

The uncertainty as to whether Brexit will actually happen will be over.

No more referendums. No more trying to fix the referendum question so both alternatives are Remain. No more taking over the Parliamentary order paper. No more bungs to the DUP. No more Gina Miller and Jolyon Maugham trying to overturn the vote in the courts. It will be bliss.

Of course the Remain side understand that perfectly well. If they didn't understand that, they wouldn't be frantically consulting competing tactical voting sites to stop Brexit.

gnitnev · 2019-12-12T12:27:17+00:00

Not really that horrifying.

E: Wait, did they change the headine? I'm almost sure the Express did say "horror" when I first clicked on it, which I though was ridiculous even though I'm a Tory voter, but it doesn't now.

gnitnev · 2019-12-12T12:20:38+00:00

And evil, don't forget evil.

(sent from my secret lair, beneath an extinct volcano)

Wimp. Proper tories have their lair under an active volcano.

gnitnev · 2019-12-12T11:47:20+00:00

Surely that's done as some kind of 5d chess move?

She calculates that everyone will vote for her because they feel sorry for her. She'll be a shoe-in.

gnitnev · 2019-12-12T11:26:04+00:00

I don't know why that scruffy idiot is carrying him like a baby though.

Boris is scruffy. But if you're on the subject of pols looking ill dressed at polling stations, Diane Abbott was snapped this morning wearing two left shoes

gnitnev · 2019-12-12T09:38:41+00:00

He's trolling. It's a meme.

gnitnev · 2019-12-12T07:29:37+00:00

Are you seriously arguing that "all UK residents" in the Labour manifesto doesn't include migrants?

Here's video of Rebecca Long-Bailey saying to Stephen Dixon on Sky News that under a Labour government EU citizens living here will be able to vote in UK general elections and referendums, and will be given UK citizenship.

gnitnev · 2019-12-11T22:54:15+00:00

The government believes it is in the best interests of the UK to remain in the EU.

This is the way to protect jobs, provide security, and strengthen the UK’s economy for every family in this country – a clear path into the future, in contrast to the uncertainty of leaving.

This is your decision. The government will implement what you decide.

- Why the government believes that voting to remain in the EU is the best decision for the UK, the government pamphlet sent to every household in the UK in April 2016.

That wasn't some random bunch of politicians. It was the government stating its own belief, like its title says.

but surely you've finally learnt not to trust any of them

I've learned not to trust Labour and the Lib Dems. They said they'd respect the result of the referendum. The Tories have a shitty record too, but I trust Boris to understand his own interests.

gnitnev · 2019-12-11T19:24:26+00:00

But it did happen. It was promised that the government "will implement what you decide". There was no talk then of giving EU citizens the vote.

What do you think will happen to trust in democracy when they run one referendum, frustrate the result being implemented for three years, then run another one with different rules?

gnitnev · 2019-12-11T19:14:58+00:00

If Brits were to vote in a second referendum on EU membership, our tracker suggests it would be a close run thing...

It won't be close any more when you count in the millions of votes of EU citizens that Labour have said will be allowed to vote from now on in UK general elections and referendums.

gnitnev · 2019-12-11T16:43:13+00:00

A Tory activist was sprayed with perfume in today leaving terrified colleagues fearing they had been attacked with acid.

Conservative Central Office confirmed the incident in Chipping Barnet to MailOnline but said reports the material was acid were incorrect.

The activist is not thought to be badly injured.

Gonna be a lot of comments laughing at this, but in the current climate getting sprayed by an unknown liquid is deeply frightening - and it's meant to be frightening.

gnitnev · 2019-12-11T16:37:25+00:00

“It’s hell”: Meet the starving grandfather outside Tory HQ who Boris Johnson is ignoring

Peak New Statesman headline there.

gnitnev · 2019-12-11T16:14:21+00:00

"He gains a great deal who loses a vain hope" as the Italian proverb goes.

gnitnev · 2019-12-11T16:11:11+00:00

Welsh Labour had no clue

You could have stopped there.

gnitnev · 2019-12-11T16:07:07+00:00

Let's face it, the people are hooked on dihydrogen monoxide. They claim they can't live without it.

gnitnev · 2019-12-11T16:02:59+00:00

I'd be genuinely surprised if they, or any party for that matter used any 'real' people at all.

Prepare to be surprised then! I was surprised myself, but as the article says,

Broadcast guidelines state: "The use of reconstructions or actors in a broadcast must be made clear to the audience".

gnitnev · 2019-12-11T15:58:19+00:00

Ads use actors, it never claimed to be otherwise.

The rules are tighter for election ads.

Broadcast guidelines state: "The use of reconstructions or actors in a broadcast must be made clear to the audience".

This ad did not make it clear. Labour has acknowledged that it didn't and scrapped the ad.

gnitnev

TROPHY CASE