Seizing back control: The ILX lol brexit is how we're all gonna die thread.

and the bloc system in the EU Parliament puts Labour in with the Socialist bloc.

This is one factor that's making me lean towards voting Greens in this election - name aside the Socialist bloc ain't exactly great, most of the parties involved are still comparable to Blair-era Labour. Green bloc have a much better track record at fighting lobbying, revolving doors, etc.

And like, despite extensive googling there doesn't seem to be anything online that says who these candidates are, what their background is, their qualifications or beliefs, even Labour's own website is just a list of their names. Not even a photo.

Fair play to the (otherwise useless) Labour leaflet I got tho: out of the four I received (Labour, Green, UKIP, Brexit Party) they're the only ones that actually bothered to list the names of their candidates.

None of this has anything to do with the reason British people have historically not been bothered about EU elections - they just see it as remote and divorced from their everyday concerns. It's a big part of the reason we're in this mess, because a big chunk of population, perhaps a majority, have never seen themselves as truly represented in Europe.

This analysis would be OTM in many other places in the European Union too.

list/PR elections don't help with that disconnect either, though tinkering with the voting system is not likely to help

I won't be voting as a UK resident because it's frankly not my place to do so (I'll most likely be gone within a year anyway). I'd vote at the Romanian consulate if it didn't mean spending 25 bucks (sorry, I sound like a phony when I say 'quid') and at least 5h in all on a round-trip to London.

Not sure the brex p would need much of a manifesto beyond brexit stab in the back to be a faorce in a general election. But as i say, i don't think that's the game

fairly healthy turnouts in ireland, give or take. the eu needs to give out some hurleys.

i've actually had a fair old google now and i honestly can't find any biographies of the labour candidates, apart from a twitter profile for one or two. eventually it leaves me thinking they don't want you to know anything about these candidates. i'll stop harping on now but isn't this completely absurd?

same with lib dems, for the sake of balance.

list-based elections encourage anonymous lists of party aparatchiks, along with the swivel-eyed weirdos of the Brexit party

FernandoHierro I googled all the Labour candidates and most of them have wikipedia pages? Greens more difficult tho, mostly just twitter profiles.

Claire Fox will become an elected politician as a result of this voting
system - if that isn't an argument against it, I give up.

i don't want to vote now unless i can vote for Ben Gilroy

the bit at the end - i don't even know what has happened there.

daniel_rf yeah i guess individually i can find them - i meant more that it surprised me there was no list in one place of who they are, particularly on the party's own websites.

The Brexit Party leaflet I received definitely included the names of their candidates - possibly a tactical error, as one of them is Claire Fox.

The Brexit Party leaflet I received definitely included the names of their candidates - possibly a tactical error, as one of them is Claire Fox.

I doubt anyone who's voting Brexit Party cares who their candidates are.

I thought the bit at the end was showing that Ben Gilroy is so tough that even he himself cannot defeat him? Very metaphysical.

that Nailz he can't twat himself - makes u think!

i took it as an invitation to whale on Ben Gilroy with a hurley stick should i ever come across him irl

kind of like Houdini but with hurling

I keep reading him as bet gilroy - bet he'd love that nickname.

i wondered if he had done himself an injury somehow with all that vigorous hurling. he doesn't look like the fittest man.

xp his complexion is reminscent of some kind of cut of raw pork that i can't put my finger on

Certainly, in the topsy-turvy world of Europeanpolitics, having a good solid piece of wood in your hand is often useful.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7KRFISWwAA-4od.jpg

this ad is the first of the 9-week UC advertising campaign by the DWP to clear up the lies being spread about it by the lefty bbc.

The message of the Metro ad is similar to the government’s response to today’s UN poverty report. ‘The hardship you experience and see is not real.’ It is the mass gaslighting of the working class and disabled by the Tories. None of us in the press should be assisting them.

— Frances Ryan (@DrFrancesRyan) May 22, 2019

All well and good doing it in a studio, but can he smash it on a cold rainy night at Croke?

he has a specific sort of nervous energy, like that of the man who approaches you in a pub or on an empty train, insistent on telling you something.

I’m reading up about the one independent candidate for the east of England, longevity biologist and philosopher Attila Csordas. He seems p committed to tackling the key issue of the day, biological ageing.

I thought Alex Chiu's immortality rings had already remedied that?

kind of like Houdini but with hurling

― specific goats my way (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 22 May 2019 09:34 (thirty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ffs man you couldnt get from here to hurley houdini?

ive a cousin a few times removed who handed our current biggest cunt candidate (anti traveller, anti immigrant populist dragons den judge) a kicking on tv last night

would still vote for him first obv

Where's the accountability when you're asked to vote for eight candidates at once or whatever, and one could be Mary Poppins while the next one is Captain Hook?

British Steel's collapse is more awfulness - wonder how much Brexit really has to do with it. Wouldn't have helped, but there is no strategy for anything but finance and landlords.

Captain Hookem is actually on the ballot for UKIP I think.

I think some ppl are overstating the brexit uncertainty element of British Steel in the shit.

this ad is the first of the 9-week UC advertising campaign by the DWP to clear up the lies being spread about it by the lefty bbc.
Honestly the biggest bunch of creeps and when you consider they’d rather spend money telling people they’re not starving, it’s working fine...

Part of Mao's GLF mission statement was for China to equal the UK in steel production within 15years lol

i haven't actually been following this bcz i seem to have a mental mute on anything containing the word "tariff" but presumably trump's manoeuvres re the US steel industry in the last few month haven't had much of a positive impact

banter timeline:

May pulls the vote
May claims that without the vote she doesn't have to provide the post-vote timeline for her replacement - we must instead all row together
1922 committee meets to vote on shortening her period of invulnerability
1922 vote fails by even more than before OR the period is shortened to 6 months, but she wins the VONC by 1 vote

Let's face it she's here until 2022

better together out the gates early for indyref II

There is a Brexiteer in charge of their comms and strategy. It’s really the only explanation

— Abi Wilkinson (@AbiWilks) May 22, 2019

ffs man you couldnt get from here to hurley houdini?

I'm very hungover, apologies to all

look we got to hurley houdini eventually and it was a team effort, i think we need to focus on the positives and not let ourselves be torn apart by petty infighting

Brexit lads were out campaigning in town, somewhat less obnoxious than the charity muggers and some vegans in them V for Vendetta masks tbhh

in a week's time we'll have been in the thread longer than ilx poster gordon brown iirc

In that they were just stood behind a table not shouting or getting in anybody's face i should add before i get FBPEeeped

So, regarding the EU election blocs, this is how they're looking at the moment:

Labour: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Alliance_of_Socialists_and_Democrats
Greens, SNP & Plaid Cymru: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greens–European_Free_Alliance
Sinn Fein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_United_Left–Nordic_Green_Left

I don't know if anyone in England is saying they will caucus with the last one, and I'm not sure I would want to vote for them anyway (I dislike the Danish party sitting there, but there's a new one standing for the first time this year...) But anyways, I think what group they caucus with is the most important information, more than whoever the candidate is. That's how I see it :)

re: steel, Trump hasn't come up as a factor from the little I've seen so far.

Let's see if yougov can get it right this time:

European Parliament voting intention:

BREX: 37% (+3)
LDEM: 19% (+2)
LAB: 13% (-2)
GRN: 12% (+1)
CON: 7% (-2)
CHUK: 4% (-)
UKIP: 3% (-)

via @YouGov, 19 - 21 May
Chgs. w/ 17 May

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) May 21, 2019

I was just about to post that!

They should get Michael McIntyre to present the election results live from the Hammersmith Apollo.

well, there it is, the most depressing post i've ever read

does that get his grecian 2000 delivered by an oil tanker?

that guy as in Michael McIntyre!