General News/Current Affairs Thread

britguy said:
I dont have much faith in cameron but I have more so than in miliband. Id rather Cameron be pm again than let miliband in. I always liked David Milliband and wanted him to be the labour leader, then Ed slipped in with his slimey ways and with the unions backing and stabbed his brother in the back. My dislike of miliband is more personal than political.
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Interesting, I'm completely the other way around. Everyone presumed David was going to be leader and essentially become Blair 2.0, and I hated Blair for what his government did to civil liberties, the money (not to mention lives) they wasted propping up America's wars and failing miserably to address inequality. The fact that the likes of Blair and Mandelson seem to have been trying to sabotage Ed just make me like him more. I didn't expect him to become leader at all, it gave me a slight glimmer of hope for the future of the party that they wouldn't just carry on being watered down Tories.

If I put myself in his position, would I have fought my own sibling if I thought I stood a chance to become leader of the party and potentially the country and do things my way instead of theirs? The answer is yes, definitely. Those circumstances would almost make me more likely to want to do it.

@neptune - While our political beliefs seem to align to some extent, I think it's a little unfair to presume to know why others think or believe the things they do. While I would certainly be interested to know what policies would-be Conservative and UKIP voters find appealing and why, I don't think it's right to tar them with one brush and presume they're all alike.
 
Lawrence said:
I can't say I'm particularly fond of Miliband either though, he said last night that he wouldn't scrap trident which I thought was a little disrespectful, since it feels like he's making a decision that effects Scotland without actually consulting the people. Anyone who is actually paying attention to Scottish affairs at the moment would know that the sentiment towards Trident is pretty sour. At this point, Labour seems like a lost cause anyway but it definitely didn't do anything to ease the issue by promising the exact opposite of the SNP. Like, way to fuel the fire.
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English voters just seem to love their tens of billions of pounds of tax money being spent on nuclear submarines which have no use beyond potential genocide (because they're not a deterrent - I don't remember Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, any of the Scandinavian, Balkan or former Eastern Bloc counties being nuked recently). Don't ask me why, but they do. Just another reason I'd rather the Scots took these decisions for us.
 
ayase said:
English voters just seem to love their tens of billions of pounds of tax money being spent on nuclear submarines which have no use beyond potential genocide (because they're not a deterrent - I don't remember Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, any of the Scandinavian, Balkan or former Eastern Bloc counties being nuked recently). Don't ask me why, but they do. Just another reason I'd rather the Scots took these decisions for us.
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Indeed, Trident should be decommissioned. It is a waste of money and resources which could be put towards public services. If it is too dangerous for London to keep then it is too dangerous, full stop.


ayase said:
@neptune - While our political beliefs seem to align to some extent, I think it's a little unfair to presume to know why others think or believe the things they do. While I would certainly be interested to know what policies would-be Conservative and UKIP voters find appealing and why, I don't think it's right to tar them with one brush and presume they're all alike.
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Okay, fair enough. I just like to understand what makes people vote for these parties. It's perfectly valid. I was only pointing out the usual reasons people vote for Tories.


Just don't get why people would vote for such an out of touch party that oppressors the weak, poor and vulnerable.

Lawrence said:
Conservatives make it out to be, in fact, if anything, the party's negative depiction of the unemployed has only breed shame rather than instilling a sense of work ethic. The unemployed are made to feel inferior for something out with their control, they can't help the lack of work but when so many targets are painted on their back by a Government that fails to champion their plight, some people do begin to question their self worth. I've seen it happen, people who slowly sink into depression because they're treated as 'scroungers' but fail time and time again to find work and eventually come to the inevitable "realisation" that nobody will hire them because they are worthless. Is that the kind of government you want? One that belittles the people and leaves them destitute while ensuring that the city's demands are met?
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Couldn't agree more. All they care about is £££££ which is going into eye-watering bonus for the bankers. Multi-national companies are still not being taxed properly. If they were, the deficit would surely fall. The companies can pay up or leave. Others will take their place.
 
neptune2venus said:
If everyone voted for the 'fringe' parties, then they might actually get in power. However, people are blinded by Lab/Con that they have to 'tactically' vote. Ah well.
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To be fair, the current voting system (First past the post) isn't in favour of anyone who isn't Lab/Con. There was a chance to change the system, but various issues (Alternative Vote instead of Single Transferable Vote, "Yes" campaign was a shambles, vote was after a Royal Wedding and May Day weekend, Lib Dems were the faces of the "Yes" campaign) stopped that from happening.


I still can't believe the Tories won that argument when the only other party that would support them in that argument was the BNP
 
Apparently my constituency is an ultra marginal, and have been informed that voting for green could edge a tory victory here, so I've kind of been convinced to not vote with my heart and instead vote for labour. Also Russell Brand said to vote Labour, and I would blindly follow that man into the pits of hell.

I just hope I'm registered. I remember them making a fuss about the new registering system a while ago. But I haven't done anything. How do you know if you're on the register? I have that voting card thingy, does that mean I'm registered?
 
I'm not a fan of Brand but I think he played that interview with Ed really well - and it was good to see him presenting in a relatively 'straight' style, compared to how surreal he can get at times. It's definitely a major coup for Labour to have his endorsement, anyway.
 
Apart from a leaflet from the new Tory candidate introducing himself (current MP retiring), I've had pretty much sod-all else in the letterbox from other parties. Seems this being a super-safe seat the other parties can't be bothered trying to get people to vote for them.
 
They finally sent us a bunch of leaflets in the last few days. Unfortunately this is 2015 and I voted already using the information available on the Internet, so no matter how much they spent on glossy paper the words of my local candidates fell on deaf ears. You'd think they'd at least time the leaflets to coincide with postal ballot cards going out.

It's strange how few candidates have websites, or even Twitter/Tumblr/anything accounts run by their kids to appeal to people who like their data digital.

R
 
I, for one, have not been the recipient of so many personally addressed letters since the days when I paid utility bills directly.
 
We've had loads of leaflets and canvassers including our sitting MP. I think they're concerned / excited (delete according to party) about the possibility of a bit of the red North East going blue, given the margin of victory last time. But I don't think there's really much chance of that - UKIP are here to split the right and stop that from happening, ha. Thanks Nigel.

If you got a polling card (I presume you mean in the last couple of months vash, rather than last time there was an election) then you're registered. Loved the online reaction to the Russell Brand situation from the wonderful British public. Apparently it's bad to tell people voting doesn't matter, but changing your mind after being persuaded you might have been wrong is even worse.

"Bloody Russell Brand, voting is important! Oh, he's changed his mind now has he? Bloody flip-flopper, can't stick to what he believes!"

I think Homer Simpson said it best when describing the voting public.

Rui said:
It's strange how few candidates have websites, or even Twitter/Tumblr
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Jesus, Rui, you must really want politicians to suffer. Reading political posts on tumblr is almost enough give me an aneurysm - My politics might lean to the left but if there's anything that winds me up more than the hard right, it's the soft left. Someone check Lenin's mausoleum to see if the combined whiny insignificant first-world bollocks of tumblr has caused him to start rotating yet.
 
Lawrence said:
On the other hand, the Conservatives could try to undermine said potential government before it has time to establish a track record with the help of the press and force another election. The right wing press have already began sowing the seeds of doubt in preparation for such an eventually. Owen Jones puts it better than I could though, so it's probably worth checking the link below. He does a rather nice job of outlining the potential risks facing a left leaning Government after the 7th.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/20 ... itish-coup
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I'm not convinced the Tories would even go to the trouble when a minority Labour government or Lab/SNP pact would be an easy target in five years time, and would they really want to stick by a leader who can't (and hasn't been able) to deliver them a majority? There are plenty of knives at the ready for Cameron already, I think they'll be drawn regardless of the result (unless there's a terrorist attack tomorrow and he somehow manages a majority against all odds).

I think they'd just boot Cameron, and have Boris bash Miliband relentlessly for five years. On the bright side at least we'd be in for some proper old-fashioned left vs. right political theatre.
 
ayase said:
Rui said:
It's strange how few candidates have websites, or even Twitter/Tumblr
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Jesus, Rui, you must really want politicians to suffer. Reading political posts on tumblr is almost enough give me an aneurysm - My politics might lean to the left but if there's anything that winds me up more than the hard right, it's the soft left. Someone check Lenin's mausoleum to see if the combined whiny insignificant first-world bollocks of tumblr has caused him to start rotating yet.
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I can't entirely deny the first accusation, but you have to admit it would be kind of fun to judge these puppet politicians by how well they try to adapt to that side of things and how good they are at making animated gifs :D

In all seriousness though I was just proposing it as a mainstream service where anyone can set up a basically functional website within 5 minutes if they choose to. The fact that my local candidates couldn't even be bothered to do that much as part of their campaign is a little sad; I may be a weirdo for not watching television or reading newspapers now but I'm sure having zero web presence is becoming more outdated by the minute.

R
 
ayase said:
Rui said:
It's strange how few candidates have websites, or even Twitter/Tumblr
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Jesus, Rui, you must really want politicians to suffer. Reading political posts on tumblr is almost enough give me an aneurysm - My politics might lean to the left but if there's anything that winds me up more than the hard right, it's the soft left. Someone check Lenin's mausoleum to see if the combined whiny insignificant first-world bollocks of tumblr has caused him to start rotating yet.
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The suffering of politicians is a good thing, Ayase. Rui has the right idea of things.

Funny you mention how Tumblr has affected your politics because for me; the right, more specifically the American style "libertarian" types (Guys like the Pauls, Glenn Beck, Koch Bros, UKIP, etc) who all congregate around Reddit, being a bunch of hypocrites who not only don't believe a single thing they support but will actively embrace acting, saying and doing what their "enemies" supposedly do, not to mention how they tend to throw around war rhetoric to each other like it's candy, probably made me go slightly further to the left and embrace Social Democracy.

As for Tumblr, unless you actively seek for them or you have one of those friends who won't stop talking about them, you won't normally see skeleton types on a Tumblr dashboard.



However, this isn't the "Reddit vs Tumblr" thread, meaning we have to discuss news.

*French parliament approves new surveillance rules
*German 'spying' prompts Austrian complaint
*US approves ferry service between Cuba and Florida
 
I don't think tumblr has changed my politics - Economically I'm of the left but socially I am very much a libertarian (something which, as you point out, few self described libertarians in the public eye are - they're economically libertarian but in favour of things like immigration controls, abortion and banning gay marriage. Which are laughable positions for "libertarians" who supposedly believe in the state not interfering in people's lives to take) and in favour of freedom of speech and expression, which is what bothers me most about the attitudes I see on tumblr.

Reddit and Tumblr are both awful echo chambers where anyone who disagrees with the majority gets shouted down, I'm not sure what "skeleton types" are exactly but my dashboard was often full of bandwagon jumping on the latest sexism and racism they'd noticed in things which aren't sexist or racist at all (like conspiracy theorists, spend all your time looking for something and of course you're going to find it absolutely everywhere and hidden in everything) and don't bother the vast majority of women or ethnic minorities. But worse than the pettiness and hysterical victim complexes is the attitude a lot of users there seem to have towards censorship. Not only do they seem to think anything which has the potential to offend anyone should be changed or banned, but it was pretty much the only place on the internet I found people blaming the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists for what happened or even saying they deserved it. That was the last straw for me.

As for punishing politicians, I think the stocks or a public flogging is probably far enough. Making them read tumblr posts is just sadistic.
 
It's Election time today. Polls are predicting that the Tories will be 5 seats ahead of Labour, but won't be getting a majority. And considering they're gonna have a harder time finding coalition parters, are most likely going to go back to the opposition.
 
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