2015 UK Politics Megathread

[Liberty and Linguistics]

Iglesisas bacas Corbyn.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/25/podemos-supports-jeremy-corbyn-change-europe

A Corbyn win would certainly be following the general trend around Europe at the moment.

Aside from Spain and Greece, much of Europe is drifting towards the eurosceptic right.

[Knokkeheist]

A Corbyn win would certainly be following the general trend around Europe at the moment.

Aside from Spain and Greece, much of Europe is drifting towards the eurosceptic right.

Yes indeed Geert Wilders is leading in the polls and that is very good.

[The Archregimancy]

I believe that the Burkha should be banned, completely. Just like in France, I find it intimidating to walk on the streets and not to find a friendly, local-mans face but to find a completely-masked foreign-women (Im not against foreign people) and think that they can jump in here, not respect our culture, set up mosques and spread their religion? No!

Just out of curiosity, do you think that all of the British expats in the UAE and other Gulf states should wear local dress in order to better respect the local culture? Do you think they should be allowed to set up churches and continue practicing their religion?

[Chartist Socialist Republics]

Aside from Spain and Greece, much of Europe is drifting towards the eurosceptic right.

Yes indeed Geert Wilders is leading in the polls and that is very good.

Yeah, polling consistently at just over 20% is obviously a demonstration of mass popular support.

[Novus Iceland]

Aside from Spain and Greece, much of Europe is drifting towards the eurosceptic right.

Yes indeed Geert Wilders is leading in the polls and that is very good.

Job Cohen offered better solutions, silly dutch....

[Knokkeheist]

Yes indeed Geert Wilders is leading in the polls and that is very good.

Yeah, polling consistently at just over 20% is obviously a demonstration of mass popular support.

Do you have any other reason to bash PVV instead of Populism?

[Kinckobanina and Wherpvelna]

Yeah, polling consistently at just over 20% is obviously a demonstration of mass popular support.

Do you have any other reason to bash PVV instead of Populism?

They're making the entire muslim integration issue worse for one.

[Angleter]

So today, the sometime Tory MP Harvey Proctor, previously best known for pleading guilty in 1987 to paying for sex with two rent boys aged 19 and 17 (and thus under what was back then the gay age of consent), has come out and criticised the way that the police are dealing with the VIP child sex abuse allegations against him and others, claiming he was frustrated about the 'drip-drip' of information about him (apparently - I can't remember hearing anything about him, but there we go) being leaked to the press. He claims that he wasn't told what, specifically, he was being accused of until he asked for (and got) a police interview (that lasted six hours), where he was told that he was accused of abusing, raping, and murdering underage (as in actually underage) boys as part of a paedophile ring that included Ted Heath, the heads of MI5 and MI6, and others. These accusations, according to Proctor, all stem from a single (anonymous) source.

Anyway, Proctor was interviewed on Channel 4 News by the awful Krishnan Guru-Murthy, who - in his usual fashion of asking stupid and/or offensive questions over and over again - seemed to be implying that someone having paid for sex with men who, though over 16, were 'underage' according to the old homophobic consent laws does justify that person being under greater suspicion of being a (murdering) paedophile. At one point Krishnan also seems to embrace the all-prostitutes-are-victims narrative that you'd normally find advocated by social conservatives and so-called 'SWERFs'.

Essentially, the subject of historic sex abuse turned a normally very socially liberal (both on gay rights and on prostitution) journalist and programme into a throwback to, well, 1987. I'm finding the way the police and the media are dealing with this scandal increasingly worrying.

[Hydesland]

So today, the sometime Tory MP Harvey Proctor, previously best known for pleading guilty in 1987 to paying for sex with two rent boys aged 19 and 17 (and thus under what was back then the gay age of consent), has come out and criticised the way that the police are dealing with the VIP child sex abuse allegations against him and others, claiming he was frustrated about the 'drip-drip' of information about him (apparently - I can't remember hearing anything about him, but there we go) being leaked to the press. He claims that he wasn't told what, specifically, he was being accused of until he asked for (and got) a police interview (that lasted six hours), where he was told that he was accused of abusing, raping, and murdering underage (as in actually underage) boys as part of a paedophile ring that included Ted Heath, the heads of MI5 and MI6, and others. These accusations, according to Proctor, all stem from a single (anonymous) source.

Anyway, Proctor was interviewed on Channel 4 News by the awful Krishnan Guru-Murthy, who - in his usual fashion of asking stupid and/or offensive questions over and over again - seemed to be implying that someone having paid for sex with men who, though over 16, were 'underage' according to the old homophobic consent laws does justify that person being under greater suspicion of being a (murdering) paedophile. At one point Krishnan also seems to embrace the all-prostitutes-are-victims narrative that you'd normally find advocated by social conservatives and so-called 'SWERFs'.

Essentially, the subject of historic sex abuse turned a normally very socially liberal (both on gay rights and on prostitution) journalist and programme into a throwback to, well, 1987. I'm finding the way the police and the media are dealing with this scandal increasingly worrying.

Is a single witness without corroborating evidence really all they had? Is that really enough these days?

[Alyakia]

leaking to the press might be bad but "huh it's just one person with no evidence fuck it" is exactly how we got in this situation in the first place so it's entirely reasonable they might investigate everythhing this time around

[Angleter]

So today, the sometime Tory MP Harvey Proctor, previously best known for pleading guilty in 1987 to paying for sex with two rent boys aged 19 and 17 (and thus under what was back then the gay age of consent), has come out and criticised the way that the police are dealing with the VIP child sex abuse allegations against him and others, claiming he was frustrated about the 'drip-drip' of information about him (apparently - I can't remember hearing anything about him, but there we go) being leaked to the press. He claims that he wasn't told what, specifically, he was being accused of until he asked for (and got) a police interview (that lasted six hours), where he was told that he was accused of abusing, raping, and murdering underage (as in actually underage) boys as part of a paedophile ring that included Ted Heath, the heads of MI5 and MI6, and others. These accusations, according to Proctor, all stem from a single (anonymous) source.

Anyway, Proctor was interviewed on Channel 4 News by the awful Krishnan Guru-Murthy, who - in his usual fashion of asking stupid and/or offensive questions over and over again - seemed to be implying that someone having paid for sex with men who, though over 16, were 'underage' according to the old homophobic consent laws does justify that person being under greater suspicion of being a (murdering) paedophile. At one point Krishnan also seems to embrace the all-prostitutes-are-victims narrative that you'd normally find advocated by social conservatives and so-called 'SWERFs'.

Essentially, the subject of historic sex abuse turned a normally very socially liberal (both on gay rights and on prostitution) journalist and programme into a throwback to, well, 1987. I'm finding the way the police and the media are dealing with this scandal increasingly worrying.

Is a single witness without corroborating evidence really all they had? Is that really enough these days?

According to Proctor. I do get the distinct impression that most of the names that end up in the press are based on a single, not necessarily new, allegation of indeterminate plausibility; and the police use that allegation to drop the name to the press (or do a full-on perp walk, like Cliff Richard and Jim Davidson got) and then sit back and hope a whole host of new and plausible allegations come forward. That seems to be what happened with Willie Whitelaw, Enoch Powell, and Leo Abse (with a particularly unreliable original allegation). Obviously, if it works, it works; but if it doesn't, the person whose name is leaked has their reputation ruined anyway.

[Hydesland]

leaking to the press might be bad but "huh it's just one person with no evidence fuck it" is exactly how we got in this situation in the first place so it's entirely reasonable they might investigate everythhing this time around

It wasn't just that the claim was investigated - that's fine, but it appears that the police actively promoted such accusations as credible (as well as leaking the details to the press as you say) - and it's bad to accuse someone if you have nothing you could bring to court (or even just to your superiors) to sustain those accusations. If the witness is lying, then it's a waste of police time and someones life has been destroyed in the process, if the witness is telling the truth, his life could get destroyed by the media backlash.

[Knokkeheist]

Do you have any other reason to bash PVV instead of Populism?

They're making the entire muslim integration issue worse for one.

Muslims don't accept our culture , why should we accept their culture?

[Knokkeheist]

Yes indeed Geert Wilders is leading in the polls and that is very good.

Job Cohen offered better solutions, silly dutch....

Job Cohen supported the opening of a radical dutch mosque and said that it was pointless to learn foreigners dutch.

[Vassenor]

Muslims don't accept our culture

[citation needed]

[Knokkeheist]

Muslims don't accept our culture

[citation needed]

Geert wilders grammar nazi.

[Vassenor]

[citation needed]

Geert wilders grammar nazi.

What?

[Knokkeheist]

Geert wilders grammar nazi.

What?

Geert wilders said that i don't need a citation for a general quote that most people agree with here.

[Vassenor]

What?

Geert wilders said that i don't need a citation for a general quote that most people agree with here.

And your basis that "most people" here agree with your assertion is?

[Olivaero]

What?

Geert wilders said that i don't need a citation for a general quote that most people agree with here.

Geert Wilders could say the sky was purple that doesn't make it so now does it?

[New Werpland]

Job Cohen offered better solutions, silly dutch....

Job Cohen supported the opening of a radical dutch mosque and said that it was pointless to learn foreigners dutch.

Because of Job Cohen's efforts to pursue Interculturalism, Amsterdam has the most integrated Muslim community. And you're accusations sound like they're taken out of context, or dramatized.

They're making the entire muslim integration issue worse for one.

Muslims don't accept our culture , why should we accept their culture?

Because when you call their culture evil, you alienate them, and they don't integrate.

[Krumbia]

So I've just moved house from North Yorkshire to Cheshire, and for the first time ever I've been in walking distance of a local shop which sells newspapers. So I've resolved to buy a physical copy of a newspaper once or twice every week, and I'm currently cycling through them to see which I like the best (in print form this is, online is a whole different world). I bought the Grauniad with high expectations, but was somewhat disappointed. It appeared to have a lot of flare and little content, some of which was obviously highly pretentious, and it didn't have enough politics in for my liking either. I bought the Independent today, and I'm pleasantly surprised. I think the layout is peculiar, and it'll take a while to get used to it, but there's lots of stories, a lot of intelligent journalism and a fair number of opinion pieces. Also the Indy tends to go out of its way to run stories other papers don't pick up on, which is also interesting. Next, I think I'll buy the Times. Others on my list include the Telegraph and possibly the Morning Star if I can get a copy, and also the FT. Not sure I want to go for any like the Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Star, Daily Express or the Daily Mirror.

[Chartist Socialist Republics]

They're making the entire muslim integration issue worse for one.

Muslims don't accept our culture , why should we accept their culture?

Why does anyone need to adopt anyone else's culture?

[Krumbia]

Muslims don't accept our culture , why should we accept their culture?

Why does anyone need to adopt anyone else's culture?

In order to be accepted by the society into which they have decided to enter.

[Chartist Socialist Republics]

So I've just moved house from North Yorkshire to Cheshire, and for the first time ever I've been in walking distance of a local shop which sells newspapers. So I've resolved to buy a physical copy of a newspaper once or twice every week, and I'm currently cycling through them to see which I like the best (in print form this is, online is a whole different world). I bought the Grauniad with high expectations, but was somewhat disappointed. It appeared to have a lot of flare and little content, some of which was obviously highly pretentious, and it didn't have enough politics in for my liking either. I bought the Independent today, and I'm pleasantly surprised. I think the layout is peculiar, and it'll take a while to get used to it, but there's lots of stories, a lot of intelligent journalism and a fair number of opinion pieces. Also the Indy tends to go out of its way to run stories other papers don't pick up on, which is also interesting. Next, I think I'll buy the Times. Others on my list include the Telegraph and possibly the Morning Star if I can get a copy, and also the FT. Not sure I want to go for any like the Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Star, Daily Express or the Daily Mirror.

Honestly, I wouldn't waste my time or money on any of them.