like the queen this thread will never die: in which we ALL resign (ourselves to disgusting miseries to post-boris politics 2022)

What are they going to write about at the Daily Telegraph now? They are absolutely obsessed with Nicola Sturgeon and the loathing they have for her is way off the charts.

She was unbelievably amateurish in trying to deal with Alex Salmond. If you’re going to stitch someone up good and proper, don’t have a series of meetings with your civil servants showing your workings !

And one less for Clarkson to hate. (was going to say loathe, but etc)

she did piss off a lot right-wing scumbags and terfs, but also she was frequently lionised by the dreaded English melts + FBPE's of the UK commentariat, who frequently made her a lock in for them pathetic fantasy GNU's they kept doing during the brexit meltdowns and seemed to have a very exaggerated sense of what a formidable and sharp politician she was.

... tbf that's in comparison to the dross in Westminster.

Jeremy Corbyn to stand as an independent if blocked by Labour https://t.co/iTkBLbWwYo

— The Guardian (@guardian) February 15, 2023

I know very little about Scottish politics but U.S. Twitter is being overrun with triumphant trans-bashers claiming victory. So how much of a factor was the gender bill in Sturgeon stepping down?

It wasn't one, according to Nicola Sturgeon.

She has been doing the job for a long time. The timing is unfortunate to say the least.

FUCK KEIR STARMER! pic.twitter.com/trnh0wGRAR

— Marlon Kameka (@MarlonKameka) February 15, 2023

Calzino leading the crowd in a cheery chant there.

I was there! just for 15 mins though, and earlier on. wish I'd been there for that bit.

let's get the tories out, because we have a LOTO here who is already well on the way to becoming as much a hate figure to the left and mostly everyone under 30 as Thatcher was in the 80's. He's done a good job of that tbf.

So how much of a factor was the gender bill in Sturgeon stepping down?

not much of a factor but it must have been 1) exhausting and 2) indicative of how Sturgeon became Scottish politics and consumed the vast majority of its oxygen. it speaks highly of her imo that she could see that bubble needed to burst.

Starmer gets a lot of criticism for trying to be all things to all people but to me Sturgeon has been just as guilty of this as a leader. Look at the GRA bill - the anti-trans brigade are pissed off because the SNP have tried to pass it, but anyone who actually respects trans people isn't going to vote for a party that dragged its heels on this, or allowed Joanna Cherry to maintain the whip. By trying to appease "both sides of the argument" (ffs treating trans people's rights to exist as an arguement is fucking mental isnt it) she's lost the support and respect of both.

Sturgeon's success is not because she's a great politician, it's because the bar is so low. Look at the potential successors within the party, never mind the UK political landscape at large. The SNP are not a radical party, we just live on an island where "let trans people live in peace" is seen as a far-left position.

Good from Mic Wright on Corbyn debacle: https://brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/fringe-interests

Yes. I like the Rivkah Brown quotation in that.

boxedjoy v otm

so a large-scale expulsion of more Jewish members, more than Labour has ever previously expelled at any period in its history is actually working towards rooting out antisemitism? I might need a grown up to nuance this for me, or perhaps just someone who is so warped and full of shit that any kind of truthful analysis of events matters nothing to them.

v otm boxedjoy

I never voted SNP, but I think it’s fair to say that Nicola Sturgeon was the best British leader we had in a generation. I like that she stood up for harassed minorities, it was brave, and will be part of her legacy, though it’s clearly a position the UK is not ready to embrace🙄

— stuart murdoch (@nee_massey) February 15, 2023

"Starmer gets a lot of criticism for trying to be all things to all people"

FWIW this isn't true. He gets criticism, from sensible people, for being a scumbag whose main aim is to persecute socialists and pursue reactionary policies.

He doesn't at all try to be all things to all people! I wish he did!

(xp) Lib Dems no doubt grateful for Stewpot's continuing support.

Boxedjoy hugely otm

But pinefox's point about Kieth is also correct

he does try and be all things to traditional Conservative voters and Red Tories tbf

Yes, Starmer shows no interest in or empathy for any group other than Daily Mail leader writers and Telegraph columnists.

the BBC just informed me he's more popular than ever and that labour is back baby. they always frame it as now labour is no longer racist we can flirt with starting to take them seriously again. I've never met anyone with a nice word to say about him irl but everyone who likes him (or pretends to more likely) seems to work in media

The man's sexual kink is lying, openly and brazenly, and have powerful people applaud him for doing so.

Quite Johnsonian really.

The BBC, from what I have heard, mainly endorses his immoral lies, and doesn't seriously consider querying any aspect of them.

The Guardian's leader column is 'two cheers for KS' and his campaign against racism.

I sometimes feel like I am back in, what was it, 2018, when the lies about JC all day every day made me feel like I was living in a looking glass land, where reality was no longer a consideration for most of the voices telling me about reality.

This gaslighting, if one can call it that, goes on still, as they have nothing positive to say. Their politics consist of lies and abuse.

The Guardian op isn't as fawning as the headline makes out and does make a few of the same points as itt at least

as noted in the thing above the way antisemitism is apparently reflexively being equated with insufficient support for britain and nato and so on all the time is troubling and very antisemitic - in the obvious ways but also in the whole fifth column disloyalty framing of it all which is a part I wish I saw acknowledged more often. it's very similar to how the papers (and the board of deputies) wrote/talked about left wing jews 100 years ago and now as then it pairs very well with anti-immigrant racism. except now their racism makes them righteous anti-racists because of how fucked UK media discourse on this issue is

the whole real feminism is my misogyny and homophobia thing seems to have a similar logic to it so of course it appeals to the same people

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FpE7zNiXwAEjb1Z?format=jpg&name=large

and a stale old repeat of the "more bobbies on the beat" genre from Cooper with a stupid reference to a popular fictional cop character. I'd be embarrassed for them if I didn't despise them so much.

You can absolutely call it gaslighting.

I think pinefox is right re: Starmer's policies, but the fact he expects to do it as leader of the Labour party is more the issue I'm getting at - he wants to win over the right, but take for granted the support of the left, when really he's managing to alienate both. He's been LOTO for so long and yet I have never heard a single person ever say, they would actively vote for/support/trust him, any success the party has had lately has been by default than any offerings or positions they've given.

that close friend of [redacted serial paedo] who was previously bumped from a couple of positions in the last Labour govt for corruption + is back there now in an advisory capacity or some bollox like that, used to say "they've got nowhere else to go". Seemingly oblivious to the idea that not voting for Labour is actually somewhere to go. It's a dangerous gamble to write off ever expanding self-interest groups that would never vote Tory and push them into the fuck voting Labour category as well. But also they are perfectly happy to disenfranchise voters, as long they can squeak it for a term or two.

⚡️Vоlоdуmуr Zelenskyi met with the leader of the Labor Party and the UK's official opposition, Cyrus Starmer. pic.twitter.com/uTBF2HmkkZ

— FLASH (@Flash_news_ua) February 16, 2023

Cyrus talks to VZ in the same bad way he talks to everyone else, but with loud music to obscure it.

Last night I watched part of QUESTION TIME. Calzino may be amused to know that the Labour spokesperson on it was Stephen Kinnock. It took me a while to realise who he was.

Lionel Shriver was on it seeming rather like an old lady who had trouble with movement. She said "the UK should withdraw from the ECHR, though the Conservatives naturally don't want to do that".

It will give you an idea of the programme to hear that the most prominent principled and liberal voice was ... Ian Hislop.

Ugh, sounds hideous.

Good tweet!

Average age here (mean) is 60 and median is 62. The median age in the U.K. as a whole is 40.

It’s genuinely puzzling how normal this is. Someone in their 40s is considered young in the political media space when it’s older than the average U.K. citizen. What does that mean? > https://t.co/euWq9daqFJ

— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) February 16, 2023

I had no idea Ruth Wishart was still around tbh.

Last night I watched part of QUESTION TIME. Calzino may be amused to know that the Labour spokesperson on it was Stephen Kinnock. It took me a while to realise who he was.

Lionel Shriver was on it seeming rather like an old lady who had trouble with movement. She said "the UK should withdraw from the ECHR, though the Conservatives naturally don't want to do that".

It will give you an idea of the programme to hear that the most prominent principled and liberal voice was ... Ian Hislop.

Lionel Shriver happily had a mug supporting the UFF who murdered hundreds of Catholics and some Protestants during the troubles but she is invited on to Question Time..🤔#bbcqt pic.twitter.com/4jM2eWK5Vb

— Tom Hagans. 🏳️‍🌈🌹 (@Tomhg) November 29, 2019

ugh! deport Lionel Shriver. I just caught the start of desert island discs and for a second I thought she was this week's guest and was going to say are you taking the fucking piss here. It was David Sedaris, who has a very similar voice and accent.

I heard Sedaris and had a slightly similar thought!

It was a funny programme because he kept saying things like - 'So how did you feel about your father, David?' 'I HATED him! I was so glad when he died!' - in a very blithe and camp way.

Had no idea about this UFF angle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Defence_Association

How can she broadcast that affliation and be invited on TV ?!?

Didn't know she was quite that bonkers.

She's an outspoken white supremacist so no surprises

xxp

lol, I find that very relatable. Might even listen to the rest of it now.

Had no idea about this UFF angle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Defence_Association🕸

How can she broadcast that affliation and be invited on TV ?!?

Didn't know she was quite that bonkers.