UK Politics Thread VII: Wake me DUP inside [can't wake UUP]

[Trumptonium]

So what exactly did Toby Young say to piss everyone off? I saw something about him tweeting about someones tits in the middle of a parliament session a few years back, and something about him making remarks towards disabled school kids?

He's been a bit desperate and made a few tweets here and there about sexually arousing oneself to politicians and TV celebrities and needing a few tissues to wipe his member

All in all some really poor trolling. I can do better.

[Dumb Ideologies]

Toby's also posted about how "easy" teaching is, made disparaging comments about university students from poor backgrounds, written positively about eugenics and how beneficial it would be for poorer parents to screen their embryos to select ones with higher IQ, publicly defined himself as "anti-inclusivity" in education (but "inclusivity" defined in a wacky bantery way, what a card) etc etc.

Much of it is at most semi-serious gadflying, and nothing that would have got him deleted from NSG - for instance - but there's also a very low percentage pay-off in his provocateuring being genuinely amusing rather than a bit desperate and sad, so the satire line is very blurred.

He's publicly trolled on education-related topics for years and is a known shit-stirrer. An ideal appointee and May could never have guessed with proper diligence that this might have caused trouble.

[Somecoldwetislands]

What would have been the biggest move of the reshuffle seems to not have happened at all then, Jeremy Hunt apparently refusing to move from Health to swap with Greg Clark. Starting to look a bit of a damp squib this whole reshuffle business.

A much more likely candidate for post-Hunt Health job is Anne Milton.

I get the feeling she's going to limp on out of inertia, like, we're going to have to watch this until 2021. It's going to be like Major post ERM debacle but with the economy going down instead of up...

It is amazing how many similarities can be drawn between May and Major.

Except that, of course, in the aftermath of the 1992 sterling crash and recession, the Conservatives went full technocrat (even if they just dragged on squabbles for 5 years) and devised an immediate reform with an emergency budget, giving Labour in 1997 an economy that was fundamentally stable and prosperous with a *gasp* surplus. This government is quite the opposite - a year on after the largest regulatory change to the UK economy since the immediate post-war period (if not 1979-1982), we know fuck all, and the government knows as much as us. Weird, right?
You'd think they'd make an effort to y'know, devise a plan or something, at least on the entirely domestic-policy things (like housing and productivity) but looks like these are just buzzwords.

The question is of course whether it will end in a 1997 red sweep.

Aye Major left the economy in a decent enough state, and although the Conservative administration had neglected the public domain and failed to make headway on long-term unemployment, they did leave things positively enough that New Labour could implement its plan for government. I get the feeling Labour may well win handily in the next election, but I get the feeling that we might struggle to actually govern given both our internal divisions, brexit and the possibility of an economy in decline.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Toby's also posted about how "easy" teaching is, made disparaging comments about university students from poor backgrounds, written positively about eugenics and how beneficial it would be for poorer parents to screen their embryos to select ones with higher IQ, publicly defined himself as "anti-inclusivity" in education (but "inclusivity" defined in a wacky bantery way, what a card) etc etc.

Much of it is at most semi-serious gadflying, and nothing that would have got him deleted from NSG - for instance - but there's also a very low percentage pay-off in his provocateuring being genuinely amusing rather than a bit desperate and sad, so the satire line is very blurred.

He's publicly trolled on education-related topics for years and is a known shit-stirrer. An ideal appointee and May could never have guessed with proper diligence that this might have caused trouble.

So what exactly did Toby Young say to piss everyone off? I saw something about him tweeting about someones tits in the middle of a parliament session a few years back, and something about him making remarks towards disabled school kids?

He's been a bit desperate and made a few tweets here and there about sexually arousing oneself to politicians and TV celebrities and needing a few tissues to wipe his member

All in all some really poor trolling. I can do better.

Ah, so he is a twat then.

[Eastfield Lodge]

Toby's also posted about how "easy" teaching is, made disparaging comments about university students from poor backgrounds, written positively about eugenics and how beneficial it would be for poorer parents to screen their embryos to select ones with higher IQ, publicly defined himself as "anti-inclusivity" in education (but "inclusivity" defined in a wacky bantery way, what a card) etc etc.

Much of it is at most semi-serious gadflying, and nothing that would have got him deleted from NSG - for instance - but there's also a very low percentage pay-off in his provocateuring being genuinely amusing rather than a bit desperate and sad, so the satire line is very blurred.

He's publicly trolled on education-related topics for years and is a known shit-stirrer. An ideal appointee and May could never have guessed with proper diligence that this might have caused trouble.

He's been a bit desperate and made a few tweets here and there about sexually arousing oneself to politicians and TV celebrities and needing a few tissues to wipe his member

All in all some really poor trolling. I can do better.

Ah, so he is a twat then.

Or a less right wing version of HMS.

[Ifreann]

So what exactly did Toby Young say to piss everyone off? I saw something about him tweeting about someones tits in the middle of a parliament session a few years back, and something about him making remarks towards disabled school kids?

He's been a bit desperate and made a few tweets here and there about sexually arousing oneself to politicians and TV celebrities and needing a few tissues to wipe his member

All in all some really poor trolling. I can do better.

What has become of the sport of kings?

[Esheaun Stroakuss]

Toby Young always struck me as a dickhead.

[Ostroeuropa]

I find it difficult to care about Toby publicly displaying his sexuality by noting boobs or whatever, provided he didn't badger the women in question by interacting with them directly with that stuff after they said to stop, or within a work environment. There's plenty of examples of women openly talking about male celebrities they find attractive, sometimes in crude ways, without repercussions.

In combination with the other shit though, it does seem to indicate he's doing it specifically to wind people up rather than just being sexually liberated, though it's still possible. Nonetheless the comments on poor students and poor people in general are troublesome enough that he shouldn't be a minister, if only for PR reasons.

Toby's also posted about how "easy" teaching is, made disparaging comments about university students from poor backgrounds, written positively about eugenics and how beneficial it would be for poorer parents to screen their embryos to select ones with higher IQ, publicly defined himself as "anti-inclusivity" in education (but "inclusivity" defined in a wacky bantery way, what a card) etc etc.

Much of it is at most semi-serious gadflying, and nothing that would have got him deleted from NSG - for instance - but there's also a very low percentage pay-off in his provocateuring being genuinely amusing rather than a bit desperate and sad, so the satire line is very blurred.

He's publicly trolled on education-related topics for years and is a known shit-stirrer. An ideal appointee and May could never have guessed with proper diligence that this might have caused trouble.

I'm sure he'll support tax rises for the necessary expansions to the NHS to provide screenings and eugenics programs. Sure of it.
It's a genuine principle, after all, not just snarling at the poor, i'll bet.

[The Archregimancy]

Virgin trains is dropping the Daily Mail from sale on its trains due the Mail's politics.

According to the internal memo:

Different viewpoints are often valuable, and it’s certainly true that we choose to take our news from different sources depending on our view of the world.

Thousands of people choose to read the Daily Mail every day. But they will no longer be reading it courtesy of VT [Virgin Trains].

There’s been considerable concern raised by colleagues about the Mail’s editorial position on issues such as immigration, LGBT rights, and unemployment. We’ve decided that this paper is not compatible with the VT brand and our beliefs. We won’t be stocking the Daily Mail for sale or as a giveaway.

The Mail's response is that:

It is disgraceful that, at a time of massive customer dissatisfaction over ever-increasing rail fares, and after the taxpayer was forced to bail out Virgin’s East Coast mainline franchise – a decision strongly criticised by the Mail – that Virgin Trains should now announce that for political reasons it is censoring the choice of newspapers it offers to passengers.

For the record, Virgin used to sell only 70 Daily Mails a day. They informed us last November that to save space, they were restricting sales to just three newspapers: the Mirror, FT and Times. They gave no other reason, but it may be no coincidence that all those titles, like Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson, are pro-remain.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... daily-mail

[Ostroeuropa]

Virgin trains is dropping the Daily Mail from sale on its trains due the Mail's politics.

According to the internal memo:

Different viewpoints are often valuable, and it’s certainly true that we choose to take our news from different sources depending on our view of the world.

Thousands of people choose to read the Daily Mail every day. But they will no longer be reading it courtesy of VT [Virgin Trains].

There’s been considerable concern raised by colleagues about the Mail’s editorial position on issues such as immigration, LGBT rights, and unemployment. We’ve decided that this paper is not compatible with the VT brand and our beliefs. We won’t be stocking the Daily Mail for sale or as a giveaway.

The Mail's response is that:

It is disgraceful that, at a time of massive customer dissatisfaction over ever-increasing rail fares, and after the taxpayer was forced to bail out Virgin’s East Coast mainline franchise – a decision strongly criticised by the Mail – that Virgin Trains should now announce that for political reasons it is censoring the choice of newspapers it offers to passengers.

For the record, Virgin used to sell only 70 Daily Mails a day. They informed us last November that to save space, they were restricting sales to just three newspapers: the Mirror, FT and Times. They gave no other reason, but it may be no coincidence that all those titles, like Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson, are pro-remain.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... daily-mail

Allegedly due to the politics. The 70 a day figure could hint at the real reason, but they decided to brand it differently for PR purposes.
Especially if they do some thinking about it (Which a company of their size almost certainly would) and realize the lack of mail sales says something about the sort of customer Virgin Trains has and what political demographic they are.

So it could be both, but for insincere reasons. "It doesn't fit with our politics." (Because it doesn't fit with our customers politics, and we want to pretend to be like them to secure their loyalty.)

[Vassenor]

Virgin trains is dropping the Daily Mail from sale on its trains due the Mail's politics.

According to the internal memo:

Different viewpoints are often valuable, and it’s certainly true that we choose to take our news from different sources depending on our view of the world.

Thousands of people choose to read the Daily Mail every day. But they will no longer be reading it courtesy of VT [Virgin Trains].

There’s been considerable concern raised by colleagues about the Mail’s editorial position on issues such as immigration, LGBT rights, and unemployment. We’ve decided that this paper is not compatible with the VT brand and our beliefs. We won’t be stocking the Daily Mail for sale or as a giveaway.

The Mail's response is that:

It is disgraceful that, at a time of massive customer dissatisfaction over ever-increasing rail fares, and after the taxpayer was forced to bail out Virgin’s East Coast mainline franchise – a decision strongly criticised by the Mail – that Virgin Trains should now announce that for political reasons it is censoring the choice of newspapers it offers to passengers.

For the record, Virgin used to sell only 70 Daily Mails a day. They informed us last November that to save space, they were restricting sales to just three newspapers: the Mirror, FT and Times. They gave no other reason, but it may be no coincidence that all those titles, like Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson, are pro-remain.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... daily-mail

...I could've sworn Branson was a Leaver.

[Trumptonium]

Virgin trains is dropping the Daily Mail from sale on its trains due the Mail's politics.

According to the internal memo:

Different viewpoints are often valuable, and it’s certainly true that we choose to take our news from different sources depending on our view of the world.

Thousands of people choose to read the Daily Mail every day. But they will no longer be reading it courtesy of VT [Virgin Trains].

There’s been considerable concern raised by colleagues about the Mail’s editorial position on issues such as immigration, LGBT rights, and unemployment. We’ve decided that this paper is not compatible with the VT brand and our beliefs. We won’t be stocking the Daily Mail for sale or as a giveaway.

The Mail's response is that:

It is disgraceful that, at a time of massive customer dissatisfaction over ever-increasing rail fares, and after the taxpayer was forced to bail out Virgin’s East Coast mainline franchise – a decision strongly criticised by the Mail – that Virgin Trains should now announce that for political reasons it is censoring the choice of newspapers it offers to passengers.

For the record, Virgin used to sell only 70 Daily Mails a day. They informed us last November that to save space, they were restricting sales to just three newspapers: the Mirror, FT and Times. They gave no other reason, but it may be no coincidence that all those titles, like Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson, are pro-remain.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... daily-mail

This is an entirely irrelevant decision on the face of it because nobody buys papers anymore. Daily Mail still basks in the title of the largest news website in the UK by hits. It's things like The Sun that should be worried.

Nevertheless it is a nice addition to the Culture War, and things like this will only polarise politics further. Which is nice and fun. Civil War 2040?

More and more people everyday are switching to living entirely in bubbles.

The only thing I ever take is Metro or LES. I've never bought a paper in my life, except the odd FT.

[Vassenor]

Also pretty sure just about every station Virgin serves has at least one WH Smith or similar newsagents. So it's not like rail passengers will be unable to buy the rag.

[The Archregimancy]

Also pretty sure just about every station Virgin serves has at least one WH Smith or similar newsagents.

I commute on Virgin daily; my station doesn't have a newsagent or any other type of concession stand or shop (except the independent morning coffee cart in the car park) - though I concede this is unusual, and there are two in Euston, so I could always pick up a paper at the end of my commute.

The only newspapers I've ever seen on sale on Virgin are the Mirror and Mail, so I'm not sure where the Mail is getting its information about Virgin selling the FT and Times.

Edit:
I used to take the Independent daily until it went under; though I'm also older than most readers of this thread. Now I only take the weekend i, otherwise relying on a range of websites. I agree with Trumptonium, for what it's worth, that people living in information bubbles is a serious problem.

[Dumb Ideologies]

Virgin have the right, within reason, to choose what they make available on their trains. If I opposed this, I would have to logically oppose such things as the excellent and very informative debate/opinion section of the free magazine produced and laid on in Wetherspoons pubs.

[Hurdergaryp]

Virgin have the right, within reason, to choose what they make available on their trains. If I opposed this, I would have to logically oppose such things as the excellent and very informative debate/opinion section of the free magazine produced and laid on in Wetherspoons pubs.

Wetherspoons is for pubs what Aldi is for supermarkets, right?

[Dumb Ideologies]

Virgin have the right, within reason, to choose what they make available on their trains. If I opposed this, I would have to logically oppose such things as the excellent and very informative debate/opinion section of the free magazine produced and laid on in Wetherspoons pubs.

Wetherspoons is for pubs what Aldi is for supermarkets, right?

Not a terrible comparison.

There aren't the same trade-offs in staffing levels and service you often get from discount supermarkets in my experience.

I have simple tastes so the fuss-free and pretence-free good value of Wetherspoons is also often preferable quality-wise to the more expensive counterparts in a way that the supermarket discounters don't quite reach with their "nearly as good" brand equivalents.

It's very useful to know wherever you find yourself in the country you can get something good at a reasonable price with the same menu and no surprises. I'm a fan.

[Hurdergaryp]

Wetherspoons is for pubs what Aldi is for supermarkets, right?

Not a terrible comparison.

There aren't the same trade-offs in staffing levels and service you often get from discount supermarkets in my experience.

I have simple tastes so the fuss-free and pretence-free good value of Wetherspoons is also often preferable quality-wise to the more expensive counterparts in a way that the supermarket discounters don't quite reach with their "nearly as good" brand equivalents.

It's very useful to know wherever you find yourself in the country you can get something good at a reasonable price with the same menu and no surprises. I'm a fan.

A friend of mine who happened to find himself on the British isles last weekend went pubbing in Wetherspoons with an acquaintance, the comparison was made by him. Didn't stop them from downing a few pints, of course.

[Vassenor]

Virgin have the right, within reason, to choose what they make available on their trains. If I opposed this, I would have to logically oppose such things as the excellent and very informative debate/opinion section of the free magazine produced and laid on in Wetherspoons pubs.

Wetherspoons is for pubs what Aldi is for supermarkets, right?

Is Aldi full of students at all hours as well?

[Hurdergaryp]

Wetherspoons is for pubs what Aldi is for supermarkets, right?

Is Aldi full of students at all hours as well?

No, they tend to close relatively early.

[Ifreann]

Wetherspoons is for pubs what Aldi is for supermarkets, right?

Is Aldi full of students at all hours as well?

Emptying the shelves of off-brand Pot Noodle.

[Shamhnan Insir]

Is Aldi full of students at all hours as well?

Emptying the shelves of off-brand Pot Noodle.

Nothing beats chicken and mushroom flavored pot noodle ingredients....

[Questers]

Aldi is a good example of superior German business practices. Products are (mostly) cheaper and better than British supermarkets without fucking over the suppliers.

[Esheaun Stroakuss]

Aldi is a good example of superior German business practices. Products are (mostly) cheaper and better than British supermarkets without fucking over the suppliers.

Yeah, pretty much. I want to go back to Germany like I did one summer in Berlin.

[Flazak-Wielko]

Aldi is a good example of superior German business practices. Products are (mostly) cheaper and better than British supermarkets without fucking over the suppliers.

Yeah, pretty much. I want to go back to Germany like I did one summer in Berlin.

Aldi is probably the only cheap joint in Germany, everywhere else is expensive af. But then again I've only been to Bavaria.