Pickwick

Can you point me to the myriad posts dated before last Thursday decrying the FPTP voting system? As system in place for the last 74 years. I don't like the system either but have been vocal about that for 35 years at least. Not that many people (from both sides of the spectrum) seemed too bothered until last Thursday. That is not the democratically elected Labour Party's fault, whether you like them or not.

Yes, money. Unfortunately, it's an incredibly lucrative trade for the criminal gangs. Great to see you gave them a whole six days to prove themselves.

I am not sure. it is difficult to find robust information on this (happy to stand corrected) but there is a lot of co-operation between France and the UK. Is it enough (regarding French action)? Again, I am not sure. They apparently spend more (of their own) money than us on the issue but they have their own problems and financial constraints like the UK. But I am not in the Tory 'let's do nothing then blame the EU/France/Labour/Napoleon/the Queen of Sheba when things get worse' camp. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9681/

Wrong tense. The backlog has long been a problem but has increased significantly under Tory rule, especially since 2018. I'm not convinced there is a quick or easy solution, but I won't be blaming a six day old government for the previous one's failings, no matter my personal politics.

This sentence started off well and was interesting, but then by the end it just subtly parrots another agenda driven motive. It's not really important if it is 'extreme right', 'far right', 'hard right' or 'more right than most other parties right'. The tiresome (non-) dialogue and diatribes trying to shut down debate and legitimate concerns by people, some of whom have never voted for a left of centre government in their lives, is, however, extreme. So far, on the handful of UK political threads on here, we have people blaming Labour (5 days after an election) for Tory policies because they are desperate to blame 'the left' for everything. I'd suggest that's extreme - extremely one-sided. We have had people barely able to control their blood pressure over the recent 'debacle' of a general election, claiming that 90% of the people were unaware of the FPTP system that the UK has used in every general election for near 75 years. I'd suggest that's also extreme - extremely ignorant. We've had people blaming the left for all the immigration problems, despite having a net positive immigration for the last 30 years - 17 of which were under right-wing Tory rule. We have people who until the recent election voted Tory repeatedly, despite immigration levels rising. First they blamed the EU; then it was France; now it is Labour. The latest, as evidenced by recent posts, is to lump the Tories in with Labour (yet still imply it's a problem of the left). Maybe people made a mistake voting Tory - but whisper that, lest you be mistaken for a red-capped communist comrade. Maybe it was unintentional but I feel like your post above takes a swipe at the left whilst implying anyone taking a swipe back at the right has lost their marbles (for only marble-less lunatic lefties would think anyone right of Labour are fascists). That's extreme too - extremely self-defeating for a debate. I appreciate though that you were trying to be humorous, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. There was no 'manipulation'. You are implying coercion or something underhand using that word (sounding exactly like Mme le Pen). It was a strategy, visible, legal and democratic - one which the French voters were aware of before placing their vote. The majority of French people evidently supported this strategy. What happens next is anyone's guess. The French politicians now have a job to do and if they don't figure out how to do it well one assumes Mme le Pen has every chance of becoming the next President, in another visible, legal and democratic election.

You twice criticised the Labour Party for not including the release of prisoners in their manifesto. It was not in the Labour manifesto because it was a Tory Policy. If you think they are both clowns that is fine and I won't argue the point, but when you go on about a Tory Policy not being in the Labour manifesto it only looks like criticism driven by agenda. Yes, immigration is an issue. It has been net positive since 1994 (Tory government), increasing for a further 13 years (Labour), continuing positively for the next 10 years (Tory) and rising sharply afterwards the last 4 years (Tory) - (save for 2020 for obvious reasons). I assume you will hold both 'clowns' responsible in your ensuing critiques. (10% of the prison population of England and Wales is of foreign nationals. I have no idea how this rates historically, though I assume it follows the general trajectory. I am surprised though that every prisoner is allocated a single cell, as I have read countless reports of prisons being overcrowded, but I'll take your word for it).

Wrong. This is a policy started by the (right wing) Tory party (last October) and Starmer was on record before the election stating he had little option but to continue the policy as the prison system, neglected by said Tory party, is falling apart. The Prison Governor's Association has stated that it is only going to be a matter of days before prisons run out of space. Before anyone froths at the mouth about a BBC link, the first confirms this was reported on before the election, the second confirms the Prison Governor's Association remarks. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj50rzlmze7o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c16jpkzz9g3o

Does anyone have any experience with Medex lab tests? I want to get a whole range of general tests now I've reached 50, including some at hospital next time I am in Bangkok (which unfortunately won't be any time soon for various reasons). In the meantime I wanted to get some of the basic blood tests with additions, specifically FIT blood test, with a view to arranging a colonoscopy within the next six months to a year. I am, however, in the middle of nowhere and I am unsure how to find a reliable or certified lab for such tests. Phitsanulok is the closest bigger town I suppose, though it is not so difficult to get to Nakhon Sawan either. Looking for hospitals in these areas that offer the FIT (and struggling as my medical Thai is not yet up to scratch) I stumbled upon Medex, based in Bangkok but with labs in many provinces, including Nakhon Sawan. I am not sure how I check their (or any other labs) credibility. If anyone has any experience or advice I'd be very grateful.

Fair enough if that's what you thought - but I read it as a critique of Jackson Pollock's art and not the USA as a whole! My point then was you could defend Pollock without disparaging the works of Picasso, Monet and more than the scream Munch (though Pollock could not have painted what he did without having been aware of the centuries of art before him). Or, you could have rightly pointed out that if a Jackson Pollock original is American trash then how much are your trashcans worth 🙂 No need to start bashing all of Australia. I appreciate the sentiment too but the delivery might rile some people, seeing as many Australians died in WW2 and without their sacrifice the war might also have been lost. I'm neither American nor Australian but I cringe when I hear British people talking about saving the French etc. when many French also died, a lot of them bravely as members of the resistance. As far as I recall our soldiers all fought together, on the same side. An alliance of many countries assured victory in WW2. Granted, it could be fairly argued that without the intervention of the USA there may have been a different outcome, but that is speculation, and it only serves to belittle the efforts and the memory of those non-Americans who sacrificed their lives - many millions of them. Everyone in my country - and I am sure in Australia - will never forget the intervention or sacrifice of the American soldiers either. (This does not, however, disqualify us from constructive criticism of America and Americans, seeing as we live in a globalised world. Though, I do acknowledge that is a general point and 'yankee trash' was not constructive!)

That you think Babbage, Bell, Daimler, Faraday and Fleming etc. have not achieved anything is an indictment of your education, not a discredit to their countries. The USA is a great country but there are many great countries; why you are so desperate to prove the former but disparage the latter is beyond me.

It tells us what? Are you suggesting that France is not prone to right wing violence? Are you suggesting France is not prone to right wing violence, some of which has occurred in the last week? Are the violent clashes between the left and the right in Lyon just the left's fault? Are the attacks on candidates standing against both the right and the left just the left's fault? France has a long history of political protests and demonstrations, which often turn violent. This is sometimes caused by people on the extreme left and sometimes people on the extreme right. The key word is 'extreme', not 'left' (or 'right'). France also has an element (like many other countries) of trouble makers and idiots, who will take any opportunity to cause havoc, whichever way the political wind is blowing. I think France is going to have big, big problems with the extreme left in the coming months, but to suggest violence is restricted to one side of the political spectrum requires a myopia as strong as Mr Magoo's.

It's not life, it's money. Students don't have a pot to pi$$ in but at some point most get jobs. Then comes the car and the mortgage and every penny becomes precious. Over time they earn more money, they start to save, maybe invest to help those savings grow, and become protective of it. Equality is replaced by freedom. It's as easy to fight the system from a dingy bedsit, as it is to fight for it from a four-bedroom villa.

I stopped your quote there because that about sums it up. Some people had no interest in it until now. But the FPTP system began in 1950, not last Thursday, and predates UKIP by forty years. There's your full quote. It's also wrong. 20 million people voted in the referendum. It was widely discussed in the news every day for months, focusing on AV, PR and FPTP. The Liberal Democrats received 22% of the votes in the 2010 general election campaigning for PR. The Lib Dems campaigned strategically for seats based on the current FPTP system - and it was a great success. They are the only major party to have vociferously campaigned over a sustained period of time for PR. Perhaps the 'debacle' is karma.

I agree entirely with your sentiment - though I would note that technically it was the Alternative Vote (and not Proportional Representation) that was voted against. Not much clamour for either from the traditional right as I recall. The first past the post system has been in place since 1950. There was scant mention of this electoral system on here before last Thursday, funny that it's suddenly the main issue now. The Reform Party's rise is a much bigger problem for the Conservatives than Labour - perhaps even existentially so. We have seen what happened to the traditional, heavyweight centre-right Republicans Party in France. Weakened initially by Macron, and then fractured by the hard right RN. Now a shadow of its former self (even going into a desperate alliance with RN to save itself and thus fracturing even more). Of course, we cannot translate directly what happens in one country with another, but there are enough similarities that I'm sure it will have caused some alarm at Conservative HQ. It is clear most people in France do not want a hard right government. I think that's also true of the UK. The majority are somewhere close to centre and/or moderate centre-right/centre-left. Too often we are voting against someone as opposed to for someone in a two-horse race. If the noise about PR continues, then perhaps this will change. I would expect support for the Lib Dems (or AN Other centrist party) to increase (and for other smaller parties) and perhaps then we will have more choice, and can begin to move away from the tiresome hard-right/hard-left rhetoric that is dragging us all down.

I agree and think this is a very important point. I tend to think there are many people in the centre/moderate right who would not vote for Reform; and many in Reform who view the Conservatives as being too close to the centre. We could be seeing a real fracture in the right, not dissimilar to the Republicans and RN in France. The Conservative Party needs to be very careful with its next move. The nightmare for them is Nigel Farage now being in the House. He doesn't need to cosy up to the Conservatives, it's the other way around. I don't understand your point. You wrote above that the FPTP system is not fit for purpose, yet then call the Lib Dems clowns for being the party who has called for and campaigned for electoral reform for many years. I appreciate you may not agree with their politics, but on this issue surely they deserve credit. It is unfortunate that people only take notice of issues when their party is suddenly affected, but credit to Nigel Farage, he is also on record as wanting electoral reform going back at least a decade. I also don't know how Reform can be lauded for their support but at the same time the 'Lib Dems did nothing' - the LIb Dems had a very clear strategy (like Reform) under the current rules and it was an unqualified success, hence the 71 seats. I don't recall a single critique of this strategy before the election. Odd that, given the opprobrium now. Well, yes, but it has been that way since 1950! The Lib Dems - seemingly the target of some voters' ire - have campaigned for this system to be replaced for a very long time (as has Nigel Farage, though I can't recall this being discussed as a major issue in the last six weeks among Reform supporters - until the result of course). The Conservative Party, in power more than the Labour party during this time, has had zero interest in changing the rules. Your quote above, which I agree with, also shines light on another problem. We have accepted a divide and conquer style of politics where large sections of our society are routinely ignored. Those sections are branded 'losers' or 'whiners' or some other such insult when an election or referendum result does not go their way. Until we stop this incessant trade of insults and start taking our society seriously as a whole then those orchestrating the divide and rule will continue to prosper, whilst the rest of us shout at each other as we race to the bottom.

Armstrong would not be the man he was without the influence and upbringing by his parents. Bill Gates couldn't have invented anything without the other guys. You missed my point entirely. You seem dismissive of the rest of the world - not just Australia. I lived for the best part a decade in the USA and it is a curious attitude I sometimes encountered there (but by no means displayed by all Americans); it does you no favours.

Armstrong, Scottish and German ancestry. We could probably credit a few people: Charles Babbage, Englishman. Henry Mill, Englishman. Christopher Sholes - American, yay! and the German Steinhilper. Hargreaves and Arkwright (English) back in the day; Watt's steam engine (Scottish); Fulton's paddle steamer (American); Faraday on his work with electricity (English); furthered by Edison (American) and Swan (English); Bell's telephone (Scottish, though lived adult life in America); internal combustion engine - Lenoir (Belgian); Otto and Daimler (German); Henry Ford for the T Model (American); Fleming for his work on penicillin (Scottish), furthered by Foley (Australian); Rosing (Russian), Braun (German), Campbell-Swinton and Logie Baird for the television (both Scottish). Of course this is but a brief and biased selection given my background, there are many gifted people from many wonderful countries who have contributed much to our world. That includes Australia and the USA.

That's not true. Labour received 32.2% in 2019 and 33.7% in 2024. Pretty steady. https://www.statista.com/statistics/717004/general-elections-vote-share-by-party-uk/ I tend to agree, though my point above suggests that the Labour support hasn't changed that much (at least since 2019). The right wing is now fractured and there is a real existential threat to the Conservatives (though I don't personally think there will be the Armageddon some are predicting). I think many floating voters, those not involved in the tiresome nazi vs wokeflake debates, have grown tired of the Tories and their constant in-fighting. It's like they have no idea who they are. Nigel Farage has blown that apart, and now we have a situation not dissimilar to France, where the traditional Republican Party has been decimated by support for Le Pen's RN Party (via way of Macron first time round). The biggest problem (imho) for the Tories is that Nigel Farage has actually been elected to the House of Commons. Any hope they could cosy up to an unelected Nigel to bring his supporters into the Tory fold is now gone. Nigel's in the House and he ain't for moving.

I don't know why people are having a dig at the Lib Dems over this? They have consistently campaigned for PR and their leader has already pledged a commitment to continue to campaign for change (this morning). Some have been harking on about this for decades - odd that now everyone on AN suddenly seems to think it's the biggest issue, as it was barely mentioned here before the election. Quelle surprise. To his credit, Nigel Farage has talked about this for some time, but even some left wing Guardian journalists agreed with him nearly a decade ago; it's not new: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/02/nigel-farage-electoral-reform-left-first-past-the-post-proportional-representation It also stands to reason that some (many?) people would vote differently if the system of voting was different. I know people who were impressed by some of the Lib Dems policies but thought that voting for them was a waste of time, in what was essentially a two horse race. Other smaller parties would most probably also see their share of the votes increase. I don't believe that the 'silent majority' is made up of Nigel Farage supporters. It is people who are fed up with words like 'racist', 'nazi' or 'wokeflake'. If a party or person stops playing to those particular galleries, then they might find themselves with a genuine majority.

WHY? The proliferation of posts at 5am...are you NOCTURNAL? Like Night Passing on Lancaster Sound....Google..Gamma..Google or Bing! Duck Duck Go! Or are you scared of sleep? Hip replacement nightmares are a THING! My hips do not vibrate in the rainy season, do YOURS?

I feel, perhaps, you are just looking to be contentious, since you do not even know how many countries are members of the EU. However, your suggestion that the UK would be in the middle, well: yes, no, or maybe. It's not a simple thing to calculate and difficult to get reliable figures for all countries. One table below, as an example: (Europe, not just the EU) https://www.statista.com/statistics/686147/gdp-growth-europe/ As we are only four years post-Brexit, a fair question might be: How much higher in this table (and any other table) would the UK have been had Brexit not happened? Of course, critics would fairly point out that any answer would be speculative. However, even the most fervent Brexit supported would surely admit that the UK economy had to take a hit (at least in the short-term). We have introduced barriers to trade with our biggest trading partner; such action does not come cheaply or without consequence. In the meantime, we have not created alternative trade to compensate, despite the headlines. The new trade agreement with Australia, for example, will grow UK GDP by 0.08% in the next ten years, according to the government's own calculations: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9484/#:~:text=The Government's Impact Assessment estimates,output because of the agreement. It is very difficult to compare countries by GDP etc. It is difficult to get the data, never mind analyse it meaningfully. As you know, statistics can be framed to suit almost any narrative, as below: https://fullfact.org/economy/gdp-growth-international-comparisons/ Even comparing with Germany alone is not easy. If we go back a little further in time we can see that although the UK economy may be growing faster, it is from a much lower starting point. How can we compare GDP and growth (meaningfully anyway)? It is not as easy as showing a bar graph: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Beginners:GDP_-_Comparing_GDP:_growth_rate_and_per_capita#How_can_the_GDP_of_different_economies_be_compared.3F And if we compare by the PPP method, then the UK is below Germany and France (but above Spain and Italy), and tied with the EU as a whole. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita It is inconceivable that Brexit has not caused some damage to the UK economy (at least in the short-term). Given we have erected trade barriers to our biggest market, to argue against that is unreasonable. However, some people have Faith that in the longer term the UK will prosper independently, though for many it is not easy to see on what that Faith is based, given the realities of the present. Unfortunately, we now live in a polarised society, and people only want to view the data through their entrenched world view., from one side or the other. They no longer want to talk to each other, much preferring to trade insults. This, imho, is a far bigger problem and a far bigger threat to the UK than Brexit. Finally, the EU has more than 23 countries as members: https://european-union.europa.eu/easy-read_en

Ted Heath!?? I wasn't even born and I ain't no spring chicken! It's Keir Starmer we're talking about, not Keir Hardie 😉

I am not sure of your point. Working class people should not vote for Keir Starmer because he is wealthy and a Sir and went to Oxford? This type of thing? If yes, then who should they vote for? Rishi Sunak, who also went to Oxford and is also very wealthy? The Liberals, oh hang on, it's Sir Ed Davey, who also attended Oxford. What about privately educated, very wealthy (didn't go to Oxford but followed Daddy into commodities trading), man of the people, Nigel Farage? Of course, if you are in Scotland you can vote for the SNP, whose ex-chairman is up on charges of embezzlement. Best not vote for the radical Greens because there will be a green tax hike and you might end up with a LBGTQ+ Prime Minister. Who should the stupid people vote for then?

Back in the day, after having just moved here, I was eating them at the wife's family home. I suddenly felt like I had swallowed a bone and told my wife. She immediately informed everyone and my brother-in-law nodded and left the table quickly. Off for a doctor I reassuringly thought and tried to remain calm. A minute later and he returned with a cat and rubbed its paw three times across my throat! Oddly, it worked 🙂

The Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, which only came into existence in 2011, was repealed in 2022. The new Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act affords the Prime Minister some leeway on the timing of a general election. We do still use yards and miles, true. Though most Britons are at ease with both the imperial and metric systems. My elderly father, for example, would have no problem using millimetres to measure your wit.