WTF is happening in the UK?

[barkingmad]

Some folks were even taken In by this visual wheeze which persuaded them that the UK had a strong (headless) man at the helm, one who was tough enough to feed sheets of paper into a shredder;



If only it was as simple/easy as that...

[Boac]

Isn't one definition of intelligence the "ability to learn from experience!"

No comment!!

[OneHungLow]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ay-lawyers

One a lighter note, it is good to see some things never change at The Grauniad, even in these days of digital media, with hot metal print layout a dim and distant memory! Vide the link above.

It is still an undemocratic piece of legislation,” said Duhs. “I am sure civil servants would have warned Badenoch about this. This is a problem of the government’s own making and they should own up to it.

“This is irresponsible legislation,” she added. “The point about legislation is that it is supposed to achieve a policy goal and make life easier. All this does is add lawyers of complexity.”

Never was a truer typo made!

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

..and an oxymoron. Is there another kind of lawyer?

[Woody]

So, absolutely nothing to do with her

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65579691

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no"

churchill_-1873275877.jpeg (14.59 KiB) Viewed 670 times

[barkingmad]

Sir Steer Calmer sez this;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... s-64281548

Now he’s courting the votes of those whose brains have not yet fully formed and matured;

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/k ... r-AA1b9wm1

Though after the BBC mentioned it earlier today the info is devilishly difficult to locate in the Beeb’s website, so is it possible Labour are trying to suppress this idea realising it might well backfire electorally?

[Boac]

Soooh - don't fret, oh mad one. It is only 'a plan', like Richies NHS rewrite. Until bills are passed by the guvvvment it will not happen, rather like Tory policy.

[Boac]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... ed-to-rise

It appears that Grant Shapps (aka Michael Green) has misunderstood the belief of the country that 'controlling immigration' meant 'reducing' it. If we interpret is as 'increasing' it, then the Tories have been very successful, and he is RIGHT!

[Woody]

Rees-Mogg actually admitting to an error

Jacob Rees-Mogg has suggested the Conservatives introduced voter ID to boost their election chances, but it came "back to bite them".
The former minister said it had "made it hard for our own voters" to take part in England's local elections.
The polls on 4 May were the first in Britain where people had to show photo ID, such as a passport or driving licence, to vote.
Mr Rees-Mogg said the change had "upset a system that worked perfectly well."
The government says the new voter ID rules are necessary to tackle voter fraud, and boost public confidence in elections.
But Mr Rees-Mogg told the BBC there was no evidence that the issue of voter fraud was a "serious problem" - something the government's opponents have long argued.
Last week's local elections saw the Conservatives lose more than 1,000 councillors and control of 48 councils, with Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens all making gains at the expense of Rishi Sunak's party.

[Boac]

Thereby completely ignoring the elephant in the room, which is that the country has had enough of the buffoons.

[G-CPTN]

Why might Voter ID have a greater adverse effect on the Tories? - or is it just a red herring?

[Mrs Ex-Ascot]

Why might Voter ID have a greater adverse effect on the Tories? - or is it just a red herring?

Because the eggsperts reckon that the young woke voter will have a pissport and/or photo driving licence and will vote for Labour, while the oldies voting for the Conservatives may not have either. QED.

Here citizens have to have a photo ID card from the age of 18 and residents have to have a current pissport, so no such problem would occur here.

[OneHungLow]

Thereby completely ignoring the elephant in the room, which is that the country has had enough of the buffoons.

Ad idem! Nos in consensu!

And there really can't be a bigger buffoon than Rees-Mogg, aka the ex-minister for medieval thinking and Tridentine tomfoolery!

Maybe the Tories should attempt to take their more traditional boundary based forms of gerrymandering a bit further than they already have. For once the slippery smog used the right term to describe excatly what was going on with this voter id rigmarole.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ ... 16f1a45050

Beware the curse of unintended consequences.

[G-CPTN]

We found the people who didn’t have ID were elderly.

Didn't they realise that their free bus pass is suitable photo ID?

Maybe Conservative old folks have their own cars rather than relying on public transport?

[barkingmad]

We found the people who didn’t have ID were elderly.

Didn't they realise that their free bus pass is suitable photo ID?

Maybe Conservative old folks have their own cars rather than relying on public transport?

[barkingmad]

‘Tis strange whichever sayings stick in one’s brain for decades, the one I still recall from way back in the last century/millenium is my father repeatedly quoting “13 years of Tory misrule” as the white heat of the technological revolution (Labour catchphrase!) promised to lift the (then) UK out of the doldrums.

https://jimweibo.blogspot.com/2022/10/t ... t.html?m=1

So here we are again but without the glowing of the white hot techno-rev to light our way to eventual salvation, I’m selfishly relieved that I am shuffling up towards the final bus stop.

Apart from the peasants wielding pitchforks and the resumption of this humane device as a zero-carbon eco-friendly solution to the overpopulation problem;

https://reignofterrorinfrance1792.weebl ... ctims.html

what do the team think will be a functional alternative to the first past the post electoral system?

Due to the current ripping-off of the British consumer by the supermarkets and their upstream chain, I regret that grains of rice for written submissions are no longer available due to increasing costs…=))

[tango15]

How the hell does an organisation like the Royal Mail lose so much money?

[url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... es-ids[url]

It now costs £1.10 for a first-class stamp and 75p for second-class, but it's £1.60 or £1.15, if, for example, you send a large birthday card under the same rules, and that's before we start on signed-for, parcels, etc. I appreciate that the Royal Mail is under pressure from courier companies and electronic mail, but I can't help wondering where all this money goes. Whenever I am in a Post Office and they are collecting the bags, they seem bulky and heavy, and given that the average letter/parcel weighs less than 500gms, that's a lot of value in one bag.
The local postman, a very nice chap, used to deliver at about 9am when I first moved here almost ten years ago. Now it's nearer 1pm most days, and has been as late as 4pm. Then there's all the other cr*p they push through the door, for which they are being paid of course. Despite having subscribed to the Postal Preference Service, whereby you are not supposed to receive this rubbish, there are exceptions apparently:

Royal Mail's "Door to door" service provides delivery of leaflets, brochures, catalogues and other print materials to groups of domestic and business addresses selected by postcode. Such deliveries are made by the mail carrier together as part of the daily round.[107] Companies using the "Door to door" service include Virgin Media, BT, Sky, Talk Talk, Farmfoods, Domino's Pizza, Direct Line and Morrisons.[108] In 2005, the service delivered 3.3 billion items.[109]

The "Door to door" service does not use the UK Mailing Preference Service my emphasis; instead, Royal Mail operates its own opt-out database.[110] Warnings about missing government communications given by Royal Mail to customers opting out of their service have been criticised by customers and consumer groups.[109] Clarification given by the company in June 2015 explained that election communications and unaddressed government mail would be delivered to customers even if they had opted out.[108]

Instead of worrying about how much we spent on the Queen's funeral/Charles's wedding, the media would be better employed doing a full investigation of the Royal Mail imho.

[CharlieOneSix]

The Door to Door Opt Out with Royal Mail only lasts for two years and has to be renewed. It seems to work very well here as for years we've not received any unaddressed marketing rubbish although they are required to deliver anything which has our address on the envelope even though it's only addressed to the 'Residents' or 'Occupiers'.
Royal Mail Door to Door Opt Out Form

[tango15]

Thanks, C16. I shall send it off, and we'll see if it works.