It’s a shame, though
It’s really not, if they’re anything like the Nigel Farage loving Reform supporters I know.
1 Like
I agree. Whilst I don’t think I know anyone who openly admits to voting Reform, my experience of speaking with them online hasn’t been positive.
My middle brother is a rabid Reform supported as is his wife. They live in the Makerfield constituency and would have voted Reform. He’s one of the Reform supported who insists that everything in the UK is horrible, nothing works and everything is getting worse and it can all be fixed by Nigel Farage. It’s heart-breaking really as he’s an intelligent person. He also voted leave for Brexit and subsequently confided in me that he regretted it as he was lied to by the leave campaign. When I try to point out that it was Nigel Farage that was not just at the vanguard of Brexit, but lied repeatedly he ‘forgives him’. When I try to point out that he’s now a serial offender in that regard he refuses to listen.
3 Likes
You don’t have to like someone, or like what he believes, to recognise he might have something valid to contribute.
He does have things to contribute in life, I’m meeting up with him and his eldest son in Bristol in a couple of weeks time. He just lives on a diet of youtube videos and refuses to even consider other sources of information. As long as we stay clear of politics, then we’re fine.
They could organise our goose stepping classes 
And swastika embroidery for beginners.
3 Likes
Not needed for me, I did a perfect stiff arm salute and goose step that Ton Ton Adolph would have been proud of merely to prove to my shoulder specialist that there was no need for an operation. He agreed.
Let’s hope I never need it. 
1 Like
That comnent nade me smile, if that is a criteria for supporting Farage then maybe there are reform voters in our midst 
1 Like
I really should have said that he lives on a diet of youtube rage bait videos.
Didn’t the far right lot get banned from YouTube? I remember some uproar from them about how their right to free speech was being denied… It was pointed out that freedom of speech doesn’t equate to freedom from consequences 
There are still plenty of right wing rage bait videos on youtube and there are new ones every day. They’re designed to prey on peoples vulnerabilities and dissatisfaction, amplifying and distorting them.
As soon as Trump round 2 occurred all the social media networks quietly dropped any bans there were in place. There may be one or two token examples still in effect but I’m not even certain about that. Just yet another example that none of these things are done because people actually believe it, just whatever will get them the best optics at that moment
Turning the title of this thread around into a question I suspect that in the full analysis Starmer might be viewed much more kindly than he seems to be at the moment.
2 Likes
We discussed Darwin in our French class the other day. I made a point that since the advent of language and intelligence, the rate of evolution for the human species has vastly increased - the new DNA is ideas, or memes. And that humans increasingly affect and dictate the evolution or death of species - for example dogs or cows.
Not in my lifetime is what he said! So presumably yours too Billy, as you have agreed. I think he campaigned for leadership promising to continue the left wing desires of millions, only to successively trash them each year as he focussed on ‘winning the election’. And to no end, a continuation of the Tories. so what was the point. He dumped Brexit reform, he dumped electoral reform, he dumped taxation reform, he dumped gender reform.
Only now he’s going is Mahmood slightly doing refugee human rights reform. He even dumped reform of UK human rights policy - it’s OK to cut off water and starve people.
Starmer was wrong, and the scale of the error is revealed by no one having to prise his fingers off the premier ministry. We know what is right - he didn’t, he didn’t say it, do it, change it.
2 Likes
He did as he was told by his donors and that is what is wrong with UK politics
I saw Nick Clegg (remember him?) being interviewed recently on Sky News where he predicted the UK would rejoin the EU within a decade.
I’ll see if I can find it online.
Edit: Found it… https://youtu.be/z_eymvGKnyM
I’ve watched more UK TV than usual this week. The Brexit anniversary has been discussed repeatedly, but nothing I saw was positive (the closest I saw was the BBC showing a bunch of teenagers in Kent saying they were not bothered about rejoining the EU). Brexiters were conspicuous by their absence. Whereas 10 years ago Remainers were frequently told, “you lost, get over it”, nowadays I can’t help thinking “you won, get on with it”.
Starmer’s failure is just another indicator of the dire state of UK politics, unless the voting public starts to engage with politics and world affairs in general again nothing will change.
But how do you get that engagement when the voting public genuinely believes that whoever is in power their lives will be no better - and it is hard to find evidence to prove them wrong?
1 Like
The thing that I’d look for is mature leadership. Someone who is prepared to say,
“This is what I believe is good for the country, and this is why. These are the choices I will make and this is what it will cost. You may need to pay more in taxes.”
For Burnham, since it appears he wants to depart from the 2024 manifesto - though he does seem to be a flip-flapper so far: he needs to think first and speak second - it would also necessitate a General Election, otherwise he has no mandate and no legitimacy.