UK election 2019

[Roses]

I see Michael Heseltine has stated that he doesn't want the Tories to get a majority in the election.

[Outrider]

I see Michael Heseltine has stated that he doesn't want the Tories to get a majority in the election.

Unfortunately, as things stand, it seems a significant, Brexit-leaning portion of the usual Labour support does... 

O.

[Roses]

Unfortunately, as things stand, it seems a significant, Brexit-leaning portion of the usual Labour support does... 

O.

I think you are correct, I have a nasty feeling the Tories will win this election.

[Nearly Sane]

See, I have a slightly different take on that.  To me, that reads like he doesn't expect anything better from the Tories (and others) but he does feel like he should be able to expect better from Labour - it's a sense of betrayal, rather than a sense of an injustice divorced from any personal history.

Of course, given the political leanings of the current Labour leadership, and the exploits of the current Israeli leadership, a degree of tension in light of the inevitable criticisms of the regime seems unavoidable.

O.

However, when you add in his congratulations to Johnson becoming PM. it's problematic

https://israelb.org/2019/07/chief-rabbi-mirvis-congratulates-boris-johnson/

[Nearly Sane]

I see that the Muslim Council of Britain have issued a statement about the Tories and Islamophobia

"As a faith community, we commonly are threatened by Islamophobia. This an issue that is particularly acute in the Conservative Party who have approached Islamophobia with denial, dismissal and deceit," it said.

"It is abundantly clear to many Muslims that the Conservative Party tolerate Islamophobia, allow it to fester in society, and fail to put in place the measures necessary to root out this type of racism. It is as if the Conservative Party has a blind spot for this type of racism.'

[Outrider]

I see that the Muslim Council of Britain have issued a statement about the Tories and Islamophobia

"As a faith community, we commonly are threatened by Islamophobia. This an issue that is particularly acute in the Conservative Party who have approached Islamophobia with denial, dismissal and deceit," it said.

"It is abundantly clear to many Muslims that the Conservative Party tolerate Islamophobia, allow it to fester in society, and fail to put in place the measures necessary to root out this type of racism. It is as if the Conservative Party has a blind spot for this type of racism.'

I cant help but wonder if the Lib Dems would be well-served by publicly insulting the Zeus-worshippers, just to get some publicity - it seems like no-one particular hates them, but it also seems like there aren't many people that care one way or the other at the moment....

O.

[Nearly Sane]

I think this hasn't been updated for some of the latest issues but it is quite a list of issues with candidates.


https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1196432005766025216.html

[Nearly Sane]

I cant help but wonder if the Lib Dems would be well-served by publicly insulting the Zeus-worshippers, just to get some publicity - it seems like no-one particular hates them, but it also seems like there aren't many people that care one way or the other at the moment....

O.

The Chief Rabbi's statement remains the headline news on BBC website. The Muslim Council's statement about the Tories appeared on the running news section on the website, and is not and has never been a headline.

[Roses]

I see that the Muslim Council of Britain have issued a statement about the Tories and Islamophobia

"As a faith community, we commonly are threatened by Islamophobia. This an issue that is particularly acute in the Conservative Party who have approached Islamophobia with denial, dismissal and deceit," it said.

"It is abundantly clear to many Muslims that the Conservative Party tolerate Islamophobia, allow it to fester in society, and fail to put in place the measures necessary to root out this type of racism. It is as if the Conservative Party has a blind spot for this type of racism.'

I agree with that, there should be no place in British society for Islamophobia or anti-Semitism. However extremists of any religion should be brought to book if they are causing harm to others.

[Nearly Sane]

It's all about the age

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50543903

[Udayana]

The Chief Rabbi's statement remains the headline news on BBC website. The Muslim Council's statement about the Tories appeared on the running news section on the website, and is not and has never been a headline.

The Islamophobia complaints are probably valid but just look like whataboutery. Corbyn has given his speech in Tottenham but seems to have addressed the issue with generalities not specific actions taken or to be taken.

Labour put up an MP (didn't catch her name) to discuss antisemitism on World at One, but who clearly had no actual knowledge of any facts of interest -  straight after damning interviews with Louise Ellman - who had been hounded out of the party by antisemites, and Charlie Falconer who supported the Chief Rabbi.

ISTM was all predictable before the election and should have been planned for - or maybe he has no credible responses to the criticisms and/or failures?

[Outrider]

It's all about the age

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50543903

And the formal education, it would seem, plays a strong part.

O.

[Nearly Sane]

The Islamophobia complaints are probably valid but just look like whataboutery. Corbyn has given his speech in Tottenham but seems to have addressed the issue with generalities not specific actions taken or to be taken.

Labour put up an MP (didn't catch her name) to discuss antisemitism on World at One, but who clearly had no actual knowledge of any facts of interest -  straight after damning interviews with Louise Elleman - who had been hounded out of the party by antisemites, and Charlie Falconer who supported the Chief Rabbi.

ISTM was all predictable before the election and should have been planned for - or maybe he has no credible responses to the criticisms and/or failures?

Given that the Chief Rabbi's remarks on Johnson and Corbyn give implicit support to the Tories, I think that the idea that it's whataboutery here doesn't apply. It's part of the claim.

I agree that the Labour Party have handled this badly from the start, and continue to do so.

[Nearly Sane]

And the formal education, it would seem, plays a strong part.

O.

Which would be caused by the left wing elitist bias in university education according to some.

[Outrider]

Which would be caused by the left wing elitist bias in university education according to some.

Fascists... 

O.

[Walter]

I was in a wood yard earlier today and saw a sign on the wall, it said:
No Anti Semetic wood sizes are sold in this yard .

Crazy 😳

[The Accountant, OBE, KC]

There were in fact 673 allegations against Labour members reported over the previous 10 months, not all involving recent events. One allegation concerned an 8-year old incident. The number reported seems modest....In addition to the 673 there were a further 433 allegations reported to Labour that did not in fact concern Labour members. Such errors of attribution have clearly inflated perceptions of how many genuine Labour members may be antisemitic.

Of these 673 linked to Labour members, 220 (33%) were rejected because there was insufficient evidence.
So in Labour we now have 453 allegations which seem to have been handled correctly and promptly. This represents 0.08% of our 540,000 members. It rather contradicts the myth that in Labour antisemitism is “rampant”, or that it has become a “cess-pit of antisemitism” or “an unsafe place for Jews”

https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/antisemitism-no-justification-for-singling-out-labour/

If these stats are correct the perceptions of people feeling afraid do not seem to have a basis in statistics. So what is causing these emotions of anxiety/ fear and how fair is it to use these emotions to denigrate the values of Corbyn and many Labour party members. If these stats are correct and therefore evidence and statistics don't matter anymore I think I have got to the point where I would not care if someone called me anti-Semitic - it would just be empty noise.

[Roses]

Corbyn's interview with Andrew Neil went very badly indeed, Boris must be rubbing his hands with glee.

[Outrider]

Corbyn's interview with Andrew Neil went very badly indeed, Boris must be rubbing his hands with glee.

Well, Andrew Neill rarely fails to pin his own right-wing inclinations to his sleeve, but let's hope that he's professional enough to hold Johnson to the fire in the same way that he has Corbyn and Sturgeon.  To be fair, on broadcast he is generally quite pressing, it's in his written work that he shows his own opinions I find.

O.

[Roses]

Well, Andrew Neill rarely fails to pin his own right-wing inclinations to his sleeve, but let's hope that he's professional enough to hold Johnson to the fire in the same way that he has Corbyn and Sturgeon.  To be fair, on broadcast he is generally quite pressing, it's in his written work that he shows his own opinions I find.

O.

At the end of the day whatever the politicians claim they will do when in government, and what they actually achieve are usually very different.

[Nearly Sane]

Be interested to see some analysis of the documents - this could be very damaging for the Tories

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50572454

[Roses]

Be interested to see some analysis of the documents - this could be very damaging for the Tories

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50572454

Very damaging indeed if that is true, the NHS is a high priority to most UK citizens.

[Christine]

Be interested to see some analysis of the documents - this could be very damaging for the Tories

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50572454

I expect the Tories will just say that this type of stuff doesn't count.  They're already giving a lot of our money to private healthcare providers (a family member died of cancer last year and we were all astonished to find the district nurses were employed by Virgin) but they'll claim it doesn't matter as long as the service is free at point of use.  This is disingenuous at best.  It's another opportunity to syphon off our taxes into billionaires' already bulging coffers, is what it is.

[Nearly Sane]

I expect the Tories will just say that this type of stuff doesn't count.  They're already giving a lot of our money to private healthcare providers (a family member died of cancer last year and we were all astonished to find the district nurses were employed by Virgin) but they'll claim it doesn't matter as long as the service is free at point of use.  This is disingenuous at best.  It's another opportunity to syphon off our taxes into billionaires' already bulging coffers, is what it is.

The prescriptions issue will be the big one if the document stands up to scrutiny.

[Christine]

Jeremy Corbyn was terrible on Andrew Neil last night.  He should have been well-prepared for both anti-Semitism and spending questions. 

Painting a life-long campaigner against racism of all stripes as a racist is 1984-level propaganda which is being amplified by the BBC.  Meanwhile, the Tories are looking to consolidate executive power if they get a majority at the election:

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/tory-manifesto-conservative-boris-johnson-dictator-general-election-brexit-a9216861.html

Sorry to link to an opinion piece but news stories on this real threat are hard to find.  I'm not giving clicks to the Conservative party site.  Given that nobody involved in the Conservative (how ironic) assault on our democracy seems worried about consequences, short or long term, I'm getting more and more concerned.

And one more thing - people on £80,000+ a year griping about paying an extra £20 a month in tax, when hundreds of people died of poverty on our streets last year and 19% of our population live in ABSOLUTE poverty

https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14193

is revolting.