The UK Political Landscape

an capall

an capall

Senior Jockey
Joined
May 2, 2003
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I value the thoughtful opinions of my mainland based colleagues on topics way beyond horseracing. In the matter of,

Boris Johnson,
Pritti Patel,
Dominic Raab,
Lord Frost,
Nadine Dorries,
The present Government
etc

In a country that politically produced, gave the world, Pitt The Younger, Peel, Gladstone, Asquith, Attlee etc..

What the phuckity phuck??
 
If I wrote what I really thought of them I'd be banned sine die (or, as the fitba' fans up here would put it 'sin-died').

I always thought the Conservatives' credo about their political philosophies being 'for the good of the country' - albeit a seriously misplaced credo in my opinion - was a kind of saving grace in the face of the drastic economic toll on the poor and under-privileged (ie, 'they meant well').

However, for all that they have been terrible for the country since Thatcher, things got notably worse under Cameron and they really have plumbed the depths with Johnson.

We now have a government populated by like-minded egos who believe Britain exists solely for their own economic benefit, that rules do not apply to them, and that if they do not like other rules they are entitled to change them to suit their own ends.

What's worse, though, is that we have national media outlets who remain staunch supporters and who shamelessly feed twisted narratives to their readership and viewers thereby persuading them to vote for the status quo.

Worst of all, though, is that the readership and viewers seem unable to see through the shams and scams of this and previous governments and, especially, this bozo of a PM.

Basically, The Sun runs this country because it gets to dictate the news and its readership does what the paper tells them to do.

Decades of running down the education system so that people don't understand politics or economics go a long way to cementing the situation.

Sadly, many among this readership were directly affected by Thatcher's brutal policies and now they and and their sons and daughters and grandchildren are voting for Conservatives.

Hopefully, the events of this week will bring about a sea change in their perception.

I'm very disappointed in Keir Starmer, though. I thought when he stepped up we would see the sharp mind of a QC shred a bumbling buffoon of a PM but Starmer continually disappoints with powder-puff points. A velvet fist in a velvet glove. The SNP Commons leader showed the way today.
 
I think you sum it up pretty well there, DO.

Starmer seems devoid of passion.

People keep voting Tory because the alternatives seem worse to them.
 
I think DO sums it up pretty-well, though I would add the following:

I generally expect Tories to act like cu*nts. What is galling about this current collection, is both the brazenness of their corruption, and their utter ineptitude as they go about it.

I prefer my right-wingers to be much more competently-devious as they go about raping the country, and to be much less obviously fu*cking useless.

They get away with it because of two fundamental problems; an Opposition which is toothless and cares only about returning to power itself, and a significant enough percentage of the public being supine, bewildered, and essentially not caring enough about governance. We're probably 60%+ dumbed-down as a nation these days - who (as DO says) are spoon-fed horse-sh*it on a daily basis, by a press which is almost entirely owned by right-wing oligarchs.

Tory politicians essentially now view Parliament as a gateway to enrich oneself. There are very, very few Tories in the last 15-20 years (and possibly longer than that), that I would consider as having integrity. The only one I can think of is Dominic Grieve, who was ousted by his constituency party at the last GE because of his Remain advocacy. Beyond him, I am seriously struggling to think of any other Tory politician who had the same gravitas and integrity. Rory Stewart was viewed as something of a wet for a while, but I always thought that was a pantomime, and saw him as essentially another self-promoter. Where do you go from there? Probably back to Ken Clark (maybe), then back to Heseltine (probably)........and then you likely reach the abyss.

I was a No supporter in IndyRef 1, which now seems a lifetime ago. The current state of UK politics means I am now an advocate of Scottish Independence, and I look forward to the day when we can cut ourselves loose from the endemic corruption that prevails in this country.
 
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The Government, the Opposition and Parliament in general are choc-a-bloc full of second and third raters. Leaves the electorate in something of a quandary, but it seems that the loony (and bullying) left who infect the Labour Party are the biggest turn off.at the moment.
 
Grasshopper said:
I was a No supporter in IndyRef 1, which now seems a lifetime ago. The current state of UK politics means I am now an advocate of Scottish Independence, and I look forward to the day when we can cut ourselves loose from the endemic corruption that prevails in this country.
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I'm kind of on the same track but I still see the current Scottish government as almost as corrupt as the Westminster one. From what I'm reading/hearing, the focus is much more on tipping the balance of personnel towards women and LGBT people over competence and ability.

If an independent Scotland was guaranteed fast-track entry into the EU I would happily change the stance of a lifetime and vote for independence despite my doubts about economic stability.

But this UK government is doing its best to push Scots towards leaving the UK.
 
I agree with everything that’s been said about the Conservative Party but disagree about Labour. I think Keir and the shadow cabinet are now a government in waiting. The best foil for a PM like Johnson who lies and tries to ignore any rules is someone with the knowledge of the law that Keir has. And I think he’s brilliant at PMQT. The looney left are definitely on their way out. There do appear to be a few Conservative MP’s with integrity: there was one who spoke on Ch4 News tonight ( his name escapes me: Sir Peter something*). I spoke to some Conservatives a few years ago during the referendum campaign and, even back then they bemoaned the fact that the leadership consisted of a load of second rate journalists ( their words, not mine). Not sure about Scottish independence. What if it does happen. Will the Scottish government just consist of SNP MP’s which doesn’t seem very democratic. Wouldn’t it be better to have a Labour government in England and work closely with them?Sad person that I am I have a blackboard in the kitchen on which I used to write down the names of any good songs I heard on R6. But during the EU referendum I started writing down the names of MP’s that impressed me and I’d say that 90% of them were SNP. I always look forward to hearing Ian Blackford speak in parliament: he’s brilliant. Either way, Johnson is on his way out and I can’t wait to see him go down in history as the worst prime minister the country has ever had ( but what a terrible time to have a leader as useless as him). Much as I hated Thatcher she did at least believe that she was doing what was best for the country. Johnson only thinks of himself.
*it was Sir Roger Gale
 
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moehat said:
But during the EU referendum I started writing down the names of MP’s that impressed me and I’d say that 90% of them were SNP. I always look forward to hearing Ian Blackford speak in parliament: he’s brilliant.
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SNP MPs are high on oratory but low on substance.
 
As a lifelong Socialist I can see very well how the thirst for education at the turn of the nineteenth century has not been carried forward. I am amazed at the ignorance of many people, some of them my age (73) not just youngsters, as to how many social reforms were only achieved by action by Trade Unions. They seem to think that paid holidays, sick pay etc. were handed out by benevolent employers!

As regards Starmer, I regard him as a wet week and a Tory in disguise, much as Blair was. The Labour Party needs a good old fashioned tub thumper.

Priti Patel is an out and out opportunist just out to feather her own nest.

Johnson has no idea what is going on and just waits to see which way the wind is blowing before jumping up and shouting “come on lads, follow me”.
 
Where did the Covid thread go?

I said on there I thought the labotary leak theory was very credible. I haven't changed my theory, and the lab-leak theory is gaining more credence by the day.

Out of curiousity, does any of our members have their own ideas of where it started?

Wild Animal? Etc.

As for taking the vaccines. I know the big pharma are making billions out of it, but apart from that, the idea the vaccines are part of some conspiracy is utter nonsense.

Conspiracy theorists need to ask themselves what any government has to gain out of Covid.

The past two years have been as close to Armageddon as we have seen for a long time.

When people can't work, society becomes so completely disfunctional, a national health service at breaking point....well the idea the powers that be or some other powers have actually conspired for this to happen seems illogical on so many levels.

I do think it could have started from a lab in China though.
 
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It started donkeys years ago and COVID19 is just the latest mutation of coronavirus that has hit the world at the moment. Just like the Omicron variant is a mutation and I guess you could name it Covid21.

“ The most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all coronaviruses is estimated to have existed as recently as 8000 BCE, although some models place the common ancestor as far back as 55 million years or more, implying long term coevolution with bat and avian species.”
 
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I agree that it probably came from a Laboratory but not necessarily a Chinese one.
I still don’t think it was a coincidence that Salisbury poisonings took place about 15 miles from Porton Down.
 
Marb said:
Where did the Covid thread go?

I said on there I thought the labotary leak theory was very credible. I haven't changed my theory, and the lab-leak theory is gaining more credence by the day.

Out of curiousity, does any of our members have their own ideas of where it started?

Wild Animal? Etc.

As for taking the vaccines. I know the big pharma are making billions out of it, but apart from that, the idea the vaccines are part of some conspiracy is utter nonsense.

Conspiracy theorists need to ask themeselves what any government has to gain out of Covid.

The past two years have been as close to Armageddon as we have seen for a long time.

When people can't work, society becomes so completely disfunctional, a national health service at breaking point....well the idea the powers that be or some other powers have actually conspired for this to happen seems illogical on so many levels.

I do think it could have started from a lab in China though.
Click to expand...

How could it have come from a lab in China?

There may be a BSL4 Lab in Wuhan but there’s nothing to see there!
It appeared out of nowhere with mutations that were not possible…..and jumped into a human.
All the countries who could know..do know.
It was from the lab; an accident obviously.
It suits no country to pursue this route.
 
Colin Phillips said:
I think you sum it up pretty well there, DO.

Starmer seems devoid of passion.

People keep voting Tory because the alternatives seem worse to them.
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I haven't watched the reboot of Spitting Image, but if I did I imagine they could have saved money by repurposing the John Major puppet and making it look like Starmer.

Totally lacking in everything that would make anyone want to vote for him
 
Desert Orchid said:
I'm kind of on the same track but I still see the current Scottish government as almost as corrupt as the Westminster one. From what I'm reading/hearing, the focus is much more on tipping the balance of personnel towards women and LGBT people over competence and ability.

If an independent Scotland was guaranteed fast-track entry into the EU I would happily change the stance of a lifetime and vote for independence despite my doubts about economic stability.

But this UK government is doing its best to push Scots towards leaving the UK.
Click to expand...

They have absolutely done the same in Northern Ireland. Managed to **** off absolutely everyone across the political spectrum here. People who would never even have considered voting for a united Ireland are now willing to openly talk about what one might look like. I'd say they have made it certain that unification will happen within my lifetime
 
I had the misfortune of having to take a taxi home yesterday and the driver had me biting my tongue to stop me from calling him what I was really thinking.

Apparently this Omicron variant is just the common cold...

But all this is deflecting from the debate about the political landscape.

Right now, all we need to know is that we are being 'governed' by a bunch of self-serving mega-rich varying from the callously selfish to the downright clownish.
 
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Annoyingly I nodded off just before the official result but I did know they’d won. Woke up happy, though!
 
I feel I`m terminally depressed at the state of our country. We seem to be in irreversible decline, not helped by the poor quality of politicians of all parties. We now seem to be governed by a few dozen loony right wingers with the backing of the loony media.What sane country would vote for the appalling Johnson. And let`s not pretend we didn`t know he would be the car crash he`s turned out to be. Even Stevie Wonder could see what was coming. Yet the electorate voted him in! But it does seem we are now seeing him for what he is.

I`m not as despairing of Starmer. I`d much rather have an honest and competent leader than one with "passion." Passion is a very dangerous emotion! Often leads to very poor decision making. Give me a dull but honest and efficient leader any day!
 
I really rate Starmer. I don’t understand this desire for charisma in politicians. Charisma brought us Johnson.
 
The need is not so much charisma in terms of personality (which Boris has), but charisma in terms of leadership (which Boris doesn’t have). Call it leadership gravitas if you will. Starmrr seems to try for the first (which isn’t him) rather than building on his qualities of calm, sound and reliable leadership.
 
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