General Election 2024

Lot's of interest on the forum in politics from former fixie skidders which is good to see. Out of curiosity is anyone else on the forum a member of a political party? I'm in the Labour Party.

One tiny style point on BoJo, he hasn't signed 10,000s of thousands of letters, he's signed one that been printed 10,000s of thousands of times.

The former phrase makes it sound likes he's done something, lots of work in fact when actually he's agreed for his sig to be on a letter. Not so much effort, which is very BoJo.

Again it shows how shit Sunak is that he's let this narrative spin.

Obviously he's richer than Blair. But did Blair ever have to worry about mortgage payments (even on his BTLs)? What about Johnson? Would anyone have asked Johnson this?

He has never properly owned it for two reasons IMO; 1) he doesn't actually understand how wealthy relative to your average person he has been at every point of his life, and 2) he lacks any broader political acumen.

Seriously how can you fuck up: "my parents worked hard to give me a better life and made sure I never wanted for anything. I've taken that advantage and made myself incredibly successful. I want to build a country where everyone can thrive"?

It's 🍆💦💦💦💦💦 to natural conservatives.

He is so shit.

I'm quite liking that someone made the point that Sunak is richer than the king. It's following him everywhere now, just like the word 'tetchy', and every mention of it makes him tetchier.

Agree, but even if he was to own his wealth, his level is just too high - it would always be questioned, the source, the appropriateness, where it's currently sitting etc.

What about Johnson? Would anyone have asked Johnson this?

Johnson was questioned on his financial arrangements - mostly dodgy loans from donors though I can't remember the details. I don't know how much of his own money he actually had at the time.

In Johnson's case, his profligacy and reliance on loans was probably more deemed a security risk rather than something that made him out of touch. In anycase, being 'in touch' was never part of his schtick.

I'm a Labour Party member and treasurer for my local CLP.

The scale of antisemitism in the party was way overstated for political reasons

This may be technically true, but many things are technically true and also utterly inappropriate, tone-deaf, and unprofessional to say. Corbyn was in charge when we received a statutory judgement that we had discriminated against Jewish people, institutionally. He was specifically called out for a failure of leadership in that judgement, and in the subsequent Forde report, in not tackling the issue and not taking it seriously.

There are people who could make this point. But he isn't one of them, and on that day least of all. It could've been a point of healing for our Jewish friends and allies. But once again Corbyn made it all about himself.

Sexy Spaniard reporting for duty!

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Wasn't the bulk of Sunak's riches sourced from the state anyway? As I understood it, his hedge fund owned a stake in ABN Amro, which was acquired by RBS, which was then acquired by the UK government to stave off a collapse of the UK banking sector. Some, if not all, of his millions came from that bailout.

Sexy Spaniard reporting for duty!

Citation needed.

Stop flirting with me, Andy, you old devil. 😚

high! I’m brexshitting, currently in utrecht looking for somewhere to live. any suggestions? where do you ride?

Harsh. You can't blame an edgelord for edging.

I heard this too. However, Idk if that was definitely his big payday vs other periods (excluding his wedding obvs).

I wonder if there's a way to find out.

Isn't it mainly from his wife?

She has shares worth something like £700m in Infosys plus various other stuff

I’ve been a member of the Labour Party for the last 8 years.

Before that I voted for various parties, but would have identified most closely as a Charles Kennedy LibDem.

My main policy priority is fuck the Tories.

She's richer than him for sure, but he's filthy rich in his own right.

I think there's a misunderstanding there about what authoritarianism is, and how it relates to various forms of freedom. It's more about centralisation of power, erosion of democratic standards, and control by force without heed to the popular vote, rather than taxes (economic things broadly go on the other axis) or land use (which is naturally zero-sum and so has hard limits to individual choice anyway).

If you're arguing for greater public transport provision, the liberal/authoritarian question is whether or not you involve others in decision making and generally if the use of space is equitable. The notion of 'removing individual choice' here doesn't really make sense because there's always limited choice in a constrained space. Equally if you're pro-car in urban environments, you're right wing (unequal access) but not necessarily authoritarian.

For taxes, the liberal/authoritarian question is if it's a measure designed to limit hierarchy and control (just in the private sector this time), and whether it has popular buy-in. And while taxes obviously do require enforcement, like all government programmes, that will have to be balanced with the freedom gained elsewhere.

I don't really like the political spectrum axes to be honest, because it does get a bit muddy (economic power is a thing, so which axis is that?). And like I say, I do think it's a bit off.

Edit: I guess the tl;dr is that individuals can have policy preferences either way and that’s liberal, it’s just about an individual's power to enact their preference. Which is why the left is concerned with collective power.

Time to join the CNT? Hahaa

Corbyn was in charge when we received a statutory judgement that we had discriminated against Jewish people, institutionally. He was specifically called out for a failure of leadership in that judgement, and in the subsequent Forde report, in not tackling the issue and not taking it seriously.

That's an interesting interpretation/précis.

Just been through the Forde report and there are no such suggestions, so either you've misinterpreted the report or are making it up.

As far as I remember, the EHRC upheld two complaints after a lengthy investigation. Two. I would ask whether you think the volume of column inches devoted to the crisis was proportionate to upholding two cases of discrimination, but you've already hinted at your view, so I won't bother.

Excellent 👍

I'd previously voted Libdem before joining the Labour party about 5 years ago

I don't understand joining a political party. TBH I don't think I've ever joined anything as an adult. Fuck being told what to do if you're not being paid for it.

2010-2024 worst post-war Government according to Sir Anthony Seldon.