[David9694]

I posted an earlier version of this a while back – inspired to do update following THAT discussion about all things ULEZ. 

The “manifesto”, in terms of transport, only mentions stopping HS2, but there’s plenty on the usual right-wing obsessions: Brexit, immigration, veterans and climate change.  I had another look because I worry about the ongoing decline of the two main political parties. 

If the Cons stay wedded to Brexit, then we will go into the next GE with all the widespread impoverishment Brexit has ushered in – not helped by Covid, Putin, etc. People generally vote according to their pockets.  I don’t get Labour’s current position on Europe either, but let’s see how that evolves, and even the Cons may also evolve, or even pivot, but time is already running out for them.

Several roads now lead to the horrors of a further lurch to the right in this country.  Let’s hope Labour get the GE landslide the polls are predicting – but we’re still at least a year out from the real campaigning beginning. 

A cycling angle? With the Reform Party and its ilk, Facebook Steve and Nextdoor Dave attain real political influence. It’s not spelt out in the manifesto, but you can see where this is probably heading and what it is likely to mean for cycling.  You can bet that this lot are very much “on the side of hard working drivers” etc. 

As you all know, Dave’s going to “sort the traffic” and no doubt show them lazy planners how it’s done: Steve thinks the Council are corrupt, the police blinkered and is, if he can fit it in to his busy schedule he’s going to “teach them Lycra’s a thing or two.” It won’t concern him that his Mondeo is 3 months out of MoT or that Mrs Steve sometimes drives the kids in it uninsured. 

As vulnerable road users, vulnerable people, we rely a great deal on the rule of law for protection. The rule of law means that we understand what the laws are, they are in general fair, and how they are applied and to whom is even-handed and consistent. 

The fascist position is broadly the opposite – it’s all off-the-cuff to support today’s particular agenda – that’s why the Iain Duncan-Smith “happy to see ULEZ infra vandalised” comment is, as an example, so very worrying.  In the Conservatives, here is a party happy to send signals to enable the mob to attack RNLI stations, beat up immigrants, shout at teachers, doctors etc. 

This right-wing stuff works by allowing/enabling significant privileged groups to to think of themselves as the downtrodden underdog and here is a way to fight back.  The pro Brexit campaign played on people’s ignorance, fears and prejudices exactly as this does. 

It’s all about freedom, innit, less regulation, less tax burden, and damn the climate.  There’s more polar bears now, so it’s fine.  Let’s have open-cast coal mining, lithium mining and fracking. The section on climate change stumbles around like a Friday night drunk, trying to explain he wasn’t being racist to the barman – a denier position emerges, unsurprisingly.

In places, the mask really slips: “We must keep divisive woke ideologies such as Critical Race Theory (CRT) and gender ideology out of the classroom.” – to be honest, I don’t even know what those two are.

The standard enemies are put up – the civil service, the BBC.  Amid all the thrust and parry, there’s nothing  about making a better, more inclusive and cohesive world to live in; arts, sports and culture don’t feature in this barstool view of the world: a dullard’s grim vision.

Don’t be a member of the wrong sort of minority would be my advice, should any of this come to pass. 
 

https://www.reformparty.uk/reformisessential

Topic

[chrisonabike]

Ah yes. Probably the most
Ah yes. Probably the most important issue we face currently – flags.

Have they considered bringing back more commonsense traditional units? Or improving the country by renaming some geographical features – that’s popular I hear.

OTOH if they’re going to spend their efforts on this and not – say – removing cycle infra to make way for motoring – that’s a blessing.

[chrisonabike]

It’s clearly possible to make
It’s clearly possible to make that work though.
eg. Trump managed to finesse using the energy of the farther-out to boost him into control of an existing political machine. And the combination has since been highly effective at consolidating his power.

Presumably Farage (also with a serial “get knocked down and get back up again” history) feels he can do something like this with the Conservatives – but while staying on the outside?

[David9694]

Grassroots anger tests Farage

Grassroots anger tests Farage’s grip on Reform UK

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8x4np7zkx9o

The two main parties have indeed had to deal with problems emanating from their grassroots. Nigel has to tame the disaffected and, by definition, unfocused mob he has summoned if  he wants ever to be more than a bit player at the margins.

But when there’s nothing you stand for and all you have in common, is a lairy attitude (you keep the underlying disillusionment and anger with the world arising from your failures in life hidden, I assume) and something, something immigrants – well, it’s going to be difficult isn’t it. 

[David9694]

No, Prime Minister/

No, Prime Minister/ Chancellor, regulation isn’t why the economy isn’t growing. Have another try. 

You supposedly represent working people – regulation helps keep those people safe: safe from unscrupulous employers, food suppliers and landlords. Doing regulation in a large geographic bloc promotes consistency across the area and protects businesses from being undercut by chancers.

A safety culture in oh I don’t know rail and air transport means passengers and staff aren’t being killed or going to hospital every day – compare and contrast the “anything goes” attitude we have on the roads. 

I kind of get it about NHS England : if you’re running a hospital, you are indeed answerable to the usual range of statutory agencies – e.g. HMRC, HSE who require information and often time from you. You’re also dealing with unions and Royal Colleges, tribunals, the media, the courts, the local authority, insurance companies.  

All that’s before you get started on sector specialists like NHS England, ICBs, the CQC.  It’s big, expensive, complex, politically controversial and risky. It’s dealing with a currently ageing population and the consequences of public health that is once again deteriorating.

 

[David9694]

Hirsute wrote:

From a senior Guardian journalist

More ructions in Reform-land. Howard Cox, the party’s former candidate for London mayor (and for Dover & Deal in July) has quit the party. He says he will detail the reasons soon – but the fact Cox has called on Farage to politically embrace Tommy Robinson might give you a clue.

More ructions in Reform-land. Howard Cox, the party's former candidate for London mayor (and for Dover & Deal in July) has quit the party. He says he will detail the reasons soon – but the fact Cox has called on Farage to politically embrace Tommy Robinson might give you a clue.

— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99.bsky.social) 2025-01-08T17:42:45.877Z

yes, poor political prisoner TYL

If you were unsure about Cox, then you should be very sure now

I think I’ve heard before, the phrase “I’m quitting Reform and will discuss the reasons why in due course” – either due course never comes, or it does, but no-one cares.

Reform still have the same 2024 “contract” on their website, so here’s a reminder of the bit on transport – would love know where safety is deemed “critical” and where it is not: 

Stop the War on Drivers

Legislate to ban ULEZ Clean Air Zones and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. Scrapping Net Zero means no more bans on petrol and diesel cars and no legal requirements for manufacturers to sell electric cars.

We will keep the speed limit low where safety is critical. Otherwise, 20 MPH zones will be scrapped.

[Spangly Shiny]

That’s nearly as bad as ‘wall

That’s nearly as bad as ‘wall crashed into car’.

[David9694]

(No subject)

[Hirsute]

Some armed bloke was shot by
Some armed bloke was shot by the white house in the last few days.

I’m surprised zelenskyy didn’t lay him out !

[brooksby]

David9694 before the US

David9694 before the US election wrote:

Not sure the recent Trump shooting incident is quite the clincher it’s being played as  – like what new supporters does it bring? Sure, if you’re already frothing this will play into your narrative. 

And another thing: has anyone noticed how nobody has tried and failed to shoot Trump since he won the election? I’m not saying it could have been an inside job for publicity purposes, but still…  

[brooksby]

David9694 before the US election wrote:

Another grim prospect for the world and not least isolated Brexit Britain is Trump 2025 – 4 years of the US at best flakey and inconsistent on foreign policy (e.g. western Europe/ NATO, Ukraine/ Taiwan) and wracked by internal conflict.   

Where did you buy your crystal ball, again?

 

[Tom_77]

Guardian Politics Sketch – A

Guardian Politics Sketch – A big thank you to Reform for the comic relief in dark times

So a big thank you to Reform for providing so much comic relief. Never has the UK needed a good laugh more than now. Which isn’t to say that the very public squabble between Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe was in any way unexpected. Given enough time away from dissecting the niceties of the Nazi salute – these things matter to supporters of Reform. Strictly arm out to the front, not the side – Nige can usually manage to fall out with anyone.

[David9694]

A fierce row at the heart of

A fierce row at the heart of Reform UK – what’s going on?

https://www.itv.com/news/2025-03-10/a-fierce-row-at-the-heart-of-reform-uk-whats-going-on

This unfolding story has cheered me up over the past few days. They seem to have gone a bit quiet since the heady days of summer 2024. 

[chrisonabike]

Well quite frankly they’re a

Well quite frankly they’re a foreign invention.  And the modern form seems a bit … French [1] [2]?  That would seem in keeping with his party (although he personally loves the continent so much he got himself elected as a MEP the better to visit).

I’m always a bit torn on the “hey!  We found a new way to ‘fix the world’ ” ideas.  The choice always seems to come down to continuing on with the stuff we now know is problematic in many ways (oil / fossil fuels here) or at least as much of something new.  Which always involves a great deal of building new stuff.  Plus we discover the new path has its own, different negative consequences when we start using it at mass level.

I guess that’s what human ingenuity / technology is in some ways though?  Getting round “we cut down all the trees” technologically, which we can’t seem to avoid culturally or politically.

There is of course an alternative “logical” way e.g. “just use less and/or find ways to enjoy it more / differently”.  However this has almost never happened in a planned fashion in the course of human affairs *!

Oh – and of course our latest proposed technological shift is still strongly dependent on the good ol’ dirty fuels of yore!

* Well, it has happened as (minority) cultural movements.  And in fact there have been some “whole society” cultural examples of “conspiracies of lower usage of resources” and even “downgrading technology”.  But these tend to be in rather limited contexts e.g. islands or rather remote and resource-poor / extremely fragile ecosystems.  And it turns out as a strategy this may leave you very vunerable to outside influences.

[PenLaw]

Much of this is confirmed by

Much of this is confirmed by Farages campaign against pylons.

The idiot is simply chasing big oil money as per usual. 

Brexit was entwined in similar sleaze.

[Hirsute]

Of course no connection
Of course no connection between earning 189k for being a gold bullion ambassador and advocating the gold standard !

[Author]

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