UK Watch

[stevebrooks]

Ah Brexit, where would the UK be without it.....well a fuck of a lot better of it seems, food prices to rise because all manufacturers must label all foods with "Not for sale to the EU" labels, because, well, there are stupid people in charge. If they just kept to the exact same food standards as the EU none of this would be necessary, but oh no, our country, our rules, what you won't take our food then, bloody furriners?

[Irrev-Black]

Yech.

A new far right political party led by a man who styles himself on Adolf Hitler and spoke at an anti-asylum seeker rally in Elgin, has been approved to stand in elections by the Electoral Commission.

Alek Yerbury’s National Rebirth Party was authorised by the elections watchdog on 28 February to field candidates in Scotland, England and Wales.

It is the second far right group to gain approval from the Electoral Commission (EC) in recent weeks. Last month The Ferret reported that the Homeland Party was allowed to officially register as a political party despite an intervention from the Home Office, which feared the group had applied “by stealth”.

Yerbury, a Leeds-based former soldier, is the National Rebirth Party’s leader and treasurer. Research group Hope not hate has branded him as “an extremist” with alleged “sinister ambitions” who has made “violent statements” about political opponents.

https://theferret.scot/far-right-hitler ... cal-party/

[pipbarber]

A July election, as Rishi promised all along, well he did say the election would be in the second half of the year. The election is called in the same week that the government advised all citizens to keep at least three days worth of food and bottled water in their houses, 'in case of emergency.' I'm ok with the advice, it really does make sense to have a little extra food stored up, if you can afford it. Although in the UK context, it reads like there could be major food shortages due to brexit and climate change and we might not have the foggiest idea of what to do...and oh yes, our waterways are so polluted with human shit we really have no way of ensuring a drinkable long term supply. But hey....vote Tory....'things can only get better.' (Seems to be their official election slogan).

I've been contemplating the possibility that the Tories win again. It seems impossible, i know, but Rupert is still all in for them, apparently. UK Labour are nothing special from what i've heard. Just more of the same with slightly more competent people. The far right party are out-polling the greens 10% to 6%. It's all a bit of a poisoned chalice, i'd have thought, and i'm not entirely sure a lot of Tory inclined people actually want another term. It's hard to imagine anything short of immediately rejoining Europe having much of an impact, oh...besides taxing the rich, not handing over money to the parasite windsor disease and nationalising water and other essential services, but we all know none of that is on anyone's agenda.

Will be a highly amusing couple of months, in the way a horror gore movie is amusing.

[stylofone]

The record for rats deserting the sinking ship was set when Tony Blair was on a roll. Blair turned out to horrific. I read Starmer described as boring, and maybe that's a good thing. He doesn't have to win, he just has to let the current mob lose. He might be a drover's dog in Australian terms. It should be a good year for the satirical candidates, e.g. Count Binface and the Monster Raving Loony Party.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ar ... l-election

[Irrev-Black]

Sunak (probably giving Spud Dutton a semi hardon in the process) trots out the old yoof conscription card.

I suppose, if you're going to read about it, you might as well read Stross.

The Tories run this flag up the mast regularly whenever they want to boost their popularity with the geriatric demographic who remember national service (abolished 60 years ago, in 1963). Thatcher did it in the early 80s; the Army general staff told her to piss off. And the pols have gotten the same reaction ever since. This time the call is coming from inside the house—it's a general, not a politician—but it still won't work because changes to the structure of the British society and economy since 1979 (hint: Thatcher's revolution) make it impossible.

Reasons it won't work: there are two aspects, infrastructure and labour.

He's got more to say, and his stuff's usually good, so don't stop here... go to

https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-s ... w-tin.html

[Irrev-Black]

No sources, but what a summary!

https://kolektiva.social/@yassie_j@laby ... 8293208453

UK politics, more Tory insanity

So far, from the last 24 hours:

* a Conservative candidate endorses her Reform UK rival, and then steps down immediately, forcing the Conservative party to replace her in a scramble
* One Conservative MP declines to return back to the UK to start campaigning
* a senior cabinet minister disowns the National Service plan and decides to go on holiday himself
* Central Conservative HQ accidentally sends an email to all candidates to blame them all for the poor start to the election campaign
* It was accidentally leaked from the SAME EMAIL that the Conservative party has not got enough cash to spend on it’s target seats
* It turns out that at the beginning of last week, CCHQ told workers, staffers, and MPs that they can book time off, before being taken by surprise by Sunak’s calling the election, therefore there are multiple staffers who just aren’t in the country right now
* The Conservatives have fielded no candidates in ~150 of the ~600 seats in England, Scotland, and Wales and have only until the end of the week to submit them to the Electoral Commission. This means that there is a risk that there will be entire portions of the country without a Conservative candidate because the party didn’t file the correct paperwork in time

And this is just the last 24 hours, alone.

[pipbarber]

I almost hope they win (but not really). Doesn't seem right that someone else has to hopelessly clean up their disasters.

[stylofone]

I almost hope they win (but not really). Doesn't seem right that someone else has to hopelessly clean up their disasters.

Nah, I've had my fill of that: May inheriting Cameron's disasters, Truss multiplying Johnson's disasters, Sunak up to his eyeballs in the accumulated shit from all of the above. It's been Tory kakistocracy for years now.

OTOH maybe too much disaster is never enough, from a spectator's point of view at least.

[Irrev-Black]

I hope it was a CHOCOLATE milkshake.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-05/ ... /103936414

BTW, note that Farage has never held a seat in UK politics. He is not a politician, but a wannabe.

[nutmeg]

BTW, note that Farage has never held a seat in UK politics. He is not a politician, but a wannabe.

Yes and no. He has never sat in any parliament within the UK, but he did have one of the UK seats in the European parliament for many years.