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Posted (edited)

Such fucking stupid BS that the transition to a new government from the time the polls closed is like 15 hours and for us, it’s 2.5 months. If Biden is sworn in on November 8, 2020, no insurrection attempt would have had time to foment 

Edited by Js1
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Posted

I think this about sums it up...

"I'm fed up of personal agendas and jockeying for position," he(Sir Robert Buckland) added, warning that the upcoming Tory leadership contest was "going to be like a group of bald men arguing over a comb".

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Posted

So labour has what 5 years, at a minimum in power? There is still a nasty element in the UK for too many voting for farage’s candidates. He basically split the Tory vote which created this result. that is the biggest takeaway to me.

im curious if the Tory leaders will hold firm to their ideals or effectively merge back with farage in the upcoming years. My guess is that they will be politicians and give farage more power. 

Posted

There’s a whole story here - the boy camped out at the grand opening of the first Popeyes in central Glasgow, and got all kinds of swag and such - but he also got interviewed by the news about the election. So, somewhere out there is an interview of an American in a Popeyes baseball jersey discussing his thoughts on the UK election. Gonna see if we can find it. He was quite pleased with the results, and may have said “fuck Farage.”

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Posted

I quietly am optimistic about November.  The number of Trump endorsees that are losing does not gibe with his supposed popularity.   This isn't being pointed out enough.  

Quote

In Utah, Republican Rep. John Curtis — who has been critical of Trump — beat out Trump's chosen candidate Trent Staggs to take over Mitt Romney's open Senate seat. Staggs lost to Curtis by 20 points, according to projected race calls from the Associated Press, compiled by The New York Times.
In South Carolina, a similar situation occurred: ultra-conservative pastor Mark Burns, who Trump endorsed on Truth Social in April, lost his House runoff race to Republican Sherri Biggs.

And in Colorado, House hopeful and state GOP Chair Dave Williams, who the former president endorsed on Truth Social in March, got smoked by his rival, conservative commentator Jeff Crank — losing by 30 points, according to the Times.

The three losses are just the second, third, and fourth time that a Trump favorite has lost their race for a federal position this election cycle, Politico reported. The first instance happened earlier in June when Trump-endorsed New Jersey Senate candidate Christine Serrano Glassner lost by 7 points to real estate developer Curtis Bashaw, according to the Times.


There's two other candidates who might get added to Trump's list of failures.

The race for Utah's second congressional district is still too close to call, with Trump-backed incumbent Rep. Celeste Maloy leading by just 3 points. And Virginia's Republican primary is also still too close to call, with Trump pick John McGuire less than one point ahead of his challenger. That race may result in a recount, MSNBC reported.

Trump-backed congressional candidates suffered rare losses in Tuesday's primary elections (msn.com)

 

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Posted
33 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

So labour has what 5 years, at a minimum in power? There is still a nasty element in the UK for too many voting for farage’s candidates. He basically split the Tory vote which created this result. that is the biggest takeaway to me.

im curious if the Tory leaders will hold firm to their ideals or effectively merge back with farage in the upcoming years. My guess is that they will be politicians and give farage more power. 

A maximum of five years in power.  The PM can ask the King to dissolve Parliament and call a General Election at any time.  But he must do so not more than five years from the beginning of this Parliament (which will open with the King's Speech on July 17).

I have some takeaways, but first a few highlights:

1) Jacob Rees-Mogg had to stand there on stage next to an anthropomorphic corn on the cob to hear that he had lost his seat.  That that wasn't all--his loss provided Labour with its 326th seat, officially making Labour the majority party in Parliament.  The staging, the timing--it was all so perfect for a man who is as responsible as anyone for the collapse of the Conservative Party.  Rees-Mogg actively developed and nurtured the racist populist fringe that became Reform UK, thinking that he could domesticate it and keep it as a pet.  But as we have seen in the United States, the leopard always eats their faces.  And so it was with Rees-Mogg.

2) A huge number of Tories looked shellshocked, as though they genuinely didn't expect this outcome.  And that amazes me.  The polls have been predicting this for months.  And I don't even think you needed a poll to sense the mood of the electorate.  

3) But through their shellshock, they were remarkably candid.  Tories honestly called it a "disaster," a "catastrophe," and a "bloodbath."  But absolutely none of them called it "rigged."  There is a deep consensus in the UK as to the constitutional democratic structure that seems to be lacking in the United States.  And it's quite alarming and distressing when you see it lain quite so bare.

So a few additional take-aways:

1) I don't know what the Conservative Party is today.  Twenty years ago, it was the party of both Archie Leach and his racist father in Kingston-on-Hull (people think Archie came from money, but really he only married into it).  But yesterday, Archie's dad voted Reform UK.  And Archie is now living in Rio with that American lass with the great tits.  So who is voting Conservative these days?

I think the answer is "not very many people."  

The Tories, I fear, are going to take the lessons that the Republican Party took from 2012 and decide that they need to consolidate around a base of racist, xenophobic, anti-capitalistic, and populist voters.  If they do that, it will be an even smaller party.  But people like Suella Braverman will be safe, and that's frequently the consideration that trumps all others.

2) The people of Clacton are functionally not going to have any representation in Parliament.  Nigel Farange made that pretty clear in his victory speech.  He has no ability to or interest in actually holding office.  He's only interested in campaigning for the next election.  And for a down-and-out town like Clacton, that's the last thing it needs.

3) The cause of Scottish independence looks to be pretty much cooked, at least for now.  SNP with only 9 seats is a disaster for that party.

I guess I'm a little surprised that Brexit didn't immediately bring about Scottish independence with an eye toward rejoining the EU.  But the problem is that when you get into government, as the SNP is at Holyrood, you have to actually govern.  And the SNP hasn't been very good at it.  It's really the same disease that infected the Tories with the Brexit vote.  Great--you won.  Now actually govern.  And they couldn't.

4) Which brings us to Labour.  What the fuck is that party?  It legit had no real policy positions in its manifesto to distinguish it from the Conservatives.  And as has been rehashed, the Conservative policy decisions have led the UK to an absolutely abysmal economic (and, it must be said, cultural) state.  So Labour has a sweeping mandate, but to do what?

The new Chancellor is going to have a real challenge.  The British economy is stagnating.  But government expenditures desperately need to go up.  The American solution is debt.  And, in all honesty--the evidence reflects that it's not a bad solution.  But damn, the UK's debt is already around 90% of GDP.  But the United States is around 125%, so fuck it--why not?

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Posted

@Ghost of LL thanks for the correction of minimum vs maximum. my bad.

I see that Farage is thrilled that Labour now owns the mess that the Conservative party + Farage made. Farage can stand to the side and falsely claim that none of his ideals led to the current economic catastrophe, which is a lie.

But he will be willing to give up ~5 years of conservative rule to work to consolidate the conservative vote to him. Reform UK (Farage) and Conservative together still outperformed Labour in total votes. Yesterday was a rejection of the current Conservative party not the movement itself. Not to mention that the center party, Liberal Democrats, did well as well.

Posted
59 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

1) Jacob Rees-Mogg had to stand there on stage next to an anthropomorphic corn on the cob to hear that he had lost his seat.  That that wasn't all--his loss provided Labour with its 326th seat, officially making Labour the majority party in Parliament.  The staging, the timing--it was all so perfect for a man who is as responsible as anyone for the collapse of the Conservative Party.  Rees-Mogg actively developed and nurtured the racist populist fringe that became Reform UK, thinking that he could domesticate it and keep it as a pet.  But as we have seen in the United States, the leopard always eats their faces.  And so it was with Rees-Mogg.

 

baked bean balaclava

449356108_3652662768327517_6160523033172

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Posted

Labour gets a second chance after Blair’s disastrous neoliberal/New Labour/Third Way/Thatcher-lite policies. Austerity is murder, especially when it is “austerity for thee and not for me.” 

Here’s hoping Starmer restores dignity to the common people of the British Isles. Perhaps Starmer can be an inspiration to our politicians as they attempt to resist the dismal tide of far right authoritarianism sweeping the globe. 

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Posted
2 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:

A maximum of five years in power.  The PM can ask the King to dissolve Parliament and call a General Election at any time.  But he must do so not more than five years from the beginning of this Parliament (which will open with the King's Speech on July 17).

I have some takeaways, but first a few highlights:

1) Jacob Rees-Mogg had to stand there on stage next to an anthropomorphic corn on the cob to hear that he had lost his seat.  That that wasn't all--his loss provided Labour with its 326th seat, officially making Labour the majority party in Parliament.  The staging, the timing--it was all so perfect for a man who is as responsible as anyone for the collapse of the Conservative Party.  Rees-Mogg actively developed and nurtured the racist populist fringe that became Reform UK, thinking that he could domesticate it and keep it as a pet.  But as we have seen in the United States, the leopard always eats their faces.  And so it was with Rees-Mogg.

2) A huge number of Tories looked shellshocked, as though they genuinely didn't expect this outcome.  And that amazes me.  The polls have been predicting this for months.  And I don't even think you needed a poll to sense the mood of the electorate.  

3) But through their shellshock, they were remarkably candid.  Tories honestly called it a "disaster," a "catastrophe," and a "bloodbath."  But absolutely none of them called it "rigged."  There is a deep consensus in the UK as to the constitutional democratic structure that seems to be lacking in the United States.  And it's quite alarming and distressing when you see it lain quite so bare.

So a few additional take-aways:

1) I don't know what the Conservative Party is today.  Twenty years ago, it was the party of both Archie Leach and his racist father in Kingston-on-Hull (people think Archie came from money, but really he only married into it).  But yesterday, Archie's dad voted Reform UK.  And Archie is now living in Rio with that American lass with the great tits.  So who is voting Conservative these days?

I think the answer is "not very many people."  

The Tories, I fear, are going to take the lessons that the Republican Party took from 2012 and decide that they need to consolidate around a base of racist, xenophobic, anti-capitalistic, and populist voters.  If they do that, it will be an even smaller party.  But people like Suella Braverman will be safe, and that's frequently the consideration that trumps all others.

2) The people of Clacton are functionally not going to have any representation in Parliament.  Nigel Farange made that pretty clear in his victory speech.  He has no ability to or interest in actually holding office.  He's only interested in campaigning for the next election.  And for a down-and-out town like Clacton, that's the last thing it needs.

3) The cause of Scottish independence looks to be pretty much cooked, at least for now.  SNP with only 9 seats is a disaster for that party.

I guess I'm a little surprised that Brexit didn't immediately bring about Scottish independence with an eye toward rejoining the EU.  But the problem is that when you get into government, as the SNP is at Holyrood, you have to actually govern.  And the SNP hasn't been very good at it.  It's really the same disease that infected the Tories with the Brexit vote.  Great--you won.  Now actually govern.  And they couldn't.

4) Which brings us to Labour.  What the fuck is that party?  It legit had no real policy positions in its manifesto to distinguish it from the Conservatives.  And as has been rehashed, the Conservative policy decisions have led the UK to an absolutely abysmal economic (and, it must be said, cultural) state.  So Labour has a sweeping mandate, but to do what?

The new Chancellor is going to have a real challenge.  The British economy is stagnating.  But government expenditures desperately need to go up.  The American solution is debt.  And, in all honesty--the evidence reflects that it's not a bad solution.  But damn, the UK's debt is already around 90% of GDP.  But the United States is around 125%, so fuck it--why not?

Labour and Tories seem aligned in foreign policy: they’re both pro-NATO, pro-Ukraine, and pro-Israel.

Posted
5 hours ago, Js1 said:

Such fucking stupid BS that the transition to a new government from the time the polls closed is like 15 hours and for us, it’s 2.5 months. If Biden is sworn in on November 8, 2020, no insurrection attempt would have had time to foment 

It takes more time for an American to supervise the harvest on his lands, then proceed by coach along roads that may be rendered impassible by rains.

Posted
3 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

There’s a whole story here - the boy camped out at the grand opening of the first Popeyes in central Glasgow, and got all kinds of swag and such - but he also got interviewed by the news about the election. So, somewhere out there is an interview of an American in a Popeyes baseball jersey discussing his thoughts on the UK election. Gonna see if we can find it. He was quite pleased with the results, and may have said “fuck Farage.”

Ah luv thet checken frum Popeyes.

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Posted

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Future historians are going to look back and judge the effectiveness of social media by how well it was used to convince people to vote against their own self interest. 


 

Brexit 1.jpg

Brexit 3.jpg

Brexit 2.jpg

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Posted

A strong majority in the UK now thinks it was a mistake.

image.thumb.png.096bfa633827fffa8a5a29d9f8a9f997.png
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/26/world/europe/trump-brexit-scotland-uk.html

On a sunny June morning nine years ago, Donald J. Trump arrived at his golf resort in Scotland, the day after Britain voted to leave the European Union. At that time, he took credit for predicting Brexit and said it foretold victory in the insurgent presidential campaign he was mounting back home.

On Friday, a second-term President Trump returned to that resort, Trump Turnberry, with a good part of what he said in 2016 now a reality.

He had correctly claimed that the political forces that drove Brexit went beyond a single country. Five months after that visit, Mr. Trump captured the White House, having played to anxieties about immigration in ways that echoed the “Vote Leave” campaign.

Yet in Britain, history has diverged from Mr. Trump’s vision in important respects. Polls show that close to 60 percent of Britons now believe Brexit was a mistake. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made mending relations with the European Union one of the priorities of his Labour government.

The populist wave that Mr. Trump predicted would wash across Europe has ebbed and flowed, leaving a fragmented political landscape with a handful of populist leaders whose fortunes are mixed. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy is on the rise, but Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary is struggling.

“Populism is still a relatively limited phenomenon,” said Kim Darroch, who was Britain’s ambassador to the United States during Mr. Trump’s first term. “Brexit happened, but it’s very hard to argue, even by its most ardent proponents, that it has been anything other than a comprehensive disaster.”

Still, in retrospect, he said, Mr. Trump’s 2016 visit came at a “turning point in history, and we haven’t seen how it’s all going to work out.”

Mr. Darroch recalled that British officials were nervous that Mr. Trump, who had long been vocal about his support for Brexit, would land in Scotland before the vote rather than after it. With the polls showing a narrow margin, they worried that he would throw his support to the Vote Leave campaign at a critical moment.

As it happened, the Brexiteers did not need Mr. Trump, winning by 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent. On that Friday morning, as a dazed Britain digested the implications of Brexit, he played the role of cheerleader and political analyst.

“I said this was going to happen, and I think it’s great thing,” Mr. Trump said, as he emerged from a helicopter to the serenading of bagpipers.

“Basically, they took back their country,” he told an audience that included journalists and greenskeepers from the resort. “People want to take their country back, they want to have independence in a sense, and you’re going to have more than just, in my opinion, more than just what happened last night. You’re going to have many other cases where people want to take their borders back.”

Mr. Trump said he saw a “big parallel” between Brexit and his candidacy. That view has been endorsed by political analysts, who regard the referendum as a canary in a coal mine for Mr. Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton.

In many ways, Scotland was the wrong place for Mr. Trump’s message. Scots voted by a wide margin to remain in the European Union. Two years earlier, in 2014, they had voted in a referendum to stay part of the United Kingdom. “He was talking to the non-converted,” Mr. Darroch said.

Today, the regret about Brexit extends beyond Scotland. In a poll last month by the market research firm YouGov, 56 percent of people said leaving the European Union was a mistake, while only 31 percent said it was the right decision.

Britain cycled through four Conservative prime ministers in the upheaval that followed the vote. Last July, the Tories were swept out of power by Mr. Starmer’s Labour Party. Mr. Trump himself remains stubbornly unpopular in Britain, particularly in Scotland, where he is viewed as an unreliable investor who clashed with neighbors at his other resort, Trump International Scotland, north of Aberdeen.

But having returned to power, he is a commanding figure on the world stage. King Charles III has invited him to make a rare second state visit in September. And Mr. Starmer has assiduously cultivated him. He will visit the president at Turnberry on Monday before flying with him to Aberdeen.

Mr. Trump has said little about the waning popularity of Brexit, preferring to focus on the trade deal he struck with Mr. Starmer in May. The president will even roll out the welcome mat for the European Union this time around, meeting on Sunday with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, to discuss trade negotiations between the United States and the E.U.

It was not clear whether Mr. Trump would meet with Nigel Farage, the leader of the anti-immigrant party, Reform U.K., during this visit. Mr. Farage is his most conspicuous political ally in Britain and has ridden Mr. Trump’s anti-establishment mantra to new prominence.

Regardless of whether that prompts Mr. Trump to take another victory lap this weekend, his defenders argue that the rise of Reform U.K. shows that the essence of his populist message has been validated in Britain.

“All the push-polls in Christendom won’t change the fact that the U.K. has its sovereignty back and they will never rejoin the E.U.,” said Stephen K. Bannon, a former chief strategist to Mr. Trump.



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