“I take my responsibilities seriously. I did not lie” - UK politics June 23 on

the Tory vote is never going to be as low as the polling suggests

I've 50 on them to win most seats. Its an outside bet obviously but I think they're being prematurely counted out. There's also a particular category of voter I don't think polling really captures very well - people who vote for the winner. Most of the time this is the incumbent, but when a particular victory is predicted and choreographed in advance, subconsciously the incoming party becomes perceived as the having already won, already being the incumbent. Questions about which party a voter prefers doesn't necessarily get at this

I'm definitely expecting turnout to be the lowest ever.

is it correct that the scottish government appears to have blown itself up for no apparent reason?

There's also a particular category of voter I don't think polling really captures very well - people who vote for the winner. Most of the time this is the incumbent, but when a particular victory is predicted and choreographed in advance, subconsciously the incoming party becomes perceived as the having already won, already being the incumbent. Questions about which party a voter prefers doesn't necessarily get at this

This is true, but I don't see how the tories have time to win this bunch round, Keith has been more or less declared the winner

The messaging, even from the Tories themselves, is that the election has already happened, and voting is a matter of dotting the I's and crossing the t's. I don't think its a question so much of if the Tories have time to turn it around, but whether the above has actually happened in the minds of voters. I think this is probably the case but not definitively the case

many of which could be in marginal constituencies.

According to the MRP, Sunak's in a marginal seat.

I hope you're right, but i guess we'll see what happens after the locals anyway.

I got one of them BNP leaflets from Labour telling me I should vote for change in the local elections because the Tories have increased average energy bills and taxes.

Yousaf is toast lol

At least he didn't cut a deal with Alba

Yousaf OUT

The candidates:
Bald bloke
Balding bloke
Terf
Not a terf (?)

After five mins of twitter research I reckon Gilruth isn't a TERF, or at the least the TERFs seem angrily sure she isn't one of them. She's also married to Kezia Dugdale, which could be interesting.

Kate Forbes was born in 1990. Crivens!

tbf she seems like she was born in 1890.

She looks like the child of Helen Lewis and Brendan O'Neill

bald guy#2 is almost as ugly as Ian Murray

Swinney seems to be a shoo-in despite being the most grey and boring man in the entire history of Scotland.

Swinney is awful. I can't get to the end of him saying one sentence without wanting to kill myself.

Not a terf(?) seems the best option.

is it correct that the scottish government appears to have blown itself up for no apparent reason?

― ufo, Monday, 29 April 2024 bookmarkflaglink

As a distant observer this appears to be the case to me. Really feels like it didn't need to happen.

Not really checked out how the London mayoral election is going and

No one should have to pay Sadiq Khan £12.50 to vote.

Today I am calling for Sadiq Khan to put the politics to one side and suspend the ULEZ on polling day, so no one is disenfranchised by his ULEZ tax.https://t.co/1PH3QMsV6x

— Susan Hall AM (@Councillorsuzie) April 29, 2024

Not easy the long 30 second drive to the polling station tbf

Monty Panesar!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/30/george-galloway-workers-party-election-candidates-monty-panesar

Imagine Parnesar knocking on your door at a general election.

Beats the drummer from Blur!

my only real memory of him is he represented my old university on University Challenge and didn't say a single word after introducing himself, answered zero questions.

(Celeb University Challenge, the easy one)

Some candidates have a background in fringe causes. The South Northamptonshire candidate, Mick Stott, is a former soldier who tried to recruit “common-law constables” to outnumber the police, who he believed were acting unlawfully during lockdown.

lol!

I miss the old cuddly attention- hungry cranks, nowadays you know it's all fash-pilled losers

What horror.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/30/critical-incident-declared-in-hainault-amid-reports-of-stabbings-at-station

Too tired and sad to even moan about the different ways these crimes are reported depending on race

Tories and media trying to pin this on Sadiq Khan is truly desperate.

It’s disgusting.

Not sure why some people insist Kemi Badenoch "isn't that bad really".

https://news.stv.tv/world/british-ingenuity-not-colonialism-drove-uk-growth-says-kemi-badenoch

They're kidnapping people from their homes. Horrific. https://t.co/qV7Eiad1qH

— Benny Hunter (@BennnyH) May 1, 2024

Home Office must be burnt to the ground, as shoukd this country

i checked really hard to see if this was a spoof

🗞️ 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐕𝐄 🗞️

Sir Keir Starmer: My role in bringing Declan Rice to Arsenal

⏰ Dropping at 6.30am tomorrow on @TeleFootball#TelegraphFootball | @JBurtTelegraph pic.twitter.com/lGRKFDCYQ1

— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) May 1, 2024

that tweet that xyzzz posted :(

xp

omg @ Starmer's laboured attempt at wacky gunners' fan humour in that Times interview, all involved should die of embarrassment.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GMjgDh3XkAAkNJ6?format=jpg&name=900x900

🗞️ 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐕𝐄 🗞️

Sir Keir Starmer: My role in making Declan Rice relinquish any claim to Irishness.

"I looked him in the eyes and said, 'They shot Shergar. They panicked and shot him to death with uzis.' It took an hour for him to die. Blood everywhere. Awful." https://t.co/bBhWd72Gcj

— Samplo Corvodina (@TreborRhurbarb) May 1, 2024

Was it Declan Rice who tweeted "Up the 'RA" when he was a teenager?

... I liked him then.

I thought Kieth was all for shooting large quadrupeds

Not sure why some people insist Kemi Badenoch "isn't that bad really".

https://news.stv.tv/world/british-ingenuity-not-colonialism-drove-uk-growth-says-kemi-badenoch

Idk, I think most people who aren't ConHome commenters consider "Kemi isn't that bad really" as synonymous with "I am an enormous danger"

I liked the euphemism of "specialist historians" for "people who have any idea what they're talking about"

Also loved the point in the last paragraph - even if this wasn't bollocks, they're saying the Empire maintained colonial rule and control against its own economic interests?

"India did not have a zero-growth rate of GDP under British rule; it had a negative rate." to quote Amartya Sen.

that tweet that xyzzz posted :(

― Bernard Quidbins (NickB), Wednesday, 1 May 2024 bookmarkflaglink

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/02/london-protesters-block-coach-peckham-asylum-seekers-bibby-stockholm

An empty taxi pulled up to Holyrood and out stepped the new Scottish First Minister.

so those local election / Blackpool South by-election results eh?

(no I have nothing to say about them either)

You couldn't make it up etc.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/boris-johnson-elections-polling-station-b2538777.html

yeah that was pretty funny

apparently it was "seismic" that roughly the average attendance at Bloomfield Road voted for Labour in the locals in a 30 odd % lower turnout than usual.

Labour losing plenty of seats to Greens/Independents, luckily that's the not the main agenda so i'm sure they'll tell us they're doing great