By the end of the week we’ll have a new government. I’m really hoping that Labour does better than they’re all saying. A big Tory majority will transform this country in one I won’t be able to love.
Under first past the post we’re pretty much guaranteed a conservative majority at this point.
Today I realized that this thread title is “UK Political Clusterfuck 2017,” as we stand on the precipice of 2020.
It’s been a long decade.
3 Likes
The first half was ok-ish.
1 Like
I got my first real job in the first half. That was cool.
News media can’t stop themselves from calling the bad side bad, instead it is general “bad things are occurring in the political fracas”. Obviously, this is incredibly true in the US as well, but this instance is relevant to this thread.
1 Like
The UK truly is a stupid place to be right now.
Clarke would have been a good conservative prime minister. The was a lib dem motion to appoint him or Labour’s Harriet Harman but Labour (probably justifiably) wouldn’t support it.
I realized today that all the stress that I put into my German citizenship is paying off in terms of reduced stress about the election. And brexit. I mean, that’s the entire reason I got my dual citizenship, but good god this is doing wonders for my mental health.
4 Likes
There’s no such thing. Those days are long gone, if they ever existed.
The party as a whole is a cancer.
Jesus Christ, a mining community voting conservative, never thought I’d see the day.
No, baby, what is you doin?
The “country” voted for brexit. That’s all you needed to know.
No part of the country has learnt anything since then. In fact, things have probably gotten worst.
Turkeys voting for Christmas… again!
If we get a conservative government, the UK deserves everything it gets.
Likewise if Trump is not impeached.
Wow, I hope this isn’t a sign of how US politics in 2020 will swing like Brexit seemed to be for 2016.
Ya know what’s funny. The last time I was happy with something political happening. It was when David Koch died.
2 Likes
This is what I’m terrified about too. I haven’t looked, but was there an objective unbiased expectation that the Tories were in serious danger of losing their majority? I’m wondering both about polling and general sentiment/concrete indicators? I really don’t know how much comparison/prediction is accurate to draw from this result - other than you had a long brewing situation where a closely decided vote (Brexit) resulted in lots of reporting about those who thought their vote didn’t matter and either regret or doubling-down, lots of government gridlock and foolishness, and ultimately a leader widely regarded as brash, ignorant, and pursuing goals unmoored from rationality. Yet when the voting public had a chance to course correct has instead chosen to provide a seemingly strong message of encouragement to the jackasses. Apparently lying while governing and campaigning doesn’t matter. Apparently the voting public wants to encourage actions by government that will harm stability, the economy, and healthcare.
I’m also reading the Corbyn, the Labor leader is widely disliked and that is being accounted for a big amount of their loss. But this had to be known for quite some time, is there nobody who the Labor Party could have leaned on to remove that obvious risk?
I’m fucking aghast about how much the Brits let themselves get played by absolute scum. How can the Tories possibly gain seats after this debacle of an election period? It’s astonishing.
The way political parties select their leaders I the British parliament explains it all.
There is no primary voting by the general electorate. Instead, the final say is put to party members. Party members are those who are paid up members. Like, thousands of only the most hardcore Conservatives and thousands of Labour members.
So to become leader, you don’t have to appeal to the general public. Corbyn became the party leader despite all the other politicians not liking him, and then never really united those politicians. And then his personal popular appeal never really got going, and has been flagging for a while.
Johnson also became leader by appealing to the hardcore of his party. Then, of course, he kicked out any politicians that stood against him. No matter what, he certainly united his party around him.
If Labour want to come back from this, they need to select their next leader wisely. But, of course, their party structure might not allow for that.
These electoral problems have long been known. Proportional Voting system has been advocated for by several organisations with very little effect.
Conservatives never acknowledge it because first past the post always favours them. Similarly, Labour foolishly never supported electoral reform because they thought they could still take advantage the same way.
What do all these failings amount to? The most unrepresentative government in my lifetime. Goddamn.
We basically have a 1 party system now, unless by some miracle there’s electoral reform yesterday.