By the way I think this will go down like a lead balloon here. But.. as much as I like seeing the Tories fail, I really don’t care what he does for D-Day. I care what his plans are nhs, Ukraine,Palestine-Israel, immigration, austerity, inflation and cost of living etc. To me this is just in the same bucket as how the quality of Corbyn’s suit, Gordon brown mumbling that a bigot was a bigot, Julia Gillard falling over when being led away for safety by security etc - all stuff I wish the media would stop building up and pushing.
You’re right, I disagree.
Firstly he missed out on some personal time with Biden, Macron, Scholz and other leaders. I’ll leave Jim Hacker to explain why such events can be important: https://youtu.be/TeW3FltKvGM?si=5zT0r7DhyYmlzho8
For a Britain that has isolated itself from Europe and hasn’t forged closer relations with the US, the PM leaving early was a bad move.
National symbols are important. They are what give people a sense of unity and common purpose. The last decade has been very divisive and the one thing that almost every one can agreed upon is that D Day was a very good thing. The Prime Minister should be doing what he can to encourage unity.
Exactly. And I suspect the bold part is why Sunak initially intended to snub the whole event. Even before he decided to call the election. It's such a no brainer decision and shows a complete lack of judgement, even when he has time to reflect. It was unlike the other examples given for that reason, it was more deliberate.
To send an isolationist message for (misplaced) domestic political reasons. Misplaced, because he failed to understand why being against Europe might be popular with his pro Reform tribe, but disrespect to D-Day veterans wouldn't.
Sunak’s mea culpa, however, was caveated. During a broadcast interview he said the decision not to attend the event with other world leaders had been made “weeks ago”. He had, he said, “fully participated in all the British events with the British veterans”.
His answer was revealing in and of itself. Shortly before Sunak called the general election he was presented with an itinerary by officials, with the international leaders’ event marked as “optional”. Sunak and his aides decided he should not attend in part because it was the “French event” and was therefore considered less significant.
There are senior voices in the Tory party openly stating they want Farage to join them. FFS.
However, Dame Priti Patel, the former home secretary, has made clear that she would invite Farage to return — a view shared by others on the right such as Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, who predicted that Farage might even become Tory leader. “I’m a huge admirer of Nigel’s and I think he should hold high office within the Conservative Party,” Rees-Mogg said. “I’m sure that if the ball would come out of the scrum, Nigel would be more than willing to catch it.”
He added: “Nigel is a Tory. He’s a charismatic politician, and we’ve seen that charismatic politicians do very well for the Conservative Party. He says things that resonate with voters. I think the Tory party has too often been trying to appeal to the liberal and green vote that isn’t coming to us anyway.”
bjn wrote: Sun Jun 09, 2024 6:44 am
There are senior voices in the Tory party openly stating they want Farage to join them. FFS.
However, Dame Priti Patel, the former home secretary, has made clear that she would invite Farage to return — a view shared by others on the right such as Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, who predicted that Farage might even become Tory leader. “I’m a huge admirer of Nigel’s and I think he should hold high office within the Conservative Party,” Rees-Mogg said. “I’m sure that if the ball would come out of the scrum, Nigel would be more than willing to catch it.”
He added: “Nigel is a Tory. He’s a charismatic politician, and we’ve seen that charismatic politicians do very well for the Conservative Party. He says things that resonate with voters. I think the Tory party has too often been trying to appeal to the liberal and green vote that isn’t coming to us anyway.”
bjn wrote: Sun Jun 09, 2024 6:44 am
There are senior voices in the Tory party openly stating they want Farage to join them. FFS.
However, Dame Priti Patel, the former home secretary, has made clear that she would invite Farage to return — a view shared by others on the right such as Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, who predicted that Farage might even become Tory leader. “I’m a huge admirer of Nigel’s and I think he should hold high office within the Conservative Party,” Rees-Mogg said. “I’m sure that if the ball would come out of the scrum, Nigel would be more than willing to catch it.”
He added: “Nigel is a Tory. He’s a charismatic politician, and we’ve seen that charismatic politicians do very well for the Conservative Party. He says things that resonate with voters. I think the Tory party has too often been trying to appeal to the liberal and green vote that isn’t coming to us anyway.”
There are the 'fiscal conservatives', who are into markets and all that, have a position you may disagree with, but aren't utter c.nts. Then there are the utter c.nts who don't really give a sh.t about that and are in it for the power an opportunity to make money for themselves or their friends. The second bunch have taken over the Tories.
The presenter is a teacher of A-level economics. So there is nothing very difficult or sophisticated in it. But a well-chosen and extensive selection of economic trends, demonstrating the mess we are in and the difficulty of getting out of it without making difficult choices.
I was particularly taken by the observation that the relative generosity of the UK welfare system has fallen so that it is now hardly any better than the US - which has apparently improved in recent times.
Gfamily wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2024 11:30 pm
On the other hand, I can see from some of the right wingers a 'Oh, he's not really British' vibe to some of the criticism, which is very close to "Oh, with his, umm, you know, background, you can tell he's not really British - just like the others"
ETA - though, obviously, it was politically a really crass decision to make - but you have to be careful who you reinforce,
Huh? I've not seen anything remotely like that. What murky Faragey waters are you swimming in?
Lee Anderson in the Mail
GPoS0_jXUAAdcuL.png (42.46 KiB) Viewed 12997 times
My avatar was a scientific result that was later found to be 'mistaken' - I rarely claim to be 100% correct
ETA 5/8/20: I've been advised that the result was correct, it was the initial interpretation that needed to be withdrawn
Meta? I'd say so!
bob sterman wrote: Sat Jun 08, 2024 7:56 pm
Mail on Sunday poll - carried out after d-day debacle - is apparently showing a Tory wipeout - reduced to 37 seats. With Sunak losing his seat.
As desirable as that would be in many respects - retaining a few experienced MPs might not be a bad thing - to help with committee work and scrutiny of legislation. I would guess some of the Labour candidates in seats where it was assumed they'd have no hope - might not be the brightest crayons in the box.
Yes, that wouldn't be an unalloyed good thing. We always need a decent opposition. Starmer is unlikely to succumb to power-madness in his first term, but a landslide second term would bring a serious risk of crackpot policies (see: every previous PM who achieved it).
I swear, this is the funniest election I have ever seen in my life. Elections aren't usually this funny are they? It's like a real, proper belly laugh every single day. The Tories are a joke. It's marvellous.
I swear, this is the funniest election I have ever seen in my life. Elections aren't usually this funny are they? It's like a real, proper belly laugh every single day. The Tories are a joke. It's marvellous.
I struggle with cringe comedy but that was special.
If you've already answered the questions, why can't you just give the same answer as before?
I swear, this is the funniest election I have ever seen in my life. Elections aren't usually this funny are they? It's like a real, proper belly laugh every single day. The Tories are a joke. It's marvellous.
I struggle with cringe comedy but that was special.
If you've already answered the questions, why can't you just give the same answer as before?
I'm exactly the same. I would literally leave the room if a programme with cringe came on the telly. There are entire cultural phenomenons I completely missed because I can't stand cringe but this, this was just glorious. Why can't every journalist just call them out like this? I would suddenly have like 80% higher regard for the profession.
I have short shrift for politicians who get pissy in an interview because they weren't allowed to give their stump speech. It's an interview, the interviewer decides the questions and the interviewee's job is to answer them.
geejaytee wrote: Mon Jun 10, 2024 7:30 pm
Because journalists would lose their 'anonymous sources' and would also get reduced access to the big hitters.
Yes, and over the years its been noticeable that journalists on regional TV and newspapers have been better at holding national politicians to account. Presumably because they don't care about not getting access the following week.
TopBadger wrote: Tue Jun 11, 2024 4:22 pm
With the public sector and social care on it's knees, I'm don't think tax cuts are the answer... I want to pay more tax, and get better services.
Ah, but you aren't a right-wing thinker; trickle-down economics states that tax cuts leads to greater investment in business so the business grows and generates more profit, so the tax increases: a smaller slice of a larger pie. It's complete bollocks, of course, because really successful businesses pay so little tax due to tax evasion avoidance, but it's been a major plank of right-wing tax planning for so long that I'm surprised that countries aren't completely bankrupt. [Looks at USAian debt figures.] Oh.
"My interest is in the future, because I'm going to spend the rest of my life there"
