Election Year or Fear!

[SithHappens]

Resigned as deputy PM and Housing minister

[ramAnag]

Resigned as deputy PM and Housing minister

Sad, because it’s good to see an ordinary working class woman, born with absolutely no silver spoon, achieve high office, but if she’s done wrong then she has to pay the price.
As things stand I doubt we can be clear whether she (or someone on her behalf) has made a genuine mistake or actually done wrong. Either way she should have done better, but the sight of Farage and Badenoch queuing up to score political points is a bit pathetic.

Be interesting to see who her replacement will be. Rachel Reeves?

[SithHappens]

Sad, because it’s good to see an ordinary working class woman, born with absolutely no silver spoon, achieve high office, but if she’s done wrong then she has to pay the price.
As things stand I doubt we can be clear whether she (or someone on her behalf) has made a genuine mistake or actually done wrong. Either way she should have done better, but the sight of Farage and Badenoch queuing up to score political points is a bit pathetic.

Be interesting to see who her replacement will be. Rachel Reeves?

It appears she was, twice, told she should be able to pay the lower rate of tax, but both times she was told that this was not to be considered tax advice and she should seek expert tax advice, which had she done she would probably have been told she needed to pay the higher rate.

I wait for the day Farage gets tripped up because I feel sure it will happen. Despite what's happened I'd wager Rayner has more integrity in her little finger than Farage has in total.

I know who I'd trust more. She would also be a more favorable drinking companion I'd wager than Farage. That's why I've always liked her because I feel she is relatively normal (for a politician), of which there are very few around.

[swaledale]

It appears she was, twice, told she should be able to pay the lower rate of tax, but both times she was told that this was not to be considered tax advice and she should seek expert tax advice, which had she done she would probably have been told she needed to pay the higher rate.

I wait for the day Farage gets tripped up because I feel sure it will happen. Despite what's happened I'd wager Rayner has more integrity in her little finger than Farage has in total.

I know who I'd trust more. She would also be a more favorable drinking companion I'd wager than Farage. That's why I've always liked her because I feel she is relatively normal (for a politician), of which there are very few around.

The standards commissioners report made it inevitable that she would have to resign. As to whether it was a honest belief or intention that's open to question, but given she has had constant attacks from the right wing press since being in power, she should have made sure that there was no room for any query over her affairs.

Its very sad to see what I would consider one of the genuine working class politicians fall on the basis of a mere £40K, when none of the same attention is focussed on other politicians with much more dubious financial affairs, but thats the political climate currently in this country and I do rather despair that whoever is advising the Labour top bench seem not to be able to manage this properly.

[MadAmster]

Resigned as deputy party leader too?

[SithHappens]

Yep Lammy now deputy

[swaledale]

Resigned as deputy party leader too?

My suspicion is that this gives her the ability to critique Starmer on the direction he (or at least his advisers, whose shtick he is following) he currently following.

Trying to out reform Reform is not going to work but the dimwits don't seem to realise this. Save us from political SPADS who seem unable to grasp reality.

[swaledale]

In truth, Farage and the hotel protests don?t really represent the ?silent majority? but rather a vocal minority. Inaccurate framing by elements of the media and commentariat are exaggerating the popularity of extreme and fringe far-right views while simultaneously normalising them.

In truth, recent polling shows that the British public are far more nuanced on the issue of immigration and even cross-Channel boats than Farage and his supporters would have you believe.

When Ipsos asked if ?people should be able to take refuge in other countries, including in my country, to escape from war or persecution?, 71% of British people agreed, with just 21% disagreeing. It?s true that sympathy for people crossing the Channel by boat is more polarised, but even here 46% of people retain a ?great deal/fair amount of sympathy? compared to 47% with ?Not very much/no sympathy at all?.

There?s no doubt that immigration remains a major issue in the eye of the public, with 48% naming it as an important issue in the Ipsos poll. That is an eight-point rise since July. But public attitudes don?t exist in a vacuum and this rising concern will, in part at least, be affected by the media?s framing of the issue.

When it comes to the hotel protests, they also receive much less support than you might think. The public is clearly divided with 36% deeming them acceptable and 39% unacceptable.

Similarly, when Farage announced his extreme deportations policy and pledged to leave the European Convention on Human Rights this week he said: ?As far as the people of this country are concerned, frankly these measures can?t come soon enough.?

That?s simply not true. According to YouGov, 51% of people think Britain should remain in ECHR, with just 27% believing we should withdraw. When you break this down by party affiliation, the divide becomes even starker with 72% of Reform supporters wanting to leave while 75% of Labour and Lib Dem supporters wanting to remain.

Populists have always been good at presenting their fringe and extreme views as common sense, claiming that they are speaking for ?the people?. But they don?t and the media shouldn?t let them get away with it.

[SithHappens]

I'm surprised Labour and Lib Dem support for ECHR is as low as 75% to be honest.

[ramAnag]

Populists have always been good at presenting their fringe and extreme views as common sense, claiming that they are speaking for ‘the people’. But they don’t and the media shouldn’t let them get away with it.

…let alone be complicit in it.

[SithHappens]

See Boris and Marinakis have been discussing the war in Ukraine. Seems Marinakis thinks Ukraine should just hand over land to Russia.

[SithHappens]

Beverly Turner of GBNews posted a picture of herself with trump this week

https://x.com/beverleyturner/status/1963610218538922147

So did Farage

https://x.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1963425300068315392

[MadAmster]

Both taken next to a Fanta flavoured f*ckwit with an extremely inane smile on his face.

[SithHappens]

Both taken next to a Fanta flavoured f*ckwit with an extremely inane smile on his face.

Amazing how Trump managed exactly the same pose both times.

[MadAmster]

Amazing how Trump managed exactly the same pose both times.

I was thinking the same. Amazingly Inauthentic?