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forum
The Reform Party and the UK’s lurch towards fascism
I posted an earlier version of this a while back - inspired to do update following THAT discussion about all things ULEZ.
The “manifesto”, in terms of transport, only mentions stopping HS2, but there’s plenty on the usual right-wing obsessions: Brexit, immigration, veterans and climate change. I had another look because I worry about the ongoing decline of the two main political parties.
If the Cons stay wedded to Brexit, then we will go into the next GE with all the widespread impoverishment Brexit has ushered in - not helped by Covid, Putin, etc. People generally vote according to their pockets. I don’t get Labour’s current position on Europe either, but let’s see how that evolves, and even the Cons may also evolve, or even pivot, but time is already running out for them.
Several roads now lead to the horrors of a further lurch to the right in this country. Let’s hope Labour get the GE landslide the polls are predicting - but we’re still at least a year out from the real campaigning beginning.
A cycling angle? With the Reform Party and its ilk, Facebook Steve and Nextdoor Dave attain real political influence. It’s not spelt out in the manifesto, but you can see where this is probably heading and what it is likely to mean for cycling. You can bet that this lot are very much "on the side of hard working drivers" etc.
As you all know, Dave’s going to “sort the traffic” and no doubt show them lazy planners how it’s done: Steve thinks the Council are corrupt, the police blinkered and is, if he can fit it in to his busy schedule he’s going to “teach them Lycra’s a thing or two.” It won’t concern him that his Mondeo is 3 months out of MoT or that Mrs Steve sometimes drives the kids in it uninsured.
As vulnerable road users, vulnerable people, we rely a great deal on the rule of law for protection. The rule of law means that we understand what the laws are, they are in general fair, and how they are applied and to whom is even-handed and consistent.
The fascist position is broadly the opposite - it’s all off-the-cuff to support today’s particular agenda - that’s why the Iain Duncan-Smith “happy to see ULEZ infra vandalised” comment is, as an example, so very worrying. In the Conservatives, here is a party happy to send signals to enable the mob to attack RNLI stations, beat up immigrants, shout at teachers, doctors etc.
This right-wing stuff works by allowing/enabling significant privileged groups to to think of themselves as the downtrodden underdog and here is a way to fight back. The pro Brexit campaign played on people’s ignorance, fears and prejudices exactly as this does.
It’s all about freedom, innit, less regulation, less tax burden, and damn the climate. There’s more polar bears now, so it’s fine. Let’s have open-cast coal mining, lithium mining and fracking. The section on climate change stumbles around like a Friday night drunk, trying to explain he wasn't being racist to the barman - a denier position emerges, unsurprisingly.
In places, the mask really slips: “We must keep divisive woke ideologies such as Critical Race Theory (CRT) and gender ideology out of the classroom.” - to be honest, I don’t even know what those two are.
The standard enemies are put up - the civil service, the BBC. Amid all the thrust and parry, there’s nothing about making a better, more inclusive and cohesive world to live in; arts, sports and culture don’t feature in this barstool view of the world: a dullard’s grim vision.
Don’t be a member of the wrong sort of minority would be my advice, should any of this come to pass.
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... because they ate all the crayons already?
Is it to go with their black shirts?
It seems an appropriate place to log this - The Sun has thrown its weight behind Labour
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/28935096/its-time-for-a-change/
Clearly Labour really isn't particularly left wing any more…
Not so much thrown their weight behind them as finally conceded that there's no time left for anything to derail them - they just want to be seen backing the winner. What the poitics are is almost irrelevant.
" Well I'm glad to see you're on the mend. "
Well spotted!
It came up on twitter but lots of people don't use or want to go on twitter. Anything with " " around it isn't my words.
There are some other examples !
The twitter account is deleted or only visible to followers, so it's screenshots from others only.
Here's the text of another one.
" Curiously Britain's oldest man who died in 2020 is also voting for Reform "
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-52840535
Also this gem just came up ! And who said you can't so satire any more ?
" I’m a 57 year old retired doctor from Greater Manchester. I’ll be voting for
@Nigel_Farage and @reformparty_uk at the general election. Quote tweet this and pass yours on. Let’s smash the two party system. #VoteReformUk #NigelFarage #MBGA @TonyTonyTx "
Well I would have recognised him!
If these are easily disproved as fake, makes you wonder whether it's low-quality work on behalf of Reform or smear work by their opponents.
Having been informed about the marketing efforts of some candidates ( by eg. the BBC), I think we have no need of the second hypothesis...
Nige is usually pretty quick at crying foul if/when he's on the receiving end of anything like this. Will be interesting to hear how the dispute with ismyintendedhirearavingluncatic.com plays out.
Or even when he's not.
This has been shared around my whatsapps today.. I did it and i was surprised and a little concerned tbf.
If you've got 20mins.. why not see just how close all the parties policies/bribes/lies appear to be.. https://voteforpolicies.org.uk/
Wow.
They didn't feature the Greens there but did have Reform - another OMG - no to Binface, yes to Toadface?
I could guess one or more but yeah... it's not quite "any colour you want as long as it's black" and no doubt they've had to set these things up so you can actually compare relatively similar stuff... but certainly appears to be "nuances" rather than any different visions.
...Except the party that wanted to scrap the environmental stuff / send 'em all back / is anti-LTN (the latter is two of 'em!)
Sorry - I'm not standing.
Well said The Daily Telegraph! [👇] Britain is close to ANARCHY. Bunty & I have shopped at Waitrose for years but the rise of Keir Starmer has led to worrying trends: -Meal Deals -Customers with tattoos -Shortages of fennel & Potato Dauphinoise. Vote Labour & this is your FUTURE!
Sir Michael Take CBE @MichaelTakeMP
The former Conservative MP for Dorset East.
I hate to break it to you, but I've been known to cycle to Waitrose and avail of their meal deal.
Well just because you're a feral youth doesn't mean you can't appreciate a roast chicken & herby pea crush sarnie, or a nice tuna niçoise...
(Also - it's amazing what you can afford if you're shoplifting: there's no need to be cheap).
I don't think anyone's buying that I'm a youth.
I guess it's hard to judge from looking at that avatar - OTOH I discover that 1985 was a long time ago now.
no objection to being called feral though.
I would still say this will be the classic of the genre that schoolchildren will be reading 30 years from now
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/31/rishi-sunak-comeback-general...
Surely you mean Liz Truss' book?
10 years?
Liz Truss book enters bestseller list in 70th place with 2,228 copies sold
Former PM’s first-week sales compare with 21,000 for David Cameron’s memoir and 92,000 for Tony Blair book
It's the kind of headline you expect to find underneath the actual article, next to those telling you 'New ****** In Your Area Are Almost Being Given Away' (where ****** is a very expensive thing which definitely isn't almost being given away).
Camila was wildly wrong on 31 May, but is undaunted - fair challenge in this headline. A divided right (wing) in the next few years - see other articles today - would be a bonus, but cutting through beneficially into people's lives in 5 years won't be easy.
I've only got the first line of the article, but there's already a theme developing and the beginning of a "What has Kier Starmer ever done for us?" Sketch here:
So I ask you in all good faith, what has Keir Starmer ever done for us??
Won by a landslide? Appointed a cabinet of people who know their brief?
Well, apart from the landlside
got a clear mandate to govern? Increased his share of seats by 211? Won despite many years of Tory-friendly boundary reviews?
well yes, you've got your 211 seats, obviously...
won 412 seats and thereby a sizeable majority in Parliament?
look, apart from the landslide, the massive majority, what -
don't forget the 412 seats, brother
yes, thank you brother - so apart from the landslide, the massive majority, the competent cabinet, what has Kier Starmer ever done for us???
Why Sir Keir Starmer could turn out to be a one-term prime minister
He may have won big, but he has no plan or authority to fix Britain’s most pressing problems
Judged purely on the number of seats Labour has won, then of course the general election was a victory for Sir Keir Starmer...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/05/read-my-lips-sir-keir-starme...
"British voters will come to regret annihilating the Conservative Party"
hopefully, the Conservative Party will come to regret annihilating Britain.
Unlikely. Rishi will be off to the US or to his wife's family in India, every other ex-Tory (are any of them actually planning on staying on as MPs?) will be rotating-door into a large and well-paid job coincidentally closely related to whatever they were doing in Govt.
And the will of the majority will prevail, democracy in action whether you like the result or not.
The will of the majority virtually never prevails: the last time more than 50% of voters chose one party in the UK was 1935 (you could say that the LibCon coalition of 2010, with over 50% of the vote between them, was "the will of the people" but that would make the erroneous supposition that all LD voters were happy with the decision to enter coalition with the Tories). Under our ridiculous and outdated parliamentary system, the will of the largest minority will prevail and the majority of the votes cast will essentially count for nothing. Not really democracy in action.
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