Yet more speculation that Hunt is now going to increase personal allowances and leave inheritance tax alone, perhaps being labelled a ‘fascist’ by the OP has forced a re-think.
1 Like
Sadly that is untrue under the UK FPTP voting system.
Where I have a vote (a rural Tory almost safe seat) the only chance of getting change is to vote LibDem. However, try telling that to the local Labour Party 
As a former Green Party member, activist & local councillor I’d really like to vote for them, but until all votes have equal weight, including those for RON (ReOpen Nominations) that is not a sensible use of mine.
1 Like
All true Badger, I am in exactly the same position, would like to vote LibDem as the best of a very bad lot, but I do have issues with them too.
I was a member and used to attend monthly meetings in this area until the secretary’s wife died and no-one took on the task. But I cancelled my membership after a poster on another forum made serious personal attacks on the various members of the leadership at the time. I copied these accusations to the leadership and asked for a rebuttle so I could post that on the forum. 3 times I asked, and 3 times I was fobbed off with ‘your question will be answered within 3 days’.
But I am reluctant to vote for them anyway now as they seem strangely, for a committed EU party, to come out and say that on day one of a LibDem government they will start negociations for re-joining the Union.
Similarly, only a few days ago, in trying to distance themselves from the other main parties, they finally called for a cease fire in Palestine. Seems a serious lack of principle there too and look how we were let down last time by Clegg.
1 Like
I’d normally agree Badger but I’m really, really upset that anybody can condone, for IMO that is what Starmer is doing, the systematic murder of women and children. I can see my daughter in all those little girls being terrified by massively equipped (by the US and Europe) Israeli soldiers and I see no difference, apart from volume and industrialisation, between Gaza and what the Nazis did. And it is all happening in plain sight.
Indeed, you don’t have to read it.
You may be in the lucky position of not being effected by UK politics. However, those of us who have family there are very concerned about the state of the place.
Equally there are probably more than a few people on this forum who are keeping their options open in case they ever wish to return to the UK.
Why don’t you start a thread and see what people think. Sort of, “Is there a best before date for Governments” and do a comparison between UK and France.
That should should be interesting 
1 Like
I don’t agree that he is condoning that.
I think his motives are as mixed as those of the MPs and councillors who resigned. For Starmer, part of it is showing what he’d be like as PM, and part of it is the practicalities of dealing with a state like Israel, which twists every criticism into an instance of anti-Semitism.
1 Like
It’s a legitimate point and one which has been made before. Several times.
Even though I partake in these conversations and even start quite a few I completely agree that the site is notionally about the French experience (and invaluable in that respect).
However most of us have a connection to the UK, some of us are not permanently resident in France and of those that are only a handful have citizenship - so most do not have a say in French politics. Post-Brexit not even a vote in the local elections. Thus political discussion does tend to revert to UK politics. Especially as there is so much to talk about at the moment.
As has been pointed out you don’t have to join in. You can mute topics or individuals if you prefer.
There certainly is an element of that - arguably even without Brexit and the massive rightwards lurch that the Tories have made (I really wasn’t joking when I said that the modern party encompasses a wide range of political opinion from UKIP on the left to the British National Party on the right) they would be trailing Labour in the polls.
However I’m not sure any party’s spell in government has been so damaging to the UK and its reputation - in a way that Macron has simply not done to France.
There are the die-hards, of course, but Tory support is now down to its core 20% or so. And even that might get divided if the parties to the right of the Tories (mainly Reform) dislike Sunak’s apparent attempt to soften the party’s image enrages them enough. I don’t think the likes of Tice could form a government but they can certainly do Sunak and the Tories a lot of harm.
Given the lightning quick reactions on this forum by the time I had a chance to respond to PBS others had already done so. In the past I too have voiced doubts about the amount of content that has nor direct relevance to living in France but also must accept that events in Brexitland do affect me. Some of my family still live there, it pays my pension and the reality is I lived there for 66% of my life. You can take the man out of the bog but you cannot take the bog out of the man. I do have the advantage of Irish citizenship so can at least vote in local and European elections.
Gus
2 Likes
Nailed it Gus, what goes on over the channel affects many of us here in France especially state pensions and family still there. I do watch the french news a lot, especially the main evening one and see and learn what is going on here too and having french pensions also makes me keep up with french government activities but I would not dare to comment as I just don’t feel knowledgable enough.
1 Like
I think a lot of UK people talk about UK politics because
a) they still have ties of one sort of another to the UK and
b) many can’t vote in France post Brexit and
c) an irritatingly large number (not on SFN) don’t really speak French or understand how we see things and don’t care about our politics either because it’s too different and weird or because they think it’s the same here and back in Blighty.
Interesting you are surrounded by hatred of Macron, I voted for him in both rounds of both elections and actually I think he is doing OK all things considered. I certainly prefer him 1000 times to the alternatives (Melenchon is a mad old creep and look at repulsive Bardella buying himself a bit of respectability).
14 Likes
Spot on @vero
2 Likes
Also it is perfectly normal to take an interest in and be informed about what’s going on somewhere even if you don’t happen to be resident there. It seems very narrow-minded to use ‘I don’t live in X so I take no interest in it’ as a justification. No man is an island.
4 Likes
I think a lot of people want to live somewhere warmer than UK and you only have to look at the number of expat ghettos in Spain to see that they take what they want but do not bother contributing.
As I said, go ahead and discuss British politics, no problem for me, but it just seems strange that on a forum about France, there’s much more discussion about British politics than about French politics.
And yes, I understand that the political situation in the UK is “interesting” to say the least at the moment. Looks like you guys in the UK are just going to have to stick up with the current situation until there’s an election and then see if things get better afterwords.
But commenting on what Vero said:
Personally I am not really against Macron, I often feel sorry for him, he has plenty of well thought through ideas, but it always backfires on him because so many people hate him.
I should add that I live in a rural part of the south-east of France where the people are a bit “extremist”, either far right or far left, they tend to be very revoluntionary here and despise the “middle of the road” way. It could be very different in other regions.
2 Likes
As I said you are not the first to make that observation, threads on French politics have occasionally had some discussion but don’t seem to generate as much traction as the ones on the situation in the UK - for various reasons already pointed out.
From what I can see of French politics, incumbents seem to frequently arrive with great fanfare maybe manage some change (and, in this, I think Macron has done about as well as possible) and then quickly stop being the public’s darling and their popularity drops llike a stone.
Macron did well to get a 2nd term - I’m more worried what will happen in the next election given that Europe in general seems to want to play with the idea of far right government and Macron won’t be able to stand.
3 Likes
Whereabouts? I come from a small fishing village in the SE. People tend to be extremist either because they think tous des fachos so they vote for Mélench or xenophobic as well so they vote for the RN because they don’t want a foreigner living next door, especially a brown or black one.
Pffffffff
4 Likes
John Scully suggested a bit earlier a new post comparing British and French politics. Actually a good idea because it is very different between the 2 countries (what type of people vote in which direction). And anyway this post is about British politics so not appropriate to divert the subject to French politics.
Vero - I stomp around the more inland parts of 83, 06 and 04.
1 Like
I agree entirely, but when I see little four and five year olds terrorised by a “legitimate” State I think of my daughter at that age, I would have killed (and still would ) anybody that harmed her. I accept that Hamas did wrong and it must be addressed, preferably once and for all. But listening to the smug savage Netanyahu, his rabid right wing supporters and his suspect IDF spokesmen lie as children die and not to call for an immediate ceasefire is, IMHO, to condone, by silence, the indiscriminate murder.
I agree again, and I don’t like it. He sits on the fence on every issue. IMO hat’s OK, though not honourable, on wishy-washy matters but not on the murder of children, whether in a kibbutz or a refugee camp. He was right to call out the first, he is wrong to ignore the second. If he had the guts and integrity to call for an immediate ceasefire or the introduction of sanctions (preferably cut Isreal off from the international banking system immediately - watch them soften their position overnight) then I’d admire him. However giving his current position he’s toast for me. At least I know the tories are bastards, why would a party led by a moral vacuum like Starmer be any better?
Ahhh, the old sayings are best 