[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

[Rendel Harris]

It brings to mind nothing so

It brings to mind nothing so much as the fabulous – possibly my favourite, though it’s a large field – P.G.Wodehouse quote, from The Code of the Woosters, when Bertie Wooster takes on the fearsome Spode who has become leader of a fascist group called the Blackshorts (all the suitable shirt colours being already taken):

The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you’re someone. You hear them shouting “Heil, Spode!” and you imagine it is the Voice of the People. That is where you make your bloomer. What the Voice of the People is saying is: “Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?”
 

[andystow]

“are we the baddies?”

“are we the baddies?”

[the little onion]

I mean, wow! Talk about lack

I mean, wow! Talk about lack of self-awareness. 

“Hey, Nige, you know how people think our rhetoric is a bit, you know, 1930s at times? Well, what do you reckon to a black shirt? Will it be seen as slimming and easy to accessorise, or you know, a bit 1930s?”

[Rendel Harris]

It’s absolutely genuine I’m

It’s absolutely genuine I’m afraid, it’s from Farage’s official Facebook page with two million followers. They were already selling blue football shirts with their logo on it, this is a “limited collectors’ edition”. They’ve already had a row with the Tory party chairman who said it was reminiscent of Nazi regalia. The Public Order Act does indeed contain a ban on political uniforms but it’s left up to the judiciary to decide what actually constitutes a uniform; I’m pretty sure what is it effectively a T-shirt with the name of a legal political party on it would not fall into that category.

[the little onion]

I’m sure that is a fake. But

I’m sure that is a fake. But in any case, if it were real, it would be illegal under the Public Order Act. Specifically, the 1936 ban on political uniforms which was brought in precisely to target the Blackshirts.

I believe that the only people to be recently prosecuted under that ban were Yaxley-Lennon’s mob, for selling hoodies with their logo on it.

[Rendel Harris]

This just came up on my

This just came up on my Facebook feed: proven antisemitic racist is now going to be marketing blackshirts. You can’t say the clues aren’t all there…

[chrisonabike]

Steve K wrote:

Steve K wrote:

chrisonabike wrote:

Presumably they’ll be doing that with legal migrants also, since there are far more of them, and they’re just as much “not from round here” as the illegal ones that cause some people such consternation *?

Farage did say today that “the real problem” was legal, not illegal, migration.

I believe that is behind what people’s real concerns (despite the overt “it’s those criminal young men on small boats”). Of course I’m sure he knows – as most politicians are aware – we are in fact benefitting economically as a country from immigration. And we would likely be really struggling if we actually shut the door completely -in the short term at least.

I think there’s an inherent contradiction to the whole issue though. First we want the benefits (of “the right number”) of cheap / already trained labour, and the cheaper goods and especially services, but many people would not want the wage reduction this might bring about. And of course people are more or less suspicious of foreigners. Second I think the more we make our part of the world much richer (and more importantly safer) than elsewhere the more we will attract ambitious and/or desperate people from elsewhere.

Unless… the idea is that we’ll be closing airports and patrolling the coast with lethal force…?

[Steve K]

chrisonabike wrote:

chrisonabike wrote:

Presumably they’ll be doing that with legal migrants also, since there are far more of them, and they’re just as much “not from round here” as the illegal ones that cause some people such consternation *?

Farage did say today that “the real problem” was legal, not illegal, migration.

[chrisonabike]

Presumably they’ll be doing
Presumably they’ll be doing that with legal migrants also, since there are far more of them, and they’re just as much “not from round here” as the illegal ones that cause some people such consternation *?

As you point out it would seem that this is hoped to be a deterrrent. And the main subjects they hope to deter are … some of the British public from defecting to Reform!

Or – more charitably – to try to put the genie of popular discontent (with the whole system) back in the bottle. So hopefully fewer angry mobs protesting or even going out and committing essentially xenophobic violent disorder – which of course would then extend to the emergency services and potentially any others they feel aren’t with them.

I’m not sure this will do *any* if the things they hope unfortunately.

I blame the internet… and also the much more general problems of the last few decades (growing global inequalities combine with improvements which lead to more people existing, and where those at the bottom can more readily find out that it’s better elsewhere – and also perhaps how to get there).

* An apparently more reasonable objection is “but if they come in with no documents we don’t know who they are” – but a) you as a local never get to see that anyway and b) as has been shown in plenty of eg. terrorist incidents: having documentation is very little barrier to the more malevolent (especially those part of organisations).

[Hirsute]

I do not understand how we
I do not understand how we have got to this point in our country’s history.
It is shameful.

” Confiscating jewellery from survivors of a war zone makes you look like a fucking Nazi. And the obscene thing is, that is the intention. It’s there to look appropriately harsh. Indecent. Filthy. A moral stain. And no-one of good character would have ever proposed such a thing in the first place. ”

Ian dunt – the independent

[David9694]

Was hoping this nonsense

Was hoping this nonsense would have died down by now – they’re acting all officious now. 

Safety fears as Worcester Patriots’ flag video watched by 4m

In one video, a woman who challenges Worcester Patriots is called a ‘loony’ after she calls out ‘hello, do you live on this street?’ A member of the group tells her they have had donations from people living on the street and that ‘they’re all staying’.

When she says she will take the flag down from outside the home of an elderly woman she’s told: “That’s theft. You’re on camera!”

https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/25618854.safety-fears-worcester-patriots-flag-video-watched-4m/

[Mr Blackbird]

Is this a ploy to try to
Is this a ploy to try to attract some women voters to Reform UK?

[chrisonabike]

Sounds good, but on the other
Sounds good, but on the other hand perhaps he’s figured now’s the moment it’s better * to be on the outside micturating in?

* Being the point where enough of the oldies / conservative small and large C are in a tizzy at the beeb so they’ll go elsewhere to less balanced outlets (that they see as having less left-metro bias). And most of the younger folks get their facts from the reputable source of social meeja…

[ktache]

https://www.theguardian.com

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/nov/12/reform-uk-pulls-out-of-bbc-film-amid-trump-speech-edit-row

So no more Nige on question time then?…

[David9694]

chrisonabike wrote:

chrisonabike wrote:

David9694 wrote:

Reform UK councillor apologises for ‘disgusting’ social media posts

Deflection bingo: ✔️ time ago ✔️ different place / stage in my life ✔️ I had problems/ was suffering too! ✔️ just words / poor choice of words ❌️ it wasn’t me (my assistant / dog posted it) ❌️ taken out of context ❌️ I’ve lots of black friends / I’m gay myself so it’s fine ❌️ just bants / can’t you take a joke / free speech Not the full house there. If he wants to get ahead he’ll have to do better. Or even double down / flip into the attack (“I’m just reflecting what lots of people are asking, and frankly I’m not surprised because you lot are not listening to them / talking down at them”…)

look what you made me go and do – 

[Author]

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