Bojo

[john eden]

Oh give obtuseness a rest. The only reason this has come to pass is obviously the farcical Brexit referendum and the illegally won Leave campaigns. I am well aware the UK routinely has PMs that are not selected by a general election.

So it's actually a fully functioning parliamentary democracy still, then? With an elected government ruled by the majority party as voted for by the electorate?

And no those are not the reasons, they are also symptoms.

 

[baboon2004]

it all feels vaguely reminiscent of the last days of the tories last time round, early 90's style
internal tory election brought us john major
politics completely separated off from real life, 0 respect for government after years of thatcherite neglect and cruelty, civil disobedience escalating
so we're due for rave and only another 7 or so years before new new labour

next election will feel like the 1992 one, I'm sure - others convinced that the Tories couldn't possibly win another term, surely not.

"none of these could explain away the fact that the middle class in England had continued to vote Conservative, because in their miserable hearts, they still believed that it was in their interests to do so"

 

[john eden]

Where were you in 1992 etc etc.

I don't think these sorts of historical allegories are any use to us I'm afraid.

The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.

 

[baboon2004]

Well, it's certainly not the same situation in so many ways, and the potential for utter disaster is much greater. But at least some of the forces in motion are similar, and fairly eternal - human psychology doesn't really change much.

 

[john eden]

Well, it's certainly not the same situation in so many ways, and the potential for utter disaster is much greater. But at least some of the forces in motion are similar, and fairly eternal - human psychology doesn't really change much.

Human psychology isn't the driver here though. The 90s saw a huge rise in property values and a real feeling of technological innovation. People could say "we're all middle class now" with a certain amount of conviction.

There was a dynamism to capitalism that just isn't there now. Which is why every cunt with a £100k to rub together is a landlord now.

 

[baboon2004]

I agree that the capitalist landscape is very different right now, but that doesn't exclude human psychology as a driver as well (and of course the two interact). The emptiness at the heart of capitalism/the current system, and how people react to this by enacting their resentments upon others, remains intact.

 

[Mr. Tea]

so we're due for rave and only another 7 or so years before new new labour

I'm struggling to imagine what that would look like. I'm convinced that even in seven years' time, centrist/Blairite Labour will still be toxic to the left because of Iraq and to the right because of perceived fiscal irresponsibility, while left-wing/Corbynite Labour will be toxic because of its failure to prevent a no-deal Brexit and Johnson becoming PM (never mind anti-Semitism and whatever else). So it really would have to be a whole new party, almost.

Depending on how badly Boris Johnson fucks things up, we could conceivably be looking at the end of both main parties, at least as we know them, in a few years.

 

[john eden]

I'm struggling to imagine what that would look like. I'm convinced that even in seven years' time, centrist/Blairite Labour will still be toxic to the left because of Iraq and to the right because of perceived fiscal irresponsibility, while left-wing/Corbynite Labour will be toxic because of its failure to prevent a no-deal Brexit and Johnson becoming PM (never mind anti-Semitism and whatever else). So it really would have to be a whole new party, almost.

Depending on how badly Boris Johnson fucks things up, we could conceivably be looking at the end of both main parties, at least as we know them, in a few years.

And yet, people are already seriously considering voting libdem.

 

[Mr. Tea]

And yet, people are already seriously considering voting libdem.

I know this is a minority opinion, but I think there's a case to be made that they held back some of the Tories' worst tendencies for five years and get more flack than they deserve.

 

[john eden]

I know this is a minority opinion, but I think there's a case to be made that they held back some of the Tories' worst tendencies for five years and get more flack than they deserve.

I think the point here is that established political parties in a first past the post system tend to weather the storm.

 

[Corpsey]

Just read that as of May 2019, Conservative membership = 71 per cent male, 97 per cent white and 44 per cent aged over 65.

 

[baboon2004]

I know this is a minority opinion, but I think there's a case to be made that they held back some of the Tories' worst tendencies for five years and get more flack than they deserve.

Check their new leader's voting record. No holding back there, an absolute disgrace. Liberal Tory. Her and Vince Cable, both bedroom tax proponents.

They are against Brexit and also complete wankers. Both things can be true!

 

[Mr. Tea]

Check their new leader's voting record. No holding back there, an absolute disgrace. Liberal Tory. Her and Vince Cable, both bedroom tax proponents.

They are against Brexit and also complete wankers. Both things can be true!

Ugh, I'm sure you're right - tbh I think I heard of Swinson for the first time today.

As I've said before, what we're seeing is not so much a grand cosmic battle between good and evil as a struggle for supremacy between two rival gangs of bastards. Same with Trump vs Clinton three years ago, or the American intelligence and security services suddenly seeming (a bit) like 'the good guys' during the Mueller investigation.

I'm sure a significant (as in, made a difference to the outcome) number of people voted for Brexit for no other reason than to stick the middle finger up at Cameron and Osborne.

 

[IdleRich]

Anyway, back to Johnson. So he's saying to the EU that they have to drop the backstop to earn the pleasure of talking to him (us) and they are not going to do that cos they will look like utter wimps. So he's trying to force a no-deal that way I guess. Only parliament can stop him... and it seems like a bit of a grey area.
It's the same thing that dogged May as I see it, she needed to agree with the EU and with the UK parliament and she was going back and forth from one to the other making promises she couldn't keep cos she didn't have enough of a power base. Is it going to be any different for our new leader? Anyone care to predict what is going to happen?

 

[Mr. Tea]

Sure I mentioned this here years ago, but anyway, a reminder - wish I'd had the presence of mind to alert the Eye:

 

[Mr. Tea]

 

[sufi]

Nobody even mentioned ...

 

[sufi]

the Baybeeee

i think it is transformational, transcendant
bo has moved his premiership to a new level

he has accrued the soapness of harry/megan, the public love/hate for the power couple but like the royals we're stuck with them, exploiting the dianist contradictions in being a public figure, flaunting it but demanding discretion, but this relationship with a political leader is novel and redefining itself,
the populist emptiness of trumpism, engrossing but vacuous politics but with actual real life death and life scenarios playing out daily

amazing to think wtf sort of pressure the first family are under right now in their gilded bolthole, this evening, colossal media and political expectations
was the baby prem, perhaps? poor blighter, it seems like the gestation was fast, the birth unheralded? but maybe that's plague time?

the expectations of him doing normal politics now are blown away, parliament, labour, etc are pretty much distant memories, it's all about the epic of boris now,
beyond ethics or ideology it's gonna be about bastard-churchillian accomplishments, or hopefully a pathetic crash and burn back down to earth as soon as possible

 

[catalog]

the baby is gonna help him no end, represents his innocence and the future amidst trying times

 

[Leo]

how is this different from all his other babies? is it cuz we actually know the mama?