Free as a Dodo: UK Politics Welcomes 2021

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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.

My statement following yesterday's court decision: pic.twitter.com/Yk8l217KvC

— Anna Rothery 💙 (@CllrAnnaRothery) March 9, 2021

on the same day a Scottish Labour candidate in Glasgow, Hollie Cameron has been removed for saying something pragmatic about indyref2 rather than hard stanning for the union.

we talk about Labour never learning at the UK level, but that's nothing compared to Scotland. Red Clydeside will be right back, just hang on a minute

they showed some real class there though, they let IWD pass before ditching her.

UK Labour now is like a slow motion replay of the disaster of Scottish Labour.

Company that sold Grenfell panels was warned in 2007 they could kill https://t.co/n1joJwpWNm

— Guardian news (@guardiannews) March 10, 2021

This is good, however

NEW: Ian Murray has resigned as executive director of the Society of Editors after the body came under fire for a statement regarding Harry & Meghan's remarks on media racism.

— Nadine White (@Nadine_Writes) March 10, 2021

Rayner was on the bbc dismissing the 5% pay rise for nurses that was in the 2019 manifesto (they are striking for 12% now) because "that manifesto was rejected..." and "me and Kier decided we've got to listen to the voters". The other day Nandy was being clowned for proposing a 2% pay rise... Rayner takes the negotiation one step further + says at least 2.1%.

Does "listening to the voters" mean

a) adopting the policies of the party that won the election?
b) adopting the policies of the parties that didn't win the election, including your own, because they got a majority of the overall votes?
c) reaching out to the millions of voters who didn't even vote?
d) some shit you just say to reporters as a meaningless excuse to follow your own reactionary instincts?

Before we get to the question of whether or not a political party is supposed to have a set of core beliefs that it rallies round and sells to the electorate rather than just being a weathervane for whatever agenda its market research people feel like pushing this month

I think about the nicest thing I could say about Rayner these days is that she isn't Jonathan Ashworth. "We are officially 1.1% better than the Tories" is a great pitch to take into the May local elections.

Maybe - just throwing this out there - the beliefs and policies of a party could be determined by the members of that party, they could work it out thru some kind of voting system where each member's voice has equal value.

Sorry for infantile fantasy talk

listening to voters and then telling them to fuck off throught the other side of your mouth is a contradiction seems to have eluded Rayner today.

constantly dismissing and denouncing everything from 2019 is such a self-own.

2019 denialism has become such a thoughtless mantra of Labour and the Tories will use it successfully against them and then do their own watered down version of McD and Jerimiah's greatest misses.

this is abject and painful to watch. Proving their own key campaign message to be devoid of any substance before they've even launched it. The professionals really are back in charge! https://t.co/KwoYO14120 pic.twitter.com/M9b0WYmd9h

— tom (@malaiseforever) March 11, 2021

hi calzino, don't remember what thread this was on but you recently recommended When The Boat Comes In? Watched the first ep last night, very much My Kind Of Thing.

yeah it's brilliant and all 3 seasons are up on YT. I was asking my mum if she remembered it and she said of course and then started singing a line from the theme tune down the phone.

Keir Starmer emphasises at the campaign launch that the May elections "will be tough" for Labour, saying for example: "We’ve been constrained. I’ve yet to make a speech to a live audience."

— Sienna Rodgers (@siennamarla) March 11, 2021

there won't be anything funnier than this tweet all day

Starmer after a Sarah Everard question: we need more police on the beat...

He also talks about the need for "more police officers on the beat" and "a criminal justice system that works well".

— Sienna Rodgers (@siennamarla) March 11, 2021

I actually went to search for versions of the theme song on YT after watching and the first one was from a channel called "English Revival" w/ a pixelated St.George's Cross so I got the hell out of there, perhaps knee-jerk on my part?

probably not