Octopus Overlords

malchior wrote: Sun Nov 24, 2019 12:09 pm

El Guapo wrote: Sat Nov 23, 2019 11:26 pmMy understanding is that the reason he got elected Labour leader in the first place is that the party had an election process in place that allowed committed activists to wield disproportionate influence. It's not like he needs to face the electorate in order to become Labour leader, it's just that he needs to win over people who are willing to join the party and attend party meetings. I tend to assume that the same reason makes it difficult for the party to eject him as leader.

Yup - they have anti-super delegates in a way. It is like the Bernie Bros took over their party.

It just sucks because if Labour had even a mediocre leader right now willing to listen to what the majority of voters want, I think there would be a pretty decent chance of stopping Brexit and restoring some sanity.

It is an almost anyone else at this point. Their policies aren't even all that unpopular. Corbyn is. Almost solely. The last debate was the UK version of a town hall and it had pretty well informed people basically heckling Johnson and Corbyn about:

*Both their problems with racism
*Johnson's problem with telling the truth
*Russian interference in Brexit (Johnson just literally buried a report about it)
*A bunch of UK wonky issues

Sepiche wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2019 10:40 am I follow British politics, but I think I'm missing some key insights...

Why doesn't Labour boot Corbyn? What's the hold he has on the party? Popularity/wishful thinking among the rank and file?

This election should be theirs in a landslide as Johnson is a buffoon and pretty unpopular... except when compared to Corbyn.

Follow up: Why can't the Lib Dems make any hay out of the two major party candidates being extraordinarily unpopular? Two party mentality like we have here?

Alefroth wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2019 2:22 pm It doesn't address the Corbyn situation specifically, but I found this infographic pretty helpful-

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inter ... 05507.html

Kraken wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 11:55 pm Brexit to me is like a game whose gold date keeps getting pushed back. It's the Battlecruiser 3000AD of politics. If it ever ships at all, you know it's going to suck.

U.K. voters are heading to the polls Thursday for a general election to select 650 members of Parliament — and determine the futures of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. The election is expected to have high turnout, with key questions about Brexit left to resolve.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local time and were scheduled to close at 10 p.m. (5 p.m. ET). That's when the first projections of the results will likely emerge. So far on election day, the most popular figures at polling stations seem to be dogs.

While politicians stumped for a final push, many voters embraced the hashtag #dogsatpollingstations on Twitter, celebrating the wide range of Labs, collies, retrievers, setters, spaniels and shepherds that got a bit of exercise as their humans exercised their right to vote. Johnson, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and other high-profile voters were photographed taking their dogs to the polls.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson appears to have won a large, decisive and potentially powerful majority of parliamentary seats in Thursday's election, according to the exit poll released minutes after the voting ended.

The Conservatives are expected to win 368 seats, according to the national exit poll. The party needs 322 seats to control Parliament — and push through Johnson's Brexit plan.

If the exit poll results hold when actual ballots are tallied, Johnson and his Conservative Party will have achieved a smashing success — the largest win for the Tories since the days of Margaret Thatcher — while the opposition Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn will have suffered their worst defeat in four decades.

If the numbers hold through the night, Johnson and the Conservatives will assuredly plow forward with Brexit on steroids.

Dreams of a second referendum — of remaining in the European Union — will be dashed. And by January, one of the dominant partners in the long, lucrative, peaceful, postwar order, manifested by Europe’s political and trade bloc, will go off on its own.

Isgrimnur wrote:You remember in Blazing Saddles where the new sheriff took himself hostage? Like that, only he’s serious.

Holman wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:56 pm Time to start betting on Scottish independence.

Sepiche wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:35 pm If Labour doesn't boot Corbyn after this showing, they're bigger fools than the folks that trust Johnson.

Defiant wrote: Fri Dec 13, 2019 12:10 am The Monster Raving Loony Party got 6,432 votes so far in the count.

I know nothing about it, but I assume it's a more sensible party than the top two parties.

The Official Monster Raving Loony Party is a political party established in the United Kingdom in 1983 by the musician David Sutch, also known as "Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow", or simply "Lord Sutch". It is notable for its deliberately bizarre policies and it effectively exists to satirise British politics, and to offer itself as an alternative for protest voters, especially in constituencies where the party holding a safe seat is unlikely to lose it.

Isgrimnur wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 5:47 pm https://twitter.com/jamesmelville/statu ... 1736058881

Isgrimnur wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2020 12:30 pm If you like Popehat's Lawsplainers, you might like the Brexit 2020 explainer from across the pond.

However, firms might also be anxious about what the future holds and what they should expect come 1 February – the first day of the transition, which runs until 31 December 2020. During this period, the UK is not technically in the EU, but is expected to abide by its rules.

After the chancellor signalled that three million of the coins - marking the UK's departure from the EU - would enter into circulation on January 31st, Remain campaigners vowed to take action.

Readers of The New European Facebook page said that they would do what they can to keep the coins out of circulation.

"If and when I get one of these 50 pence coins I shall remove it from circulation, keep it in a drawer, and return them all to a bank on the day the UK rejoins the EU which I predict will not be long," wrote John Perry.
...
The chancellor plans three million of the coins on Brexit day with a further seven million at a later date.

Members of the European Parliament have overwhelmingly backed the terms of the UK's departure from the EU.

MEPs ratified the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement by 621 votes to 49 following an emotional debate in Brussels.

Jaymann wrote: Sat Feb 01, 2020 1:32 pm So now it's a done deal. I have heard all the negatives, are there any benefits whatsoever?

Holman wrote: Sat Feb 01, 2020 6:12 pm The next step is for Scotland to quit the UK. This will be quite bad for post-UK politics as the Scots are a left-leaning counterweight to English reactionaries.

England could be Hungary in a generation.