Free as a Dodo: UK Politics Welcomes 2021

"the millions who work hard, play by the rules, but struggle to get by"

I always bristle at this kind of speak from left wing Labour MP's. It always sounds just one step away from "but not those lazy benefit bludging fuckers".

There are many resentments for people who have paid into the system their whole lives, paid their mortgages off and are voting Tory no matter what.

Kieth needs to seize the day and retriangulate his patriotism again, perhaps there always was a "progressive republicanism" element to his pro-monarchy stance towards a bunch of ugly inbred racists - the matriarch of which he said "speaks for the whole country".

"the millions who work hard, play by the rules, but struggle to get by"

I like to imagine these people boiling with rage reading Viz's 'Elton John's Dole Fiddles' strip

Lol! No getting point getting bitter because you haven't found any decent opportunities to fiddle the system yet, fiddling rules man. Like a previous millionaire boss I had whose smallest fiddle was paying himself and his wife minimum wage through the company and claim working tax credits.

it would be so refreshing to for once hear a Labour politician to talk about how small beer benefits fraud is in the scheme of things and how in many ways it is a symptom rather than a disease, unless you are talking about the crime gangs that have been exploiting the shit out of weaknesses in the Universal Credit system.

it's good

https://img.discogs.com/xCBeW54-OezB2giMRvE71QfmhCw=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-8844571-1469965595-4632.jpeg.jpg

two good fiddlers!

some old thread identifies "play by the rules" as a cameronism which seems right, though I can hear blair saying it. never not part of some punitive authoritarian selectively-belt-tightening bollocks on any issue, regardless of whether rule abiders are supposed to be the main point or a minor exception to it

I suppose the idea is to maintain working poverty wages and help convert the resultant despair of these workers into angry political capitol against the wrong targets. It definitely helps when Labour MP's use wearisome soundbites about what heroic people they are for playing by the rules.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ev-qIRSXcAEhDtW.png

strikes are wrong, let down by both sides, reckless and provocative manner etc

A snapshot of where we are at rn: There was a pic of a 50 odd year old nurse getting arrested at a peaceful covid safe protest by a cop with a blue lives matter badge.

Not only arrested but fined £10,000. I don't think the 1% pay rise will cover that.

All the story needs is Starmer saying a £10,000 fine is not enough, a custodial sentence would be more appropriate.

the absolute violence of this enforced “heroism”

(I typed that before seeing the above. christ)

(and of course no one would trust an obviously enthusiastic scab/grass like starmer with plans or hopes for industrial action)

in other news the official representatives of the biggest imperial project in history might have a racism problem

Lmao she destroyed him pic.twitter.com/MGuJ754ZJI

— a$hok kumar (@broseph_stalin) March 8, 2021

Looking for opposition wherever I can find it

would love to see Dr Shola forensically grilling Kieth on his BLM flip-flop and failed attempts at flag-fucking/nativist populism

look at how desperate this scum is to play the I’m being silenced card when he wants to silence someone

piers I mean

but we should literally grill starmer

this is absolutely fucking true as well

I’m at a point where I don’t even think putting colonial history on the curriculum will change things. These people know they did that shit and they’re proud of it https://t.co/4NpFcTjl1s

— Jason Okundaye (@jasebyjason) March 8, 2021

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EwB9iCjXAAQ3RtB?format=jpg&name=large

take of the day from The Irish Times

I totally disagree about the 'insatiable desire to hear about and discuss news and stories' though. I think the numbers of genuine monarchists in the UK is a lot smaller than people outside the UK seem to think.

judging by our media (the only realistic way to see the UK from outside) it is true, though.

More's the pity.

yeah, I would love for just one paper to print an editorial like that here, feel like they could have done in the 90s but they wouldn't dare now.

Starmer would only demand the arrest of the editor.

I think it's great that some mildly amusing shitposting style piece in the mainstream Irish press might be strong enough induce a fatal stroke in Nicholas Witchell

I totally disagree about the 'insatiable desire to hear about and discuss news and stories' though. I think the numbers of genuine monarchists in the UK is a lot smaller than people outside the UK seem to think.

I think this is correct. The Queen disappeared for about six months and the only reason anyone talked about it was to speculate whether she was dead. Other than for a small subset of Telegraph readers, it mostly serves the same function as any other tabloid gossip at this stage.

Daily Mail have 25 fucking pages of this today and it's tge most popular paper in the UK

If Piers Morgan and the Daily Mail spent as much time covering Andrew’s actions as they do harassing Meghan Markle we’d find out if he could sweat fairly quickly #MeghanandHarryonOprah pic.twitter.com/YZlZcyafSk

— Gréagóir Ó Murchú 🤓 (@TheGregMurphy) March 8, 2021

lol Queen, 94,

the latest yougov polling returned 62% for a continued monarchy, that is pretty high even factoring in the blatant establishment bias. Most people might not care much for lilibet and her mutant offspring, but it's probably fair to say the people who want to see an end to the system are a minority for now.

The Irish Times post is very mediocre.

Tom D is correct: most people here aren't very interested. The Irish Times bloke shows himself to be vastly more interested than us.

Talking about Ewoks is a bit of a red herring, too. Pirate is much closer to the truth: monarchs, like many other rulers, result from the exercise of violence and power in the past. They're a secular reality more than a fairytale fantasy.

Xp Maybe that's less an expression of monarchism as an expression of hatred for politicians tho

aye it is probably also a proxy vote for xenophobia, racism and the flag as well and that is a demographic trend that is not going to radically change very soon.

Good of the Queen to not cark it during the pandemic so far so good because would v much want to leave the country for a while when that happens

Show your lack of interest by abolishing the damn thing, until then it's just big talk imo.

yeah, I would love for just one paper to print an editorial like that here, feel like they could have done in the 90s but they wouldn't dare now.

Friend of mine listened to coverage of the queen's covid message and was shocked by the BBC reporters nodding along to the "people must think of others now" bit. He was genuinely shocked that no one pointed out the hypocrisy. Aw bless.

Tom D is correct: most people here aren't very interested. The Irish Times bloke shows himself to be vastly more interested than us.

If you need an indicator of how entrenched passive support for the monarchy is, try listening to some of the “conversations” about elected heads of state and set your watch for how long it is til some cunt mentions “President Blair” or “President Johnson”. Of course in the small country right across the Irish Sea we elected Mary Robinson, Mary McAleese and Michael D Higgins after one another, three finer politicians than British politics has had for quite some time, but why take any lessons from your lessers?

the latest yougov polling returned 62% for a continued monarchy, that is pretty high even factoring in the blatant establishment bias. Most people might not care much for lilibet and her mutant offspring, but it's probably fair to say the people who want to see an end to the system are a minority for now.

I don't think it is that high and I don't think it's that solid either. The monarchy is just something that dawdles along in the background for most people, it's just there.

Daily Mail have 25 fucking pages of this today and it's tge most popular paper in the UK

LOL newspapers though.

If you need an indicator of how entrenched passive support for the monarchy is, try listening to some of the “conversations” about elected heads of state and set your watch for how long it is til some cunt mentions “President Blair” or “President Johnson”. Of course in the small country right across the Irish Sea we elected Mary Robinson, Mary McAleese and Michael D Higgins after one another, three finer politicians than British politics has had for quite some time, but why take any lessons from your lessers?

Why listen to cunts though?

Because they’re the voices in the media putting this shit out there unchallenged? Like managed democracy doesn’t even cut it.

"Talking about Ewoks is a bit of a red herring, too."

the day Pinefox got fp'ed by Toumas.

60% keep 'em is what I'd have guessed as a minimum, in terms of what a referendum result would yield at least. That's largely just support for Liz and the Cambridgeses though.

(xxp) The media, yes, I'm not really thinking about the media though.

I think popularity of the Queen is kind of beside the point, like Tom D said she's just there, but she's been just there for as long as a lot of people can remember - when she's pops her clogs it'll be a bigger shift than a lot of people expect, and the reality (for want of a better word) of King Charles III won't look so enticing.

Obviously I am hoping that Boris Johnson will give a press conference where he mentions that there is no tolerance for racism in the Firm*, and the first question is "What is your reaction to the death during this press conference of Prince Philip?"

*which he almost certainly won't because it's not his circus, and his is the party that most believes that.

Never mind Charles III, William - who had me worried for a while, as a republican - looks to me cut from the same cloth and is getting progressivly less sympathetic as he gets older and balder.

By the way, have people forgotten the little business of Boris giving the Queen a gentle reminder of the limits of the power and 'persuading' her into supporting his suspension of Parliament? He didn't quite frogmarch her down the Mall to the House of Commons and stick a Bic under nose and say, "Sign this or else" but...

yes, the people have definitely forgotten that afaict

MI5 probably handed him a dossier on Andrew in case she needed a bit more of a push.