"we'll change the things that need changing and that's all we'll change": the paSUKification of post-brexit politics 2021

It's funny/ sad how rapidly enthusiasm for this thread has died in Starmer era

Ideal situation rn would be for this thread to be dead and for the leftist organizing thread to be super active.

I think you lot should start your own US politics thread

it's depressing enough in here as it is

Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said there would be “nowhere left to hide” for wealthy allies of the Kremlin. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Truss said new names added to a list of oligarchs every few weeks as ministers seek to ratchet up the pressure on the president Vladimir Putin.

“We’ve already had letters to the foreign office, from lawyers, threatening us, so we have to make sure the cases are properly prepared and that we have the right evidence before we sanction these individuals,” she said.

“That is why we’re taking it step by step, but we are working through that hit list and we will continue to sanction new oligarchs every few weeks.”

Every few *weeks*? The current Ukrainian government, and a lot of Ukrainians, probably won't exist in a few weeks.

a day later...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60558048

"Ukraine conflict: Russia blames Liz Truss and others for nuclear alert"

Dan Hodges, Chris Bryant and others coming out in favour of nuclear annihilation reminds me that while I'm not exactly glad that Boris Johnson is prime-minister at this current moment, I do feel somewhat grateful that it isn't Michael Gove

I didn’t know this but it makes absolute sense.

Before he became the posturing nitwit we all know today, Dan Hodges was a designer of single-player strategy war games. The logic he applies to every debate (the zero-sum "will you/won’t you” approach) is precisely the logic of a tabletop boardgame.

— Elvis Buñuelo (@Mr_Considerate) March 1, 2022

reminds me, got my gf Twilight Struggle for her birthday, might be time to brave actually playing it (rather than gawping thru the rulebook/online tutorials) soon

I obviously have no sympathy for Hodges, etc but they’re extremely stupid people trying to work through an intractable problem. If you genuinely think that Russia is going to do to Kyiv what it did to Grozny and the Ukrainian government is begging the international community to start shooting down Russian planes, it’s a fairly normal human response to agree. It’s less an indictment of Hodges specifically than the elevation of inexpert comment writers to any sort of prominence.

It's a good one but at this particular historic moment I think I'd rather play Versailles 1919.

xpost

It’s also pretty tiresome to see every limited EU / US response met with ‘oh, so you want nuclear war?’ from the equally inexpert Twitter commentariat.

Wait I don't understand, I need to pick a side and argue it until I get so hungry I have to put my phone down

twilight struggle v fun but has more or less the same relationship to foreign policy in the nuclear age that magic the gathering has to magic

time for a new thread ?

"time for new threads" - MPs collecting their forced payrise

Time for new Threads (TV Movie, 1984).

unfollowing people banging on about nuclear war is the best form of self-care atm tbh

Unexpected otm, I deactivated mine & now am at relative peace tbh 💆🏻‍♀️ But that’s just not doomscrolling in general

the star of that tv movie is quite an outstanding example of FBPE melthood who is in the "Russia did Brexit" brigade. He used to post a lot on a htafc football forum until all the morons stopped sycophantically crawling up his arse for his "gr8 performance m8" in I.D. and turned against him over his recurrent Remain obsession. I just used to rip into him for his regular Corbyn bashing and love of crooked Labour Right bigots. It was quite amusing when a regular who'd usually been quite cordial with him suddenly decided to inform him that they always really thought he was actually quite a shite actor and was just keeping it polite previously! I haven't seen his position on global thermonuclear war yet, maybe being in Threads gave him some quite unique perspective on the matter, luvvie lols.

Wb calz

^

Here, hold on, are you back already?

got friends in high places!

A week is a long ban in politics

got high in friends' places

the taming of McD was quite a sad sight. I now look back on the '15-'19 as a period of personal delusion and naivety now. Because sometimes you need to construct an internal fantasy that there are good people who are more than career politicians and are principled and uncompromising street fighting radicals who won't be fucked with, lol kowtowing to Kieth is as soft as shit as it gets.

OTOH (according to friend’s niece who worked in his constituency office) many of the SCG members want to hang on to their seats because they are first and foremost about helping constituents in ways that suitcase Labour MPs are incapable of doing.

I've seen too many villainous knaves described as good constituency MPs, and it's fair to say most of the problems their constituents face in these times have been a cross party project. And why give a highly paid MP any credit for doing what are supposed to do? Especially since they just got another very generous payrise!

An understandable rationale, up to a point, but in big picture terms calz otm

Clearer than ever that propping the corpse of the LP is not helping the working class and its interests

https://64.media.tumblr.com/d640f5ce82a3e0d0f496008f6a5adce9/fe467da544ce3e18-11/s1280x1920/7066db1920f8b75ecaff78b7e47f7dde745a4530.png

just posting a Martin Eden meme cos it's a very good movie even if the quote is not remotely true

Be exciting if they could lose Erdington tonite but surely, tragically, no

I want them to lose every seat, but they are overwhelming 1/100 faves to hold Erdington. The Mail and The Telegraph are both running smear pieces on the Labour candidate that actually makes her sound half decent, but that can't be right!

it's not that big a majority is it? those odds seem daft, lose a couple of thou to people who will never vote Kieth, Tories vote holds steady, badabing

I quoted the shortest price, but it's still generally 1/20 across the board. Maybe because the good people of Erdington were very fond of the late Jack Dromey. Who was apparently a very good constituency MP. I hear sometimes he'd personally sign letters to constituents typed out by unpaid interns and always declare donations made to him by dodgy fuckers.

pic.twitter.com/jKCnP1ECQE

— Standplaats Krakow (@Standplaats_KRK) March 2, 2022

27% turnout, here comes the red wave

vote Labour

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/families-plea-over-barbaric-indefinite-prison-sentences-for-minor-crimes/

lol they might still win or lose this by Batley + Spen proportions. And this is with the added benefit of the sitting MP *tragically passing* and the Tories polling low. I find it quite encouraging that it's increasingly obvious that people are turning out for them in much lower numbers.

tragically

Birmingham Erdington, by-election result:

LAB: 55.5% (+5.2)
CON: 36.3% (-3.8)
TUSC: 2.1% (+2.1)
REFUK: 1.7% (-2.4)
GRN: 1.4% (-0.4)
LDEM: 1.0% (-2.7)
IND: 0.6% (+0.6)
CPA: 0.5% (+0.5)
IND: 0.4% (+0.4)
MRLP: 0.3% (+0.3)
IND: 0.1% (+0.1)
MBPE: 0.0% (+0.0)

— Britain Elects (@BritainElects) March 4, 2022

a 9% swing, almost as big as Kieth's nob at the prospect of armageddon

the next GE I'm going out campaigning on the doorsteps locally. My message is going to be clear: you would be better off drinking poison than voting for Labour and Kieth is aligned to paedophiles, rapists and arms manufactures and is just as much a class enemy as Boris Johnson is!

Ukrainian oligarch Mikhail "Watford" Tolstosheya being found mysteriously dead in his home on Monday may just be a random event and the police are saying there are no suspicious circumstances. Because if there were suspicious circumstances this would be a very big story and wouldn't have just got reported yesterday.

Good showing by Tusk and Refuck.

Especially since they just got another very generous payrise!

Some, like Z Sultana, are passing this on to local food banks, etc.

What did this geezer have to do with Watford? Sounds a big story indeed!

He just wanted a classic made up Brit surname like Windsor. "More tea Mr Watford?" "It's Mr Troy-Deeney now pal!"

back in the day Robert Maxwell adopted an innocuously English sounding name approach. Baron Kagan anglicised his name but mostly retained the og one. Perhaps it never occurred to them to consider the shitest towns of Hertfordshire for inspiration!

Had to lol at this shit.

I'm sorry but of all the Corbynite policies that the Tories have surreptitiously nicked post-election, expropriating the homes of billionaires to house refugees is the funniest. https://t.co/ogaWkWyiZF

— Dave (@MediocreDave) March 4, 2022

I love how they are even shit posting about this.