The car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel - The Tory leadership elections

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Boris is worse than May because we were saved from the worst of May more than once by her inability to talk in public, charm in private or appear human, frankly. lol legernd has some ability here and it's the infuriating and polity-damaging kind Trump has too.

stet, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:27 (four years ago) link

Didn't pom put up a poll showing that people have been very favourable on the hostile environment (I get that, as ogmor says, its a lot more than a policy, but it has its beginnings in a bunch of actions by the Home Office)? That's what I mean - people don't have to know the ins and outs of it, just that there is effort to make life miserable for non-UK citizens. I feel like that message is getting through.

re: comments I don't see anything Johnson himself says as enough of a shift, as in it will make people who are not born here feel more unwelcome. It might be embarrassing for liberal UK citizens, but anymore than that and I'd like to see a bit more speculation on what that might actually mean. xxp

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:28 (four years ago) link

I think this is overly pessimistic, he’s lazy as fuck and would rather leave the hard stuff to others.

this and the v remote idea that since he is such a self-serving wildcard there is like a 0.0001% chance he will spontaneously backtrack on everything if he thinks it'll work to his advantage somehow (this is obv a v remote chance which would surely backfire in some way anyway) are basically the only tiny straws I can clutch at for why everything isn't entirely hopeless now

but (as opposed to in his mayor days) now the "others" who will do the hard stuff are likely to be Bannonites so I'm really not sure this helps any more

a passing spacecadet, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:32 (four years ago) link

he’s already partially walked back his tax policy

this backtracking will blow up in his face if he does it in the midst of a GE

||||||||, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:33 (four years ago) link

Say what you like about May I think it's very unlikely she'd meet with Steve Bannon.

Matt DC, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:34 (four years ago) link

Just Victor Orban and directed her MEPs to support him too.

stress tweeting (gyac), Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:35 (four years ago) link


Boris is worse than May because we were saved from the worst of May more than once by her inability to talk in public, charm in private or appear human, frankly. lol legernd has some ability here and it's the infuriating and polity-damaging kind Trump has too.

May had that ~sensible appeal in droves, though, and a lot of the hilarious hype around her was based on her being “serious”, cf that classic David Runciman piece in LRB.

stress tweeting (gyac), Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:37 (four years ago) link

hitler

billy bremner

antonescu

gary lineker..

calzino, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:38 (four years ago) link

It's naive to assume that political representation only happens at the policy level. Nothing is ever 'merely' symbolic in politics, and Boris openly stands for a dumber, bolder, scrupleless Britain, one that owns up to its hostility to foreign elements. This may in turn galvanise the resistance, yes, but not before causing nigh irreparable damage.

pomenitul, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:38 (four years ago) link

no Turkey in the EU but a foreign-born gobbler in 10DS

nashwan, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:38 (four years ago) link

Rory Stewart says if Boris prorogues that he (Rory) will sit across the road in Methodist Hall and hold an alternative parliament

— Esther Webber (@estwebber) June 13, 2019

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:40 (four years ago) link

We all know who the star of this contest is.

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:40 (four years ago) link

HoP will do a Notre Dame soon enough

nashwan, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:41 (four years ago) link

internecine etonian bantz

imago, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:42 (four years ago) link

rory founds alt-bullingdon where proles are allowed to watch through the window

imago, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:43 (four years ago) link

This is amazing - we’re getting some real momentum here. Thank you so, so much. Let’s push this through to the end. It’s increasingly clear it’s me against Boris. And let’s win #rorywalks pic.twitter.com/YvvAf8oEE5

— Rory Stewart (@RoryStewartUK) June 13, 2019

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:43 (four years ago) link

#rorywalks

Portillo is done

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:44 (four years ago) link

dominic grieve to set up alt-alt parliament in neighbouring westminster school hall. wonder if all old boys are invited *looks into purchasing a tie*

imago, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:47 (four years ago) link

not before causing nigh irreparable damage

but comrade alph's point is that a great deal of this damage is already done and (within normal political procedures) already irreparable: BJ isn't the primary cause of whatever's coming, he's a symptom

mark s, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:48 (four years ago) link

Pom otm. Saying this stuff doesn't matter is a form of defeat in itself. At worst it's exonerating the fact that the next PM freely uses racial slurs. Even if it did have "no effect", which we seem to be assuming is only on the country's direction rather than individuals, the actual things said should be condemned as should anyone saying them.

But I wouldn't claim to speak for anyone in a minority targeted by Boris as to how safe or unsafe his comments made a person feel.

And if symptom is the right word for Boris, "is" is the wrong tense. He's about become PM so plenty of opportunity to be a cause.

FernandoHierro, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:52 (four years ago) link

1) irreparability comes in hues; 2) dialectical teleology perished in WW2.

xp

pomenitul, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:53 (four years ago) link

something peculiar in the insistence on the one hand that so many things can be classed as dialectical teleology and otoh that it was at some point in the past dealt a mortal blow and is over now

ogmor, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:57 (four years ago) link

The ideology =/ the 'thing' itself.

Note that I did not incriminate dialectics per se. When 'negative' or standing at a remove from an ultimate telos, I have no bone to pick with it (on the contrary).

pomenitul, Thursday, 13 June 2019 14:59 (four years ago) link

it has bones to pick with us all

ogmor, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:03 (four years ago) link

At worst it's exonerating the fact that the next PM freely uses racial slurs.

What the actual fuck?

The current and soon to be former PM literally:

- deported black people
- accused the EU of interfering in UK elections
- got mad on the TL after being zinged on Instagram by Donald Tusk
- accused MPs of frustrating democracy
- said that soldiers in NI shouldn’t be unnecessarily pursued
- appointed a cabinet of racists, fools and zealots
- continually escalated the rhetoric to the point thousands of people who would actively suffer all now think they want no deal

And this was just her record as PM - her record as Home Secretary was horrific

stress tweeting (gyac), Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:06 (four years ago) link

"1) irreparability comes in hues;"

Not in this case - Johnson has the same numbers in the house as May does.

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:06 (four years ago) link

Lol oh yeah she also went on camera and was like LET’S GET RID OF HUMAN RIGHTS TO PURSUE TERRORISTS

stress tweeting (gyac), Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:07 (four years ago) link

That may well be, gyac, but the May Archetype is perceived differently from the BoJo Archetype and, alas, these things do matter on the political stage.

pomenitul, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:10 (four years ago) link

Oh sorry, I didn’t realise we were on the political stage, I was only intending to address the ludicrous idea that May wasn’t an extremist and that she actively didn’t damage or ruin the lives of loads of people. Since apparently we’re going with bad faith nonsense itt?

stress tweeting (gyac), Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:15 (four years ago) link

The best least worst thing that May did was blink in the face of No Deal - but everything else that she did lead to the current shower performatively ripping their eyelids off.

Anyway she went to the end of the road, and she's not in the running to replace herself - it's reasonable to be dismayed that this buffoon is replacing her.

Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:15 (four years ago) link

I have no idea what we're arguing about tbh.

pomenitul, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:16 (four years ago) link

whether dialectical teleology cures hemorrhoids :p

calzino, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:19 (four years ago) link

I wonder if May could have beaten Livingstone to be mayor

ogmor, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:22 (four years ago) link

the petty squabbling of the left, a tale as old as time

may was a hard-right monster yes obv but optics uber alles - bozza will sharpen and focus the cultural divide and force a few centrist melts (eg my dad) to confront what they are. might even work out in the left's favour, via some sort of annus horribilis of legitimised racism.

imago, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:22 (four years ago) link

either that or simply latinate idioms will be cool again

imago, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:22 (four years ago) link

If this letter to Engels is anything to go by, it certainly didn't work for Marx: 'to finish [Das Kapital] I must at least be able to sit down. I hope the bourgeoisie will remember my carbuncles.'

3xp

pomenitul, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:23 (four years ago) link

I don't see how criticising someone for dismissing what Boris says as having no effect whatsoever has anything to do with defending May. It doesn't. It is in no way a defence of May.

Are we really incapable of analysing the differing effects of two different personalities as PM itt?

At no point did anyone defend May, what a load of fucking bullshit. This thread is so factional as to be absurd.

FernandoHierro, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:24 (four years ago) link

Make Latin Great Again

pomenitul, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:24 (four years ago) link

My cultural references are limited and I apologise in advance, but there's quite a bit of People's Front of Judea vs. Judean People's Front action going on itt (and elsewhere).

pomenitul, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:25 (four years ago) link

Iterum Latina Maxima Facete iirc

imago, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:26 (four years ago) link

Facite, even. Fac it

imago, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:27 (four years ago) link

Me pœnitet.

pomenitul, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:28 (four years ago) link

Look at the effect Johnson's having already!

imago, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:28 (four years ago) link

I don't see how criticising someone for dismissing what Boris says as having no effect whatsoever has anything to do with defending May. It doesn't. It is in no way a defence of May.

Are we really incapable of analysing the differing effects of two different personalities as PM itt?

At no point did anyone defend May, what a load of fucking bullshit. This thread is so factional as to be absurd.

did literally any of this actually happen in this thread at any point?

stress tweeting (gyac), Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:29 (four years ago) link

My cultural references are limited and I apologise in advance, but there's quite a bit of People's Front of Judea vs. Judean People's Front action going on itt (and elsewhere).

― pomenitul, Thursday, 13 June 2019 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I was even going to read some Hegel to make sense of your 2nd point but please no Monty Python. Didn't you know John Cleese was a hardcore Brexiteer?

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:31 (four years ago) link

I did, and it saddens me.

pomenitul, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:33 (four years ago) link

Yes it did, Gyac imo. Several people responded it to it too, Daniel, Stet, MDC, Pomenitul.

a few crass comments here and there

re: comments I don't see anything Johnson himself says as enough of a shift, as in it will make people who are not born here feel more unwelcome

I am not convinced it will be more than colourful comments

None of these things were said by you but I don't think it's exaggerating to say they're fairly handwavey.

Anyway it's not as if Boris is going to repeal what May did and just have fun saying racist shit instead.

FernandoHierro, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:34 (four years ago) link

ive often pondered the theory, call it the dennis wise proposition, that you could take out the likeliest to draw opprobrium in incremental steps from the ukpol threads and the net average level of rancour between participants would remain constant throughout the process

can we nominate the two least likely for an experiment in which they have their own ukpol thread and give it a week before they are fee-huriously hissing at each other in place of discussion

that would be good imo

godfellaz (darraghmac), Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:34 (four years ago) link

tim and mark s, imo, fwiw

godfellaz (darraghmac), Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:34 (four years ago) link

the other strand would be to chuck the four or five rightest-on into similar but.... we've already seen that work and it takes about three minutes

😆😊😋😆😊🤣😂

godfellaz (darraghmac), Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:35 (four years ago) link


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