love* in the time of plague (and by love* i mean brexit* and other dreary matters of uk politics)

'the law of the jungle' eh mandy, that's an interesting phrase to use in this context

lol Mandelson helped to enact an illegal war that killed millions of people and led to some statues being pulled down

xxp in the name of compromise to the right, as you well know

if you've got a junk email to feed them, the conservatives would love to hear your opinions on their new immigration bill https://action.conservatives.com/immigration-bill-survey/

They couldn't be more Trump if they tried. Next stop chain emails to Tories saying the woke left wants to stop Boris delivering Brexit and only they can save him by opening their wallets

Mandelson called yesterday ‘the law of the jungle’ did he now?

FUCK OFF

these nice social liberals are so racist

If Starmer had just avoided using the words "completely wrong" he would have got away with it and no one would have noticed but yeah he's misjudged the mood and handled it very badly. Most newspapers aren't going to allow the LOTO space for a nuanced back-and-forth, you get a sentence if you're lucky. The BBC report, when I looked this morning, didn't mention him at all. You can't turn something like this into a political Rorschach test where the gammons see "completely wrong" and go ah yeah that's great while everyone else focuses on "the statue should not have been standing". People are going to see one or the other and it's usually going to be the one you don't want them to focus on.

The question is whether or not they wanted the pandering signal to go out more prominently.

Even if it isn't remotely surprising that the former Director of Public Prosecutions wasn't like "yeah go on, tear them all down".

Wish someone could got it through to the membership what a class A wanker Starmer is back in January.

Most of these dickheads probably knew anyway!

I wonder if someone could gently put it to Labour centrists that if they don't want unelectable lefties winning next time round then preventing a steady drip-drip of instances like this might be helpful.

On a lighter note Derek Draper's still in a coma

Lol I did a Google check on him last week along the lines is Draper dead yet

Farage cosplayer goes IN

A hero has risen. pic.twitter.com/TeFUTkrfOu

— Jack Dawkins (@DawkinsReturns) June 8, 2020

lol, thought that was a Monty Python sketch for a moment

Found the best take

If we start to judge historical figures by 21st century standards, we'll find that quiet a few folks weren't that nice... Almost as if they didn't know any better 🤔

— Ben Bradley MP (@BBradley_Mans) June 7, 2020

"They didn't know any better". In the 17c. The era of constant debate about political and religious freedoms, of bible reading, of mass economic change and theory, of deliberately mendacious religious and racial excuses for slavery. Didn't know any better.

look who are we to say that owning people was not, in fact, the right thing to do in olden times

I was thinking that you have to be a completely ignorant moron to think such a thing about slavery, have zero understanding of the dynamics and extreme exploitative tendencies of early modern capitalism, zero knowledge of that history - but then, it's a Tory innit. If they know, they are lying about it. It's part of the upsurge of "the west did nothing wrong/we were all innocent of injustice then" of the last decade, Douglas Murray etc. This mindset is real, and you know that Tories are all saying it in their homes. Just that this one said it out loud.

These people aren't interested in talking about slavery, they're interested in defining themselves in relation to the other people who are talking about slavery.

Ben Bradley is so dumb I'd be amazed to see him write his own name

Look we cannot judge people from ye olden days and we should show that we are not judging them by the neutral act of keeping statues of them

Look if we start judging Tory MPs by 21st century standards, where is this all going to end?

The fuck, he was born in 1989? I feel very strongly that there should not be sitting Tory MPs who are the same age as Taylor Swift and Gareth Bale.

Maybe not so bad if they are brainy boffin high flyer types like Wilson was in his early thirties, but this lad is thick as pigs hit!

Oh you said tory MPs that's different I suppose

it's going to be important to remember that we must also not rush to judge the Tories of 2016 by the standards of 2021, should it come to pass that there is any event in 2021 that might otherwise prompt said reflection.

@BBradley_Mans
18h
Country more divided even than during Brexit, because Brexit just a symptom of a wider problem. London & metropolitan cities may as well be different countries; they have a different culture. One thats entirely alien and contradictory to life in working class towns in England...

Whatever could he possibly mean by this.

His father was a police officer, I see. Case fucking closed.

Also privately educated, just the man to speak up for the working class people of England.

Pretty sure the people being sold as property knew slavery was bad.

Also voted Remain!

xxp
guessing he means the same thing certain ilxers meant when they were mocking metropolitan multiculturalism too.

The fuck, he was born in 1989? I feel very strongly that there should not be sitting Tory MPs who are the same age as Taylor Swift and Gareth Bale.

I intitally misread his birthdate as 1889, which seems closer to the mark.

Tory MPs though.

delighted to see glum now agrees london should not be afforded special status but instead be lumped in with the rest of multicultural metropolitan britain

I never said that but <3 anyway and let's move on

onwards and downwards. was pondering if it'd be worth making a statue of keir just to ceremonially bung it in the canal in a fashion that must be condemned as completely wrong by all lovers of order, but I feel uneasy about statues at the best of times and a keir one would doubtless haunt me from the silty depths

Less 'Starmer isn't that bad' more 'the left of the party did next to nothing other than repeat the same extremely limited law & order mistakes when they had the reins'.

Abbott's signature policy was flooding the street with more police however many epic clapbacks to Mandleson she dishes out.

― ShariVari, Monday, 8 June 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Someone on twitter called it a missed opportunity given the events of the last few days and its true. If Labour was prepared to fight for different visions on so much why couldn't they fight against the grain on the Home Office front?

Thirty years ago today.

It's three years to the day since Theresa May lost the Conservatives' majority. pic.twitter.com/1qvPagktLM

— Ashley Cowburn (@ashcowburn) June 8, 2020

never forget

On the 19th of February I made a defamatory statement about @jeremycorbyn. I have apologised to Mr Corbyn and here is the complete text of my apology. Please retweet. pic.twitter.com/6JZc8O9E82

— Ben Bradley MP (@BBradley_Mans) February 24, 2018

BREAKING: @ukhomeoffice is planning to charter a removal plane to Lithuania, this Friday 12th June, containing just ONE person.

This despite Government advice being against all but essential travel.

How is this safe or a good use of public resources during a global pandemic? pic.twitter.com/fkWjDrtRNG

— Bella Sankey (@BellaSankey) June 8, 2020

just watched that kier campaign vid from back in january. He's with the miners, he's deep in Wapping protests, he's even got a fucking dreadlocked 90's Swampy type crusty in there. He really laid it on thick, especially with the voiceover from someone who sounds like a former miner from Normanton who is a secret UKIP voter, so that element was quite otm tbf with what type of leader Labour has now.

I’ve had a lot of questions on what I think about last weekend’s protests so I thought it would be easiest to share my thoughts below. pic.twitter.com/KnutJ1YZRo

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) June 8, 2020

So Priti Patel's saying that protesting during a pandemic is unlawful, UNLESS you do it in Durham no doubt.

THREAD 1. A briefing to @uklabour on #blacklivesmatter from @Keir_Starmer's office stresses support for peaceful protests. It says 'violence and vandalism' are wrong; police should investigate the pulling down of the Colston statue. It says the statue should have come down..

— iain watson (@iainjwatson) June 8, 2020

Better days

'Winston Churchill was a war hero but there was also another side to him' - Labour's John McDonnell tells ITV News he welcomes debate on the British icon's legacy https://t.co/5hviU1bIMz pic.twitter.com/oTAAXFbBY9

— ITV News (@itvnews) February 14, 2019

i'm confused by the maths where a minority of violent actions during a protest invalidates the protests but "a minority" of racist cops is an acceptable price to pay for law and order

As I was saying

Sitting opposite @pritipatel as she uses her identity as an Asian person to silence @FloEshalomi as a black person, because Flo very reasonably questions this government’s policies that institutionally discriminate against black AND Asian people.

I feel sick.

— Nadia Whittome MP (@NadiaWhittomeMP) June 8, 2020