Election Year or Fear!

[swaledale]

Nor was I, just reminding one and all that my assertion that it’s childish was broadly agreed with some time ago. Very echo-chamber / circle jerk-ish. Just IMO

Mm not really, Yaxley-Lennon is someone who has used a range of different names, for dubious reasons, his real persona and the background to it, is highly relevant when judging what he says or does. Which is why I call him by his original name.

I have no issue with a person changing their name generally.

[swaledale]

Interesting to see Greens are odds on favourites to win the by election in Gorton and Denley, and more surprisingly Labour overtaking Reform as favourites to win the next election.

I'm not surprised, it is from what I've read a constituency with a large number of voters who are left leaning, they won;'t vote reform, and will not want to vote labour whilst they are leaning so far to the right and generally appearing unable to run a piss up in a brewery.

[swaledale]

Daft/childish, same territory, it just detracts from whatever point is being made IMO.

Not sure about the second bit - I disagree with the EDL’s methods whatever their beliefs, I accept the Green’s right to have an opinion, just don’t agree with some of them, and increasingly so - and whatever the ‘green leaning’ extremists are called, I’m against them as much as EDL.

I consider Polanski to be a ‘menace’ to a greater part of the population than Farage. I’ve got no view on relative ‘fortune

I've two questions, who do you term "green" extremists?

What in particular about Polanski makes you think he is more of a menace than Farage?

Its difficult to understand the point you make without more detail and examples.

[swaledale]

Totally agree with a lot of that, RP, but I think the 99% figure may be harsh.

Politicians do get a bad press, and understandably so in many cases, but there are very some decent, largely lower profile, ones.
I think I’ve known about four or five in my lifetime, either professionally or as a constituent. Charles Clarke, Philip Whitehead, Margaret Beckett, (all Lab), Matthew Parris (Tory) and John Whitby (Lab) and they all seem to have been decent and astute people, imo.

Unfortunately they all tend to get tarnished via the same brush as the more infamous and ruthless.

There is a saying that voters get the politicians they deserve and to an extent that is true.

going from my own expereince, at Local Government level, I found Tory councils, organised and clear on what they wanted to do, even if on occasion I disagreed with their policies. They generally had a plan and were able to communicate how it was to be delivered.

Labour councils were a mixed bag, some were literally "drunk" on power and often tried to do things that weren't practical or in some cases legal, the Council leaders in particular were much more controlling, but others were well run and easy to work with or for.

Liberal democrats tended to want to please everybody all the time and consequently got themselves tied up in knots a lot of the time. They very often found it difficult to agree amongst themselves on a particular plan or strategy which sometimes made them a nightmare to work for.

At a national level, the only MP I found to be impossible to work with was Matt Hancock, the one I disliked most and had a run in was Reeves before Labour took power, who I found one couldn't trust a word she said. The other MP's of whatever particular political colour were all hard working and generally fine to work with.

I certainly wouldn't want to be an MP, you get very little thanks, just moans from consituents, work very long hours, taking into account parliament, consituency duties and other activities, so I'm not surprised that some feel entitled to the odd perk here and there.

[SithHappens]

Matt Goodwins campaign manager suspended after being found to have posted antisemitic and misogynistic comments.

[ramAnag]

I'm not surprised, it is from what I've read a constituency with a large number of voters who are left leaning, they won;'t vote reform, and will not want to vote labour whilst they are leaning so far to the right and generally appearing unable to run a piss up in a brewery.

Denton and Gorton are quite different Swale. I used to play rugby years ago for nearby Ashton and we played against Burnage and Old Aldwinians (Audenshaw) which are both within this new constituency so it’s an area I’m relatively familiar with. My sister in law also used to live in Denton which is largely white and, for want of a much better term, upper working class, while Gorton used to be a place to avoid years ago but seems to have a better reputation these days along with a much higher Muslim population.
As someone who remembers the ‘flash and circle’ emblem of the BUF springing up around Manchester in the sixties I very much hope that decency prevails next Thursday and Mancunians show Farage the door marked exit.

[Andy_Faber]

I've two questions, who do you term "green" extremists?

What in particular about Polanski makes you think he is more of a menace than Farage?

Its’difficult to understand the point you make without more detail and examples.

An example of ‘Green’ extremists would be elements of Palestine action. I’m not suggesting direct affiliation but independant analysis states that they are predominantly ‘green leaning’.

I believe Polanski’s views on gender are a danger to all females.

On the latter, and somewhat related, when we discussed whether people born male should be allowed to compete in female sports we small cohort almost all agreed no, apart from yourself who stated you hadn’t really considered it much (I paraphrase)

[Ram Pant]

Ah but then the real "elite" who have the power and influence would be exposed and made to answer for their actions!

The DoJ has said that going after them all would "bring the entire system down". Yes please. Won't happen though...

[Ram Pant]

Mm not really, Yaxley-Lennon is someone who has used a range of different names, for dubious reasons, his real persona and the background to it, is highly relevant when judging what he says or does. Which is why I call him by his original name.

I have no issue with a person changing their name generally.

As I posted earlier, his correct nickname at the moment should be downgraded to Tommy 7 names as that's the number he's currently at.

[Andy_Faber]

The DoJ has said that going after them all would "bring the entire system down". Yes please. Won't happen though...

And of course it should, as it should grooming gangs, as it should any other collective crimes (check out the woman in France who was drugged and ‘shared around’ by her husband). Genuinely not sure there’s enough resource to do it all.

However, even powerful people leave digital footprints, so there’s hope