My general advice for English voters has been to vote for the candidate most likely to beat the Tory. In Birmingham Yardley it is not easy to be certain whether that is the Labour or Lib Dem, but there are a raft of other reasons to vote for John Hemming over Jess Phillips.
Firstly, in an extremely strong field, Jess Phillips has struck me as perhaps the most objectionable person in parliament. She has attempted to build a career out of a combination of extreme egotism, constant claims of victimhood, and being the most reliable source for the media of the most extremely phrased attacks on Jeremy Corbyn, her own party leader. Phillips is the vacuity of modern politics exposed, a politician for the Instagram generation.
I quite understand that Jeremy Corbyn wishes the largest possible Labour vote, to show that radical politics are not as electorally unpopular as the media claims. But I suspect the loss of Jess Phillips’ seat is something to which he could secretly reconcile himself.
I have a lot of time for John Hemming, the LibDem MP defeated by Phillips in 2015. Formerly one of the few genuinely free spirits in parliament, Hemming is a strong supporter of Palestine. In October 2014 he voted in parliament to recognise a Palestinian state. He was one of 17 MPs – together with Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, Diane Abbott and Caroline Lucas – who signed a letter calling for an arms embargo on Israel. He has chaired meetings for Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine on IDF atrocities and Palestinian human rights. Jess Phillips, by contrast, is a militant supporter of Israel.
John Hemming has also appeared alongside Respect at anti-EDL meetings. He is a doughty campaigner against the ultra-wealthy’s use of libel laws and super-injunctions. He has also continued a long campaign to help those suffering from the abuses of secrecy in family courts.
I should make a disclosure here. When I was sacked by Jack Straw over my opposition to torture and extraordinary rendition, John Hemming, whom I scarcely knew, contacted me to see if I needed employment and/or financial support. (I make no bones about it, Hemming is very wealthy from IT businesses). I did not accept his kind offers, but take them as part of the measure of the man.
I do hope anybody reading this in Birmingham Yardley will support John Hemming. That hope embraces all the people of the constituency, though I hope especially that members of the Islamic community will read what I have written, consider its implications, and withdraw any support for Jess Phillips. If anybody has any friends or family in the constituency, ring them up and tell them to support John. Forward them this. Any mobile activists wishing to try to put a good man in parliament, could do much worse than head to Birmingham Yardley to put in a stint.
Birmingham Yardley 2015
Actually, Britain could learn from the French way of doing closing polls. They’re unbelievably accurate, and can come up with an answer at 8 pm, the moment of the last polls closing.
I don’t fully understand how it works. I think they count 200 ballots from each of polling stations that close at 7 pm.
By the way, the latest polls say that for the parliamentary elections in June (législatives), Macron is predicted to win 245-289 seats, not quite a majority of the 577 seats..
Who is losing all these seats to Macron?
https://www.lesechos.fr/elections/legislatives-2017/0212035461141-sondage-en-marche-donne-gagnant-des-legislatives-2084198.php
“Le mouvement d’Emmanuel Macron décrocherait 249 à 286 députés en juin, selon un sondage OpinionWay – SLPV analytics pour “Les Echos”, quelques jours avant le second tour de la présidentielle. En Marche n’est donc pas loin de la majorité.”
I imagine we’re talking about a coalition of those who are ready to support Macron. I wouldn’t be surprised if he can find allies relatively easily (which was not the case for Le Pen).
It looks like wherever you got that story from simply took the vote share from today’s vote and applied it to the next election.
It’s nonsense.
No. It’s a poll.
The Socialist Party and La France insoumise only getting 43 seats between them seems a bit far fetched.
You’re talking about a situation where there’s no coalition, which is not likely.
The poll you have shown is from Wednesday and it shows En Marche! winning roughly 40% of the seats.
That strikes me as being impossible. I was wrong to say it is the results of today’s vote transposed onto the parliamentary elections as it is a poll but that is almost exactly what it shows. Macron’s real vote today was 42%, i’d say it’s impossible that En Marche! somehow matches this in June.
Whatever. A poll is a poll.
PS and LR, who else?
How interesting. As someone who lives in the neighbouring constituency, I would go the other way. I have some connection with both of them: I was a close neighbour of John’s (and am now of his ex-wife), and I knew Jess as a teenager and her parents, slightly, through my children. Perhaps I’m biased because I’m a woman and, while Jess has been exceptionally good on domestic violence, John’s personal record is not so good. She is known as a brilliant and devoted constituency MP as well as someone who ‘speaks human’, he something of a laughing stock locally. On the other hand, I’d applaud his record on Palestine and deplore hers on Corbyn. So, swings and roundabouts. Go with your personal preference.
@Private Person,
I can only say we are living in alternative galaxies given the ‘humble’ manner you reference Ms Phillips, which is the stellar opposite of several members of her CLP whom I know personally, none of whom as a good word to say of her – maybe its because they are on the Left of the Party and Corbyn supporters, but given their membership years of Labour Yardley make Phillips wet behind the ears to say the least, one has a sneaky feeling ‘Private Person’ is either Phillips herself, or an intern.
Chris that’s a bit harsh, clearly if private person worked for Phillips she wouldn’t draw attention to her poor attempts to undermine Corbyn and her bomber tendencies
The fact is before Phillips got a seat she did look very good on domestic violence issues, I was quite shocked and how she went after Corbyn, I doubt it’s won her over to labour voters in her constituency
No, I don’t work for her and I haven’t spoken to her for years. I do, naturally, follow what she’s up to, as you do with people in public life who’ve crossed your path. I’m not even a Labour Party member (I left in disgust in 1998 at Blair and Clinton’s bombing in Iraq), though I’ve always been a supporter of the left of the party (and of Corbyn’s policy positions). But I do think that, rent-a-gob as she may be, she’s one of the rare breed of politicians who connects with voters and we need more of those rather than fewer, whichever wing of the party they represent. (And I’m afraid John Hemming doesn’t, however good and generous a person he may be, per Craig.) I despair of the lack of unity in the party, the way the right have worked so hard to undermine Corbyn, but also the way the left has locked themselves into a bunker. The sniping in both directions needs to stop.
Hey private person, I’m s long suffering member of the party, thought you might be interested in this
http://powerbase.info/index.php/The_Clandestine_Caucus
It’s a synopsis of a book by Robin Ramsey who is also s long suffering party member on the left.
I think it’s important that people know the history of the party, rather than assuming it’s a true socialist party that has lost its way,
http://powerbase.info/index.php/The_Clandestine_Caucus
As Lenin once said “the way to beat the opposition is to lead it”
So sorry LaPen lost and the End-Timers don’t get their Har-Dee-Har-Harmageddon Express.
She was the third leg of the Trump Tripod.
How’s Trump working out now.
I mean, is it looking any more fascist than it looked last year.
Are those ethnic concentration camps growing and growing.
Or just the same.
And how’s it looking on the old eugenics programs.
Always a sign of fascism.
Is Trump opening more of them up, or closing them down.
Upsidey downsidey world, eh.
Shicklegruber started the same way. In a hurry, are we?
Point is, Ben
You’ve been a fascist state for quite some time now. Didn’t you notice.
Well, we noticed, and discussed it. Since the 1960s, you know, when you really went for whacking those who sought a better world.
Just wonderin if it’s gone up an octave or two now that the comedy fascist is in charge.
And not the nice cool black bloke.
Who brought peace and prosperity to the land.
Many sympathetic types here were
quite taken with Trump as schadenfreude for the US
I hope someday I can return the favor
I don’t like the far right but I think the election was stolen from Le Pen. Some will say that’s okay because it was the far right it was stolen from but I’d say wait another twenty years when it’s the far right doing the stealing. All vote rigging needs to be stopped. It would have been better to let them rule if they actually did win, and let their failures lead to their removal democratically. Because when they steal it, and they will, it will either be brutal civil wars across the west or a 1,000 year Empire and Churchill’s Dark Age descending.
Mc Nulty
“I don’t like the far right but I think the election was stolen from Le Pen.”
__________________________
An interesting theory. Would you care to tease it out a little? The how and the why would be a good starter. Off you go!
Skwawkbox reports that a senior source close to Corbyn says he’s going nowhere after the general election, win or lose.
“in fact, the SKWAWKBOX spoke to a highly-placed Labour source who told this blog that the issue was ‘decided within twelve hours’ of May calling the election on 18 April and Corbyn is going nowhere.
“This is the news that the vast majority of Labour supporters want to hear. Neil Kinnock fought and lost two elections before he resigned. Corbyn has barely had five minutes in the job without the right-wing faction of the Labour party trying to undermine him – and barely thirty seconds, before the election was called, of even remotely balanced treatment from the mainstream media. He’s entitled to more time to get his message across to the population – and, as recent polls have shown, as soon as he has a chance to do so, the gap between Labour and the Tories closes rapidly.
“And of course, no supporter of Corbyn’s vision for the Labour party will countenance for a moment the thought of him stepping down until rule-changes are achieved to make sure they always have a good left-wing candidate to vote for – and elect, since the right knows a left candidate will always win and are therefore trying desperately to prevent one being on the ballot in future.”
https://skwawkbox.org/2017/05/07/exclusive-decided-within-12-hrs-of-election-called-corbyn-going-nowhere/
Thank you Mr Davis for your self-consolation and long cut ‘n paste but which discussion here precisely tells you people are interested. Besides MacDonell said this morning that Jezza and he would resign in the event. The polls are not far wrong. Labour is dysfunctional, as a therapist you sghould be behaving more cognitively, not shoving rubbish propaganda into our faces.
Oops, forgot …
Kind regards,
As ever,
Yours etc.,
McDonnell did not say that.
He was on Marr and Marr showed a clip from 2015 discussing the expected 2020 election and he said they would step down if they lost. Marr then asked if this still stood without mentioning the the early election. McDonnell rightly refused to answer the question.
It’s worrying that some people cannot follow such a simple format.
This is great news, John. The last thing we want is for Jeremy to stand down. You are part of quite the most extraordinarily retarded cult I have ever seen. Please keep it up.
It is not a decision for Corbyn or sources close to him – the Party is not yet run on democratic centralist lines. The members in the Party and the Trade Unions make the decision.
Yes it is, stupid. Resigning is different to being removed.
Don’t be ridiculous. The post also mentions “stepping down”. It’s perfectly obvious that Corbyn could well face a leadership challenge and be deposed. Certainly. The context makes it plain that the question is whether or not he will, or should, voluntarily step down.
More pompous, bratty lectures.
You cannot even express support for Jess Phillips a Labour candidate despite being a Labour Party member – so I would stop the spineless talk.
I’ll stop talking when I feel like it, gutless – and I haven’t seen you support Phillips either. Not that if would matter. Nobody even knows if you’re a Labour Party member or if that’s a load of hot air – you being too cowardly to identify yourself and preferring pompous anonymous lectures to other people.
Well I do support Jess and I also defend her from the attacks here – not that you have the courage to do so. Plenty of people who count know I’m a Party member and have been for rather a long time – it is crystal clear why you want to know. As for pompous lectures I fear I have met my match.
Not at all.
Yes, Jess Phillips is the proverbial gob on a stick… utterly loathsome.
That’s why she’s a media star.
She comes across more like one of those TV reality stars than what I’d want in my MP.
And her worldview seems overly simplistic and naive.
But she’s promoted in media. That’s the key.
They find her useful.
Now that Marie Le Pen has been soundly beaten, posters, the media and sites will stop taking endlessly about The Donald, and the global threat of populism.
Sorry about squonk. You were being trolled.
Peter Murrell is reporting that it now looks like the SNP got 105 000 more first preference votes than in 2012.
The BBC have really made fools of themselves over these elections.
Meaningless.
What was that as a percentage? Turnout looks to have been considerably higher.
About 38% I think. Which would be 5.5% more than the SNP got in 2012.
To get 38% in an STV election after being in government for 10 years is remarkable.
What also has to be remembered is that in Scottish local elections Independents in the Highlands and Islands and the Borders take up a fair percentage of the votes cast.
So as I said 38% is a good showing.
Turnout in Edinburgh 2012 was 42%, in 2017 50.5%, 8.5% higher.
If the trend was the same all over Scotland that would mean 340,000 more voters, SNP getting 105,000 of them would be expected.
But if the SNP had simply got their share of a higher turnout without improving their percentage share they would have got 32.5% again.
Where are you getting the 38% from? Official results haven’t been published yet.
I told you at the start. Peter Murrell tweeted it. He said it looked like an increase of 105 000 votes. The 38% is just a rough estimate I made. Perhaps that’s a bit out and it’s only 37%. But that would still be an increased share of the vote.
I see.
A Labour Party activist for the “new, kinder, gentler politics” writes:
Anon 1
I call Tories a fucking lot worse, and, if they desire to have a go when I’m out and about campaigning, great, I like my baseball bat and my lighter fuel – some people come up quite nice when you put a flame to them. In a nutshell, I detest Tories and would not urinate on a single one if on fire – indeed, I’d be pour more petrol on the buggers. If you live by the sword so you shall die by it and I for one cannot and never will support a Party that’s presently killing people here in the UK. That’s your fucking Tory Party and you are an accomplice to their crimes. Now piss off, or shall we take this up in Cardiff with your Tory cronies – I’m there on Friday at Wales TUC.
–Chris Rogers, Labour Party activist
I’m sure “Wolsto” is reading the comments?
Anon1,
Again, unlike you, I have the temerity not to hide behind rather crass ‘user names’ and tell it exactly as it is. You Sir, by advocating the Tories and voting Tory are complicit in murder and it is both my public duty and moral duty to oppose you and the Tories with every fibre in my body & if that means bloodshed on the streets, so be it!
Now Sir, either have the temerity to identify yourself for all to see, or shut the fuck up with your rightwing neoliberal bilge.
– Chris Rogers (Ultra Left as branded by Blair, banned from Labour for having sympathy with the Green Party – a RT of a Green Tweet, and a ardent opponent of neoliberalism)
Threats of extreme violence from the far left. Imagine my surprise.
Ms Phillips always gets a superb write-up in the teen magazine formerly known as The Guardian, doubtless due to her anti-Corbyn quotes. She’s going to ‘stab him in the front’ apparently, but that’s ok. I’m afraid Jess Phillips is, basically, an over-promoted local council stooge, like so many of them, obsessed with identity politics as the expense of serious, class-based politics. After all, the rich don’t give a flying if gay people get married or not; it is, however, a useful distraction whilst they continue to loot and make war. Jess supports war of course, and is essentially indifferent to the looting. Hard to say if she’s just a bit thick, or actually playing a clever game to undermine Corbyn, and increase her own power-base. Always assume the latter, I say, because people generally aren’t thick, and the way they speak isn’t necessarily proof of anything. She sounds like an utter moron, to be frank, but I’d still assume otherwise.
So yes, vote for someone – anyone – else. Btw, tactical voting should extend to all Nu Lab MP’s. To the extent, perhaps, of voting Tory, if they have the best chance of ousting them. A few less of those jerks would do Corbyn the world of good – and he is nothing if not a long-term thinker. Also, it would be hugely funny.
I can’t quite get my head around this extraordinary phenomenon of putting the thorough cleansing of all ideological impurity from the Labour Party above any actual desire to win an election. Can you explain it to me?
I doubt anyone could explain anything to you. Do you know what the small print on the bottom of a condom says?
The Labour Party is a broad church, and, like all political party’s, basically an informal coalition. Corbyn himself would be on the moderate-right, back in the 70’s. So, I don’t think it’s about cleansing ideological impurity, it’s more about removing the dead-wood.
Should note, I’d still prefer Labour to win, even if it means having some deadwood on board. I’d also add, it depends on the Tory, many of them are even worse.
I can explain it to you.
The answer is connected to the Bolsheviks. In 1910 the Bolshevik Party membership numbered around 10,000 people – of those some 75% were aged under 30. Some 7 years later a small but ideologically committed membership were able to seize power in Russia and maintain their hold on power for the next 70 years.
Many members of the Labour Party are also young and are also ideologically committed. Rightly or wrongly there is no majority in the UK for the kind of policies they advocate, and this is understood by the “brains” behind this movement. Therefore the aim is not to secure power via the ballot box.
Theresa May may not be to everyone’s taste but some of the invective hurled at her is out of all proportion to her character. Indeed anyone that expresses any kind of opinion not at odds with this very sinister ideology is routinely smeared as a zealot, a bigot a xenophobe or a racist. This kind of invective is not designed to win arguments. It is designed to appeal to the ideologically driven and to demonize all opposition as being the manifestation of pure evil. Jeremy Corbyn is simply useful cover – he provides an avuncular face to mask the intolerance of the movement that has formed up behind him. To an extent these tactics are working.
What they are really hoping for is some kind of major crisis that will shake the belief of the majority in the ability of the system to keep functioning. They will likely get the crisis they long for. At that time we will see whether they have the necessary ruthlessness to seize power.
Please name names. Who are the “brains” behind this movement who want to seize power other than through the ballot box?
Who knows – they keep themselves hidden as much as possible. Maybe you are one of them. Do you really think that the Labour Party will form the next government?
If you do then I have good news for you. You can get odds of 25 to 1. You could make a lot of money. Perhaps you have an ideological duty to bet to the maximum – make a fortune and donate the winnings to the NHS. Or maybe you wont do this because?…you tell me.
Anyway we have been here before with the Militant Tendency. That did not work out so well as it led to Blair and the wholesale slaughter of the foreign man. All of no consequence of course to the ideologically pure. This time around there is more of a chance due to the high likelihood of a major systemic economic shock.
A brilliant explanation. Thanks.
If you don’t know who the people are that you are accusing of being the brains behind Jeremy Corbyn who want to seize power other than through the ballot box, why should I or anyone else treat those comments other than as fevered and paranoid nonsense?
Maybe I am one of them? Can you think of a reason why I shouldn’t tell you to go fuck yourself for that offensive comment?
I don’t know why you are wasting your time twisting and turning and spewing insults at me.
If you believe there to be a majority for Corbyn, and if you believe that you can win more support for the cause by telling people to “go fuck themselves” then you have a duty to get down the betting shop and hoover up a fortune by taking advantage of odds of 25 to 1.
That’s not the point at issue. I am asking for your evidence that there are “brains” behind Corbyn who want to seize power other than through the ballot box. So far you have produced none. Do you have any?
You suggested that maybe I would like to seize power other than through the ballot box. On what grounds do you make such a fucking offensive suggestion, please?
@ JSD
Why are you asking Loony for “evidence” anout the “brains” behind Mr Jeremy Corbyn when you never ask other commenters for evidence when they mutter darkly about the “powers that be”, “global financiers” and other mysterious circles? Your desire for knowledge seems strangely selective…..
Loony-So you really believe the idiotic mantra of ‘Strong and stable leadership’, then? And that to be delivered by May, Boris, Davis, and ‘First strike’? The Tories are simply on a re-run. No real ideas, every manifesto pledge broken, and another huge addition to the deficit in the Osborne tradition. In the place of strong and stable leadership we will probably see a worn-out carthorse knee-deep in doo-doos. Still-the sheep-mass will likely vote for it anyway.
No, I do not believe in “strong and stable leadership” and I do not disagree with anything you say.
The world is in a dangerous place let Yeats be your guide
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Seems to sum things up pretty well so far as I can see.
The French result is a problem for May. OK, it’s easy to present the EU as an enemy, and the EU solidified is more of an enemy than an EU split. That may win the election. After all, what’s the difference between the EU and the Falklands? Only that Argentina attacked us and the EU didn’t. Unimportant.
What’s going to happen afterwards? What else but hard Brexit? You can’t treat with a solid resistance, so bang, no agreement, already largely predicted.
It maybe that Britain can live on a hard Brexit, as Brexiters claim, but the hard Brexit has just been hardened.
Instead of a hard Brexit, we could default to a position such as Norway’s – paying a fee for associative membership. Not ideal, but vastly better than WTO rules which is currently the default. This isn’t something the EU should have trouble agreeing to, either.
Theresa May discreetly decontaminates herself after shaking hands with a member of the working classes.
https://skwawkbox.org/2017/05/07/video-theresa-may-wipes-hands-after-shaking-hands-with-worker-ge17/
Having just seen Macron purloin Beethoven, I was thinking about Theresa’s choice in music for her accession.
Here’s the good lad on Desert Island Discs in 2014.
‘Kirsty Young’s castaway is the Right Honourable Theresa May MP – the longest serving Home Secretary in fifty years.
For those who think her political lineage seems directly descended from the Iron Lady, Theresa May’s metal has certainly been stress-tested in the past few weeks. She’s apologised twice in parliament for having failed to appoint a suitable head to lead the historical child abuse inquiry; a minister in her department resigned, claiming working with her had been like “walking through mud”. Then there has been the controversy over the non-vote on the European Arrest Warrant and finally news this week that 1 in 5 crimes are unrecorded.
Just as well that she has a reputation as a woman who knows her own mind and is willing to speak it. She famously said the Conservatives were perceived as the ‘nasty party’. Her excoriating speech to the Police Federation dealt head on with long-term corruption and incompetence in their ranks and was received with stunned silence.
So unflinching, resilient, driven and, if a recent poll is to be believed, ++a popular choice among Conservative voters to be the next Prime Minister. She has, so far, remained tight-lipped on any ambition to lead her party.+++
She says, “I think you have to believe in what you’re doing – that’s key. If you do believe you are doing the right thing – that gives you resilience”.’
The recording. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04pr6rz
LOL
The music choices. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04pr6q9/segments
For her choice of book she asked for Pride and Prejudice , her luxury – a lifetime’s subscription to Vogue and the Mozart aria ‘Queen of the Night’!! was her favourite recording.
Très naff.
Oops I meant ‘lady’.
Amazed not to see anything by Reger, Sorabji, or Hans Erich Apostel in the list. Rofl.
I’d nominate Seasons in the Abyss by Slayer for her, Macron and the rest. Things aren’t going to change until we get rid of these types. Drain the swamp including Swamp creature Trump.
Where’s Norton when you need some light relief? Hope he’s not poorly.
I think he’s been banned
That’s amusing! Reinstate Norton now!!! Sign the petition!
Defeats for first Geert Wilders and now Marine Le Pen make May’s hard brexit stance look very lonely.
Good that Macron won, to avoid a fascist in the Elysee Palace. But Macron himself is not likely to be good for France.
There are other ramifications. The Labour Blairites will be greatly energised and encouraged by their fellow neoliberal Macron’s easy victory and will redouble efforts to oust Corbyn.
The victory of M.Macron is a good thing but I reckon he has about 9 months in which to carry out his promise to “bring together” France and the French. Which is another way of saying that he has to address the concerns of those who voted for Mme Le Pen for socio-economic (and not racist) reasons.
The “coalition” against M. J.-M. Le Pen left him with just over 20% of the vote in the 2nd round of the 2002 Presidential.
The winner, M. Chirac, talked a lot before and after that election of healing France’s “social fracture”.
The coalition against Mme Le Pen this time round has left her with around 35% of the vote. In other words, almost double the vote her father obtained 15 years previously.
France is in for interesting times.
I wouldn’t agree with that. Le Pen propounded a racist point of view. She lost. I take it that the majority French didn’t want it.
It is certainly true that many French are racists, but here we discover that they are not the majority.
I am not sure how you can disagree. All that has been said is that in 2002 the Front National garnered 20% of the votes and in 2017 the same party garnered around 35% of the votes.
This constitutes a rising trend. Are French people becoming more racist at a rate of about 1% of the population per year, or is there some other explanation?
Nationalism is dying, along with its increasingly elderly supporting population. The young couldn’t give a fuck, they’ll take a job where they can, anywhere in Europe.
Care to name a people devoid of an element with ‘racist’ tendencies ?
The most racist person I have ever come across, by far, didn’t have ‘white’ skin.
A truly obnoxious person, with hardly a good word for anyone. Lovely wife too, fuck knows what she saw in him. Arranged jobbie probs. 😉
Tribalism/Racism. Same thing really.
Gweilo! 鬼佬
I said “devoid” Humphrey, and you’re not Laguerre, but thanks for the reply anyway.
The more I think about it, the harder it becomes to find any example really.
Tribalism is hard wired into us, it seems.
Almost certainly, my tribe’s better than yours. 😉
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gweilo
Laguerre
What are you not agreeing with? The percentages I gave? That Chirac went on about the “social fracture” ? That almost twice as many people voted for Le Pen fille than for the Old Bruiser? That M. Macron has a limited window in which to address, with effective action, France’s socio-economic problems? Or all of that?
Or are you disputing something I didn’t say, such as “French racists are the majority”?
That M. Macron has a limited window in which to address, with effective action, France’s socio-economic problems. Is that not what your point was about? Unlike you (apparently), I read the whole post and react to it, not just the first sentence.
No, Laguerre. Perhaps you didn’t read to the end – had you done so you might have come to the conclusion that the point was that France is in for interesting times.
So against a background where many people voted reluctantly for M. Macron (you’ll not deny that, I suppose?), where the number of people voting for the extreme right has almost doubled from the 2002 Presidential and where the new President is not sure of a parliamentary majority to carry through his proframme (insofar as it is known), you do not think that the sitution is interesting?
It would be interesting to hear what it would take to get you interested…..
Auntie reports Macron won 2/3 rds of the vote. Hardly, unless they’re adding in spoilt ballots, l’revenant’s and abstainers.
After waste of total space Nick Clegg gave the unelectable Toff nasty party the 2010 election, a 10 centimetre Frog Prince from Disney Land complete with twinkle-orbed miniature crown would have been preferable to any Lib-Dem candidate. He who lives by the tactical vote will die by the tactical vote – that’s what the Frogs just did, split their left into Liberals and communists and Blairites and Chartists until the final contest is between Le Pen and Macron who are way to the right of Mrs Thatcher and Oswald Moseley on the political temperature guage.
Birmingham Muslims would like the entire UK political class to be Disney magic-wanded into their Faith, thereby plopping power into the hands of their ‘ulama without having to demonstrate any kind of personal restraint either in embarrassing levels of accumulating wealth or disgusting treatment of their fellow Muslims on the Syrian battlegrounds of Jihad.
Lay on MacDuff.
OK I will concede that 300 years of associating with the British colonial class may have led the Muslims to the erroneous conclusion that the above obnoxious qualities, greed and betrayal, are the ones most likely to impress them. They may be right in that. But it seems to be taking a long time for them to realise that we British totally reject that brutal colonial class. They have been eradicated totally from our mainstream society and exiled to the Scottish Highlands and Southern Shires.
If the Muslims want to attract mainstream UK society to their Faith, they will have to present a different persona of themselves, and recognise that the present-day UK people are nothing to do with the brain-washed colonisers of the past. David Cameron and Boris Johnson might be impressed by that sort of thing.
We removed pig-toothbrush Cameron in the referendum, and we have to consign Boris Johnson to retirement rearing pigs for him to fuck on June 8th.
I make no excuses for my bad language. There are no words filthy enough in the English language that come near to describing the disgusting politics of the new neo-con, neo-colonial class.
Tusk, May, Trump and many celebs including Madonna, Katy Perry and Cher welcome Macron. Very telling.
‘Shadow cast on Macron’: Warnings of challenges, divisions as West welcomes French election results
8 May, 2017
While the mainstream media is presenting Emmanuel Macron’s 66 percent win as a landslide victory for democracy, the actual range of reactions in France and across Europe appears to be more sobering, pointing to divisions in society and hostility between political camps.
The outgoing French president, Francois Hollande, who is the record holder of the all-time presidential lowest approval rating in France of 4%as “warmly congratulated” Macron on his victory. Former Socialist PM Manuel Valls celebrated the 80% voter approval of Macron in his constituency of Ville d’Evry.
/..
https://www.rt.com/news/387529-macron-win-reaction-europe-us/
Interesting tone of demoralisation there, reminding me of the late Michael Norton (the sun may be shining today but heavy rain is forecast tomorrow). RT has made its admiration (“approval rating” if you prefer) of LePen and contempt for Macron plain for some time, since it works openly for the weakening of the European Union.
@ Iain Stewart
Didn’t you know the Cold War is over? Even Trump is making eyes at Putin.
I think you might have got the wrong bogeyman.
You’ve lost me there, Sharp Ears. The article you recommended lists carping comments from a wide range of Macron’s opponents (including Brigitte Bardot and the unsavoury Laurent Wauquiez) and starts with an cheap dig at Hollande. RT and Sputnik both backed Fillon until his wheel fell off, and then instead of overtly supporting LePen have been opposing her opponent constantly, but to no avail. RT has another article today composed entirely of negative pre-emptive criticism of Macron with no visible attempt at journalistic balance.
Mon cher Stewart
I like the general tenor of your conments and hope you will post more in future. Always good to see someone with a critical eye taking on the negativists from time to time.
“Tusk, May, Trump and many celebs including Madonna, Katy Perry and Cher welcome Macron. Very telling.”
__________________
I do wish people would stop posting the sort of flip comment reproduced above (“says it all” is another frequent example).
Please tell us what this welcome “tells” us. Or, at a minimum, what it “tells” you.
Thanks.
Remembering the watermelon moment of Andrew Marr, the interviewer of John McDonnell yesterday and the acolyte of Tony Blair.
‘Andrew Marr must have seemed the natural choice to BBC executives looking for an interviewer to grill Tony Blair on his new autobiography, A Journey (The Andrew Marr Show, BBC 1, September 1, 2010. See here for a rough transcript. http://www.medialens.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10808#10808 )
After all, Blair has become the most reviled British politician of modern times largely thanks to violent policies that Marr openly celebrated.
On April 9, 2003, as Baghdad superficially fell to the illegal US-UK invasion, Marr lauded Blair’s great triumph on the main BBC evening news:
“Frankly, the main mood [in Downing Street] is of unbridled relief. I’ve been watching ministers wander around with smiles like split watermelons.”
Marr delivered this news with his own watermelon smile. He continued:
“Well, I think this does one thing – it draws a line under what, before the war, had been a period of… well, a faint air of pointlessness, almost, was hanging over Downing Street. There were all these slightly tawdry arguments and scandals. That is now history. Mr Blair is well aware that all his critics out there in the party and beyond aren’t going to thank him – because they’re only human – for being right when they’ve been wrong. And he knows that there might be trouble ahead, as I said. But I think this is very, very important for him. It gives him a new freedom and a new self-confidence. He confronted many critics.’
/..
http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2010/15-a-journey-unchallenged-andrew-marr-interviews-tony-blair.html
Macron looks to have won about 62% of the vote. The same as the Remain vote was in Scotland.
So 62% can get you the Presidency in France. In Scotland 62% gets you the reverse of what the majority wanted.
The reason being that France is a democracy, however imperfect.
Whereas Scotland is a dictated to nation with only as much democracy as the Metropolitans decree we should be allowed.
That has got to change.
You had a referendum on Scottish independence and you voted to remain in the UK. The EU referendum was a UK-wide decision.
Here we go again.
In the 2014 referendum voters were told explicitly and frequently by Better Together that they had to vote No in order to keep Scotland in the EU and that influenced many to vote No.
Scotland voted by the wide margin of 24% to stay in the EU in 2016. Since the UK is not a unitary state but a multi-nation one there should have been a four country agreement before starting brexit. Scotland was denied that power of veto.
To compound that lack of democracy it has since transpired that the EU was very willing to give Scotland and Northern Ireland separate brexit deals. EU people have said so publicly. Westminster didn’t even discuss the possibility with the Scottish Government or the EU.
The Scottish Parliament voted to hold a second indyref.
Therefore there has to be a second independence referendum to resolve that democratic deficit.
If unionists are so confident they should agree to one. We would be able to start calling you fellow democrats once again.
I would agree that there should be a second referendum. But the polls show that you would lose that one, too. Then you will demand a third referendum because of some other grievance.
Of course, the SNP has historically been anti-EU. Even our very own RoS was against it, arguing that independence in the EU is no independence at all. You go the opposite of whichever way Westminster goes because you are nothing more than troublemakers and opportunists. The rest of the country is tired of your constant demands and grievances, and an ever increasing number of Scots are too.
The tide isn’t turning against the independence movement because the Scottish Tories got 23% to follow on from their 22% in the 2016 Holyrood vote.
You’re wasting your time trying to talk sense to the brainwashed cult members Anon1, they think Braveheart was a documentary.
The reality hasn’t sunk in for them yet.
https://reaction.life/snp-nicola-sturgeon-cant-process-thought-theyve-stalled-slide/
“For 75p a week you can support Reaction, getting access to members-only content and events and editor Iain Martin’s weekly subscriber-only newsletter”
That’s a bargain, if you fancy following rabid unionist Iain Martin’s slaverings.
Another epic fail on the propaganda front Fred. Goebbells wouldn’t be impressed at all,
Off you go now, and find another Daily Heil/ Express ‘article’ to try on the hard of thinking
Every region of France didn’t vote 62% for Macron, Le Penn did a lot better in the North and on the Mediterranean. The people of Calais didn’t get who they voted for.
So you think 38% of the French electorate should win but 62% of the Scottish electorate should lose.
You haven’t quite got the hang of how democracy works yet have you?
Everybody can’t win, there will always be those who don’t get what they voted for. You can always divide the state up into winners and losers depending on where you choose to draw the imaginary line on the map.
In that case, as a good democrat, don’t you think the people of Scotland should have the chance to decide on whether to draw the line on the map at the Tweed in order to stay in the EU?
You decide on where the line is drawn before the voting, not move it after to get the result you want.
Who decides where the line is drawn before the voting Mr Democrat?
Democracy? Pfff. We elect 56 SNP out of 59 MPs, send them down to your motherland, and they are smothered, nearly 10 to 1. Voices in the wilderness.
When the act of union was put before your betters at Westmidden, they (as well as the vast majority here) weren’t having it, at all.
It was then put to them, amongst other things (e.g, mugs to help pay off an upwards spiralling BoE debt) that it should be considered a marriage. With Scotia the bride.
And you know the legal status of wives then obvs Fred.
Scottish people have more MPs per head of population than people in England. The North, Wales, Northern Ireland, Cornwall, Midlands, every region is the same but only Scotland gripes about it.
No-one is stopping Scotland from becoming an independent nation other than its own inhabitants.
MJ, i’ll give you the benefit of the doubt…The Scottish people eh ? It’s a wonder we got 45% !
Project Fear; Comprising the entire MSM, press and TV, spouting lie after lie,scare after scare, alongside every country the FO could cajole into supporting the unionist stance (not to mention the celebs, please stay with us, boo fucking hoo), and the civil service under Gus (now Sir for his outstanding, acknowledged efforts) McPherson acting way beyond their remit to distort the currency (alongside other) question. And if the CC were at it, you can bet your life that MI5 and GCHQ were beavering away for Queen and country too.
Then there was the desperate, utterly cynical, and purdah breaking (subsequently broken) Vow, Lizzie sticking her tuppence worth in when up on her jollys, the demonisation of Eck (identified early as the biggest single threat, so no holds barred here) & those nasty (lie exposing) cybernats… the battle was unremitting and so lop sided it made a mockery (and exposed the sham) of our ‘democracy’. I could go on and on.
It wasn’t just Sir Gus who got his due reward too, Lady Moan, Jum Murphy (Goo goo g’joob) getting onto the Blairite money go round, Sir Flipper (my claim to fame) himself, the imbecile Dugdale getting the poisoned chalice…
There were upsides to this, straws for the devastated to clutch at really.
Auntie being exposed to a much wider audience as the State broadcaster, in the more malign sense of the term ( I often wonder what thinking Unionists made of this). And obvs the terminal, self inflicted illness of SLab. (credit where it’s due to some v clever Tory bastard for getting them to take the flak)
reel guid etc (the good guys, not the wanks) please feel free to add any glaring emissions to this litany of shame.
defo
We had Project Fear spouting lie after lie, scare after scare in the run up to the EU referendum, but we still voted for our independence.
I think just not enough people in Scotland wanted independence.
Is your middle name Sherlock by any chance Anon1 ?
Read again.
“The people of Calais didn’t get who they voted for.”
Sounds awfy familiar…
Here’s one to put in yer pipe Fred. If the union is such a marvellous thing, wtf are we here, and why are you lot so scared your modus operandi this time (with all the 2014 scary stories & promises blown out the water) is to deny the Scottish people a choice ?
It wouldn’t be as simple as the fact that you can’t lose a referendum that doesn’t occur eh ?
Being so predictable, i’ll answer your reply in advance, shall I ?
I was for Scottish autonomy long before the great mesmeriser Sturgeon was even born.
Forgive me Craig, but the twins from Auchtermuchty sum that ‘union’ up so well.
When you go will you send back
A letter from America?
Take a look up the railtrack
From Miami to Canada
Broke off from my work the other day
I spent the evening thinking about
All the blood that flowed away
Across the ocean to the second chance
I wonder how it got on when it reached the promised land?
When you go will you send back
A letter from America?
Take a look up the railtrack
From Miami to Canada
I’ve looked at the ocean
Tried hard to imagine
The way you felt the day you sailed
From Wester Ross to Nova Scotia
We should have held you
We should have told you
But you know our sense of timing
We always wait too long
When you go will you send back
A letter from America?
Take a look up the railtrack
From Miami to Canada
Lochaber no more
Sutherland no more
Lewis no more
Skye no more
[3x]
I wonder my blood
Will you ever return
To help us kick the life back
To a dying mutual friend
Do we not love her?
I think we all claim we love her
Do we have to roam the world
To prove how much it hurts?
When you go will you send back
A letter from America?
Take a look up the railtrack
From Miami to Canada
Bathgate no more
Linwood no more
Methil no more
Irvine no more.
[3x]
Bathgate no more
Linwood no more
Methil no more
Lochaber no more.
Not without some truth there H.
I posted this a couple of threads ago, but you’ve yet to reply so…
H, sorry for being so intrusive, and fair do’s you’ve a job to do, but when the topics have eff all to do with that unhappy little strip of land… Why?
Genuinely curious, I occasionally admire your style. Professional.
Unlike many here. Ba’al, Clark and one or two others yes, but most of us are pretty amateurish really.
And some are obviously just pure dead mentalists.
May cares nothing for Scots, says Sturgeon
May 8 2017,
Nicola Sturgeon is expected to say that Theresa May is willing to sacrifice Scottish jobs in pulling out of the single market
John Linton/PA Wire
Nicola Sturgeon will today seek to make the election a straight choice between her and Theresa May by accusing the prime minister of caring nothing for Scottish interests or jobs.
Ms Sturgeon will mark the start of the official general election campaign by switching her fire from Ruth Davidson and the Scottish Tories to Mrs May.
In an attempt to win over Remain voters and soft Brexiteers, the first minister will claim that Mrs May is willing to sacrifice Scottish jobs by pulling out completely from the single market to win over Eurosceptic votes in England.
Ms Sturgeon says: “In the last few days, the Tory mask has slipped. There is now no doubt — they’ll sacrifice Scotland’s
(paywall)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/may-cares-nothing-for-scots-sturgeon-0xx6pb5m9?
Sturgeon already lost the economic argument.
Now she is losing the political argument as well.
Fred
Could you remind us of the price of crude oil at the moment?
Ah, the oil. It’s all we’ve got. The fact that Scotch Whisky makes up 20% of the entire UKs food and drink exports is a mere bagatelle.
Nice prompt though. You are good.
I read somewhere that whisky is increasingly seen as a drink for middle-aged and older farts and that the trend is towards funkier drinks like tequila, vodka and so on.
That’s probably because you can mix those funkier alcohols and make all sorts of interesting drinks and cocktails, whereas whisky conjures up this image of old codgers sitting in their armchairs with a plaid blanket over their spindly shanks, muttering away about “nose” and “finish” and reminiscing about the pre-global economy.
So I should be careful about basing Scotland’s economic prospects on whisky.
Yer sinking fast, in my estimation H. I’m sure that doesn’t trouble an old trouper like yerself, but…
20% isn’t insignificant, by any means. Balance of payments wise, maybe not so much. But still.
The Nationalists are deeper in denial than an Egyptian scuba diver.
We had a referendum, you lost, nothing has changed.
” nothing has changed.” !
Where they all are today.
At 9.30 in London, Paul Nuttall hosts a policy launch/reminder that Ukip is still here.
Theresa May meets Conservative candidates in north-west London from 10.30am.
Labour continues its health kick with Jeremy Corbyn meeting nursing students in the West Midlands.
Ruth Davidson launches the Scottish Conservatives’ election campaign in Edinburgh with a vow to bring SNP “back down to size”.
Meanwhile Nicola Sturgeon campaigns in Perth from 10am.
Tim Farron is in Scotland too, lending a hand to Jo Swinson’s attempt to regain East Dunbartonshire from 11am. Later he’s in St Andrews and Edinburgh.
From 5pm, Caroline Lucas continues the push to turn the Isle of Wight green with student Esther Poucher, who prompted Tory incumbent Andrew Turner to step aside after he told her “homosexuality is wrong”.
At 8pm, Farron is back, in the first of the ITV leaders’ interviews.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/08/the-snap-marx-thatcher-tory-migration-target
I have just watched May. Still sneering at Jeremy and handing out the ad hominems. She must be worried.
By turning a referendum into a neverendum the Nationalists are deliberately creating a new sectarian divide in Scotland.
They will be out there marching, waving their flags and singing their songs, generating hatred for those who favour the union. If that’s not sectarianism what is?
The Scottish government should be working to prevent this civil discord for the sake of Scotland, instead they are encouraging it.
Projection Fred.
Murdo FTP Fraser MSP, and Adam ‘true blue’ Tompkins MSP, then there’s Rape clause Ruth herself.
Which songs?
The results are in.
Turnout 1,927,149 46.9%. That is 7.3% up on 2012.
SNP 610,454 1st preference votes, 32.3%, exactly the same as 2012.
Conservatives 478,073 votes, 25.3%, 12% up on 2012.
Nationalist parties 36.4% Unionist parties 52.3%.
That calculator of yours needs new batteries, I think.
It may just mean that 11.3% of the votes went to parties that were neither nationalist nor unionist.
10.5% Independent and 0.3% Other, no way to say which they are.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C_TO5ViXgAAc_9p.jpg
Once again, for the hard of thinking… Not every L/C/LD esp. L/D voter will now be a no, or hard no. And you know that too.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2017/may/08/steve-bells-if-theresa-mays-strong-stable-hand
Steve Bell will have to adapt to May’s new prop. Not so much ‘strong and stable’ now as ‘ Theresa May’s Team’ as shown in the backdrop in Harrow this morning.
She is now apeing Marine. You have to just concentrate on her. Forget the Partei.
Theresa May admits Calais border controls are up for discussion after election of Emmanuel Macron
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/08/theresa-may-vows-fight-emmanuel-macron-tries-scrap-calais-border/
The treaty of Le Touquet (on border controls) is hardly likely to last long anyway. The Brits have already recently installed American-style queuing systems in the Gare du Nord. You know, the kind where you have to wait two hours to get in when you go to the States. It’s embarrassing for the French. That in itself will destroy the treaty. Why should they have muck like that on their territory? The Brits can do it in London, if they want.
Perhaps Farage is writing her script.
I expect she and her team, including Crosby, sit round a table having one of those sessions where you have to come up with ideas. She manipulates. Cameron was an idiot and a spiv but he just did what he was told by the City and the bankers.
Saw this whilst googling /checking the spelling of shin bet, and thought it might interest some here.
H. Before setting upon me, i told you before i’m no J hater. Not keen on the ultra Z’s who control that unhappy strip of land though, and reading this doesn’t help.that.
“Two former heads of Israel’s powerful domestic intelligence service, the Shin Bet, have made an impassioned and powerful intervention ahead of events to mark the 50th anniversary of the country’s occupation of the Palestinian territories in June.
One of the pair warned that the country’s political system was sunk in the process of “incremental tyranny”
““Incremental tyranny [is a process] which means you live in a democracy and suddenly you understand it is not a democracy any more,” Ayalon told a small group of journalists, including the Guardian, ahead of the event. “This is what we are seeing in Israel. The tragedy of this process is that you only know it when it is too late.”
Sounds vaguely familiar, can’t quite place where else it applies to. 😉
“Ayalon suggested an Orwellian dynamic that supported Israelis in a state of fear for political ends. “What is necessary to pave the way for this concept of incremental tyranny is an ongoing war. It is like 1984. There is always an enemy.”
.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/06/former-israeli-security-chiefs-warn-of-tyranny
defo.
It never was a democracy to begin with, nowhere in its declaration of independence, does it mention the word democracy.
It’s always been an oppressive apartheid military regime.
Laguerre
“Why should they have muck like that on their territory?”
_____________________
Sorry, but what does the word “muck” refer to?
I think he clearly meant ‘muck about’…
with the verb “have” ?
Have to muck about
Stick with the shilling H, Your good at that. Best i’ve seen yet, honest.
Algebra isn’t your thing. Obvs. That isn’t an equation, well not in this universe anyway.
Hemming was always very good on nuclear weapons issues.
By contrast, Jess Philips voted with Theresa May in favour of Trident replacement even after the latter had confirmed that she would be willing to incinerate 100, 000 people in a nuclear strike. Incidentally, we now know that May is willing to start a nuclear war. It does not look like this is too much of a problem for Jess Philips.
I presume you do not advise people to vote for the likes of Woodcock, Austin etc!
Great to see Marine Le Pen so heavily defeated. But people need to start working now to ensure that she does not get into the second round next time.
Another puff piece from the campaign trail of Maggie May, this time to Norwich Aviation academy. She is learning not to use posters or even call her candidates Conservative candidates, but ‘my local candidates’.
The second picture in the story is open for a caption competition, her sly cougar looks and the young man’s scared stiff rabbit eyes say it all.
http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/prime-minister-theresa-may-visits-norwich-as-conservative-election-campaign-steps-up-1-5008384
He was not scared stiff he said but concentrating on the lift/drag equation formula being explained, he’s honoured he says. I wish him good luck in his endeavours.
BTW, what happened to Sharp Ears post?
Are you referring to the post where she invited me to “Fuck off”?
If that’s the one, it was deleted (together with my reply thanking her for her substantive reply).
It’s “Moderator saves Sharp Ears from her blushes” time 🙂
Macron supports UKIP / Tories demands to take control over U.K. borders, so he’ll soon be returning the British border guards back from Calais to sunny Kent. I’m sure this will be very welcome – “take back control” ??♀️???
JOML.
Im sure Theresa May-hem will say regarding the borders guards coming back, “Now is not the time.” ?
Latest Guardian/ICM poll has the Tories at 49%, one point from the magic 50. Labour floundering on 27%.