Freshly Elected as UK's Next PM, Boris Johnson Pledges Full Fiber Broadband Bonanza (techcrunch.com) 301
The UK will shortly have a new prime minister after the Conservative Party membership overwhelmingly voted to elect Boris Johnson as their new party leader, passing over his sole rival for the post, Jeremy Hunt. From a report: Johnson received 92,135 votes, a full 45,497 more than Hunt. He replaces Theresa May who announced she would step down in May after failing to achieve backing from parliament for her EU withdrawal deal -- the second PM to be topped by Brexit in just under three years. Whether Johnson can outlast even May's brief tenure very much remains to be seen. [...]
Giving his Conservative leadership acceptance speech this afternoon there was little of policy substance on show from Johnson. In his usual showman style, he preferred to stroke sitting Tory egos with a confection of positive projections and feel-good sentiments -- principally about 'getting brexit done' (though nothing on how he will actually get it done). He also dropped a few enthusiastic words vis-a-vis infrastructure, education and broadband -- going longest on the latter by claiming that "fantastic full fiber broadband" would be "sprouting in every household," before falling back on the safe and fuzzy ground of non-specific cheerleading of party and country. On the surface the fiber broadband pledge looks like a rinse and repeat of an existing government policy -- announced in last year's digital strategy -- to put all UK households in reach of fibre to the premise (FTTP) by 2033.
Giving his Conservative leadership acceptance speech this afternoon there was little of policy substance on show from Johnson. In his usual showman style, he preferred to stroke sitting Tory egos with a confection of positive projections and feel-good sentiments -- principally about 'getting brexit done' (though nothing on how he will actually get it done). He also dropped a few enthusiastic words vis-a-vis infrastructure, education and broadband -- going longest on the latter by claiming that "fantastic full fiber broadband" would be "sprouting in every household," before falling back on the safe and fuzzy ground of non-specific cheerleading of party and country. On the surface the fiber broadband pledge looks like a rinse and repeat of an existing government policy -- announced in last year's digital strategy -- to put all UK households in reach of fibre to the premise (FTTP) by 2033.
English Trump (Score:4, Informative)
Re:English Trump (Score:5, Funny)
Re:English Trump (Score:5, Insightful)
He sounds like one of the Upper Class Twits from the Monty Python sketch. I suspect the resemblance isn't incidental.
Re:English Trump (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't underestimate Boris. He's a buffoon, but he's devious and always scheming. The UK is in real danger now.
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We've tried the honest alternatives, and got nowhere.
That may be because you already are in the sanest position, so going anywhere only makes things worse?
So 'devious, and scheming' (and even speaks Latin) may be our last resort for island independence.
In a globalizing world? You're still dependent, but you're going to away any influence you have. Dumb move.
Re:English Trump (Score:4, Insightful)
We've tried the honest alternatives, and got nowhere. So 'devious, and scheming' (and even speaks Latin) may be our last resort for island independence.
Don't worry. Looks like you'll get your Hard Brexit. If a vote of no confidence doesn't happen on his first day of office, then new elections couldn't happen quick enough to delay that option which he says he's all for. Meanwhile, I highly doubt the EU will reopen negotiations with him, unless he offers them concessions that May wouldn't, but then he could at least claim victory on his "new, better deal".
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So 'devious, and scheming' (and even speaks Latin) may be our last resort for island independence.
Island independence? I give it 3-5 years before England has a land border with the EU.
We've tried the honest alternatives, and got nowhere.
Well, we haven't yet tried not doing something incredibly stupid for example.
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We've tried the honest alternatives, and got nowhere.
A better review of a government cannot be had. Nowhere is a great place to be and for all the "nowhere" people claim you none the less had a fantastic economy with booming trade and were the financial capital of one of the largest markets of the world.
For as bad as you *think* things were when traditional "honest" politicians were running the country you're in for your biggest shock yet.
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Politics in general are made out of extreme retards now.
We kinda need a complete purge.
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The problem is, "a complete purge" is what got us the extreme retards. We said, "nobody could be worse than who we have now," and they said, "hold my beer."
Brit Buffoon Boris Boasts Broadband Bonanza (Score:2)
That title seems to summarize what I learned today from slashdot.
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I am not trying to support Trump, as I find him to be a detestable president. However he has a New York Accent, and culturally the New York Accent doesn't really give a positive impression to the general public. Things when spoken in a New York Accent will often come out as crude and unintelligent. While a good London British Accent saying the same words sounds more refined. In the ears of the culture.
Re:English Trump (Score:4, Informative)
I don't know, it depends on what you mean by a "London British Accent". For example, when I hear a cockney accent (South London), it sounds like a street huckster trying to distract me while his colleague picks my pocket. ;)
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I don't know, it depends on what you mean by a "London British Accent". For example, when I hear a cockney accent (South London),
nah bruv you is thinking of east london innit
(that's a south London accent)
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The word for that is "posh", not "good". Or if you want to be specific, received pronunciation.
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The word for that is "posh", not "good". Or if you want to be specific, received pronunciation.
No. The correct name for the accent you're probably thinking of is RP, a.k.a. Received Pronunciation. IOW the accent one learns when they attend boarding school.
That's the accent the queen has. It's the accent that BBC news anchors have.
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I am not trying to support Trump, as I find him to be a detestable president. However he has a New York Accent, and culturally the New York Accent doesn't really give a positive impression to the general public. Things when spoken in a New York Accent will often come out as crude and unintelligent. While a good London British Accent saying the same words sounds more refined. In the ears of the culture.
No... No... No... London accent in England does not equate to "Queens English" or "Received Pronunciation". London accent is one of the most reviled accents in the country and generally equated with untrustworthy, dodgy, and being a swindler. One does not want to have a "London" accent in politics.
Re:English Trump (Score:5, Funny)
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And the hair! Don't forget the hair!
Whatever that species is, it's slowly gaining dominance over world affairs.
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I was told if I don't like it in the United States that I should leave. However I am rapidly running out of English Speaking countries which are stable and sane.
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You do realize that Europeans speak English, right?
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You have to pretend you're Canadian. They all speak English to each other, they just pretend they don't understand if you're American.
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Yes they do... However if you speak english only you will have trouble being an active member of the community. You may be able to do your job, and order a meal. But it will be difficult to form relationships with people if you don't speak their normal language.
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Re: English Trump (Score:2)
There's Ireland, and if it goes independent, Scotland too
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Everyone in Iceland speaks English, and we're comparatively low in crazies and racists. Mainly just corrupt. If you're okay with having goods marked up 200-300% due to monopolies and protectionist tariffs in order to support the handful of families that own most of the large businesses in the country (and their friends and families in parliament), then by all means... ;)
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(Note that there's a big difference between treatment of people who come here say for family or jobs in professional fields, vs. those who come here as refugees. The former are generally treated quite well. The latter, not so much.)
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low in crazies and racists
there's a big difference between treatment of people... who come here as refugees
Like racists everywhere, you deny it, even while saying things that are clearly racist.
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Like racists everywhere, you deny it, even while saying things that are clearly racist.
It is possible to treat refugees differently based on other characteristics than their race, for instance the ability and willingness to integrate into society, respect its laws, and pick up a useful job.
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Belize.
Been there, it's an (wait for it!) unbelizeable place to be.
You better belize it!
If I was going to immigrate to anywhere else, it'd be there...
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What does that hat imply?
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Not racist. Just never learned an other language. And my skills at learning new languages is rather poor.
There are also a lot of Capitalist 3rd world despotic countries out there too. The problem isn't the ideology, but the implementation, and the people behind it.
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Not racist. Just never learned an other language. And my skills at learning new languages is rather poor.
Looks like you didn't learn the first language, either.
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As I have stated, My skills at learning languages are poor.
Having dyslexia sucks.
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And my skills at learning new languages is rather poor.
Necessity and immersion makes learning new languages easier.
Re:English Trump (Score:5, Informative)
You neglected the fact that he's been repeatedly (essentially) fired for incompetence, and has a history of never keeping his promises.
Check out his history as Mayor of London.
Re:English Trump (Score:5, Informative)
Repeatedly fired for lying, you mean. His incompetence hasn't really resulted in firings, e.g. the tens of millions pissed away on that bridge vanity project that never got built. It's the lies that end up getting him booted out.
From his very first job as a journalist, making up quotes, they always come back to bite him eventually. It's just unfortunate that he managed to do a lot of damage first, and then somehow recovers from his disgrace rather quickly.
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I don't think you realize just how true that is.
Boris was a US citizen until the IRS came after him for unpaid taxes:
https://www.newsweek.com/boris... [newsweek.com]
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There is a good reason why he has the same hair color as Trump. They're secret half-brothers.
Not exactly (Score:2)
He was chosen because Brexit is a disaster either way. If it happens it wrecks their economy, with the only question being how much damage it does. If it doesn't happen then the angry pensioners who voted for it will take vengeance on the party that they see as traitors.
Trump got where he got because he's a charismatic celebrity that offered the American Working Class solutions while his opponent had literally no policy [vox.com]. Johnson is just a fall guy
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Trump offer solutions? Care to clue us in on just what those solutions were that he offered? I too sat through the last election, all I heard from that dingbat was (1) foreigners are to blame for the Sainted Americans' problems, (2) I'm not as bad as Hillary, yeah I busted my companies several times, screwed my business partners and anyone else stupid enough to sign a contract with me, and I fondle young women because they let you do that when you are a celebrity, but I'm not as bad as Hillary, (3) China is
Re:Not exactly (Score:4, Interesting)
Trump got where he got because he's a charismatic celebrity that offered the American Working Class solutions while his opponent had literally no policy
Pretty much. "The Nazi party will bring land for the farmer, work for the worker, and profit for the small businessman! We will get rid of foreign aliens and the Jews who have taken all the money and our birthright! We don't need a foreign church ruling over our people, and will get rid of the Catholics!"
Fascists on the right, populists on the left. Populists are basically fascists with less racism. "The immigrants took all our jobs!" becomes "Our trade deals have sent jobs to the Chinese and the Mexican!" Instead of "the Jew has stolen our money and our birthright!" it's "The Rich and the Capitalists have taken it all!"
None of this is supportable.
You look at the big CEOs, what do they get? Walmart has 1.5 million employees, and that $6M of salary, bonuses, and dividends comes out to $4 per employee per year, just 1/5 of 1 cent per hour. Home Depot it's $20/year. As the workforce in the business shrinks, you see CEOs getting $100 per employee, until the small business owner--taking a fair and modest $100,000--is getting $50,000 per employee.
The minimum wage, raised to 2/3 per-capita income as it was in 1950-1970, would compress wages: the median household income would be only 2x rather than 4x the minimum wage; yet that would represent more buying power than these households have today. The prices change, jobs move around, population and labor force growth shifts to meet with employment demand, and things settle into a tighter structure. That is the true source of the income inequality, not rich people shaving the edges of pennies.
As for jobs lost to trade, so what? We should have robust social insurances and welfare to protect the American people from this, not a stagnant economy to hinder our nation. If you lose your job, you still have healthcare, assistance with your mortgage and rent, food assistance. If a factory leaves your town and the economy collapses, these along with a universal citizen's dividend will rebuild your economy, will stimulate new jobs around you so you can share in the growing wealth of our nation and reap the benefits of trade and technical progress instead of being left behind.
All of these problems are easily solved by good economic policy, and all of these things--trade, immigrant labor, technological progress--bring us greater wealth as a nation, wealth in which we may all share by working and producing, by enjoying the government services of universal healthcare and social security, by a negative income tax implemented as an American Citizen's Dividend.
None of these problems are caused by the mere existence of small groups, whether you want to call those immigrants or foreign workers, or trading partners, or the rich or the capitalists or the Jews or whatever name you give to them this time. They are caused by the government not working for Americans--for all Americans, regardless of their religion or their origin or the color of their skin.
Even I had better policy than Hillary when I ran.
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immigrant labor, technological progress--bring us greater wealth as a nation,
If immigrant labor brings greater wealth, then immigration is taking wealth from the (usually poorer) countries they came from, making their situation even worse. That's not good. These talented people should help to boost their own country to greatness.
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Yes. Appropriately he is a huge fan of fiber, since he is completely full of shit.
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He's a big fan of the theory of fiber, since he's full of shit and knows it would help, but he doesn't actually succeed at incorporating it into his diet, as evidenced by the fact that he's full of shit.
Expect the same from his broadband policy. If all you do is talk about fiber, your tubes are still plugged.
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If it is all a grand plan he must secretly be against Brexit, because his bumbling ass threatening no-deal nearly guarantees that Parliament will have to cancel Brexit.
The plan must have been to take down both the Conservatives and the Liberals, so that the Social Democrats can have a turn governing.
Re:English Trump (Score:5, Interesting)
So, this guy is just an English Trump, correct? Stupid, rude, and incompetent on a level that is almost unimaginable?
Subtly different from Trump. Trump lies because he simply has no comprehension that there is a difference between telling the truth and lying.
Boris does understand the difference, but is happy to lie to get what he wants.
His record shows he is quite ambivalent about Brexit, but he supported it because he saw it as the best way for him to get power. He absolutely craves power.
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No, not really. Boris is actually intelligent. He's a veteran of the system and is really quite cordial to most people.
The major flaw of Boris is his particular brand of arrogance within his conservative ideology. He and Nigel Farage pushed the Brexit referendum (with ZERO expectation that it would actually pass) with the explicit intent to drum up enough fear and misinformation so that the conservatives could take over Parliament. They knew that being the rebels is attractive today.
Like Farage, Boris chose
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You "differences" between the two men are actually similarities in my opinion.
I wouldn't call Trump "intelligent" but he is probably actually of average intelligence. (less intelligent than the average slashdotter, or politician, but about that of the average American.
Where he does have his smarts is all in marketing. He knows how to appeal to his base... which are unintelligent, paranoid, blue collar workers (ironically, the same people who are worst hurt by his policies). He says things that he thinks
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When a person implies that wit is a sign of intelligence, rather than a sign of being in the same social class, it undercuts any other analysis they provide.
Re:English Trump (Score:4, Insightful)
The British have now taken the crown of the country deserving to be the most mocked in the world unfortunately.
They first took the lead with the Brexit vote only to be overtaken by the Americans electing Trump. Now, by electing Boris (British Trump), Britain has reclaimed the lead. Only by government funding a "guns for preschoolers" movement can America claim the crown back.
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He's nothing of the kind. He has a track record which can be examined, for example he was twice elected Mayor of London. He is socially liberal with some libertarian tendencies (as is unremarkable under the common law system), economically/fiscally strongly pro free enterprise, and strongly critical of big government, especially in its Marxist guises. He is a classical scholar, a person of mixed ethnic and religious ancestry, and a very good writer and editor in serious/thoughtful publications.
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Don't get taken in by the buffoon act; this guy is nobody's fool. Read some of his columns--he has an intellect far exceeding Trump's, although that is faint praise indeed....
Re:Other thing (Score:5, Insightful)
They want their country to be in more debt than ever, and for the poor people to be fucked over so that the rich people can save more on their taxes?
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Why yes, that's brexit in a nutshell.
Re:Other thing (Score:5, Informative)
Best economy in 50 years in the USA. Not sure where you get your facts.
Here: https://www.usdebtclock.org/ [usdebtclock.org] and here: https://www.bloomberg.com/opin... [bloomberg.com] among other places.
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The poor being fucked by the rich, on the other hand, is a national pastime dating back to at least the 19th century.
Actually it dates back to the 16th century.
What?! (Score:5, Informative)
Trump doesn't work for America. He takes the sides of dictators like Kim and Putin over America's interests.
Right now, our economy is DEFICIT fueled. That tax cut that favored his cronies is causing much harm to this country. And to cover that boondoggle, he wants to cut programs that help the weakest and most vulnerable in our society. Like the SNAP program. And, the Republicans are gunning for Social Security and Medicare - and what I find just idiotic is that they blame the Democrats (the people who CREATED those programs) and their base actually believes the lies!
And where's that Trillion dollars in infrastructure spending he promised? It is in no way the Democrats fault - they WANT IT!
And when I see and hear how middle America doesn't like being shit on by "coastal elites" I have wonder do they actually notice their representation? Their government representation is Republican at the very local level all the way up to the Presidency. It's the Republicans who are shitting on them and they are too misinformed to see it.
Trump is utterly incompetent. He manufactured this whole illegal immigrant crisis to appease his xenophobic base and as a result is compromising the values of this country and he is killing children.
Trump is the Republican party and the Republicans love everything Trump is doing. This has been shown by action that the Republicans do not value America, her people or the values this great nation was built upon.
Trump and the Republicans hate America. They have shown it. They have proven this by their actions.And everyone who supports Trump shows their lack of character and hatred for America and her values.
If you love America do NOT vote Republican. If you vote Republican, you do not belong in this country and you should get out and move to Russia or North Korea. "I'd rather be Russian than Democrat!" is what Republicans say. So, GTFO!!
Re:What?! (Score:4, Insightful)
Ha, I'm surprised that his voters haven't figured out that Trump is the biggest coastal elite of them all. This is not a guy who worked his way to the top, he started and the top and stayed there. He's not just a coastal elite either, he's one of the Hollywood elite as well. He spends half his time talking about how rich he is and all the rich people he knows. During his campaign he was hocking all his brand name products (steaks!).
Anyone who thinks he's not elitist is either not paying attention or is being hypocritical ("we hate elitists, unless they're one of our own!").
I don't think Republicans love everything he's doing. I think most of them are just holding their nose and bowing appropriately lest they don't get reelected. Trump's policies are not typical Republican policies.
But don't blame just Republicans. Members of both parties will sell their own grandmother if it helps with the election.
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Labor may shift, but up until recently neither of the "major" parties supported remain or even a second referendum. So more or less half the country were left with no option but to vote for the also-ran, can't-win smaller parties.
I fear for the general public in the next general election too. Usually the British people have a choice of at least one fairly moderate candidate running for PM as head of one of the main parties. Now Britain has the choice between Corbyn (roughly equitable to a further-left leaning and racist Bernie Sanders for those in the US) and Boris Johnson (roughly equitable to Trump minus the incestuous desires for those in the US).
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In the last two public elections pro remain parties have done better than leave
Have they fuck.
In the 2017 General Election over 80% of the votes went to parties promising to leave the EU.
In the 2019 European elections over 60% of the votes went to parties standing on a commitment to leave the EU.
More fucking lies from people trying to overturn the democratic vote to leave the EU.
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No-one denies that Trump is very successful in the field of racist, sexist twattery,
About half the people of the United States deny it. You should get out of your echo chamber where "racist" and "sexist" get redefined to suit your needs on a daily basis.
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How do you define racist and sexist, then?
Re: Other thing (Score:2)
Referring to peeople as "people of color" is also racist.
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So the British have a problem with a large percentage of their population being stupid and incompetent, too... I suspected as such (hence, Brexit). Was it also a result of decades of gutting the public education system?
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No, I was shocked when previously sane Republicans started supporting the con-artist Trump.
Bend over. (Score:2)
Before or after recession and unemployment? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Hopefully before. So while there is a massive recession, there is an electronic infrastructure in place to help ease the burden.
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Northern Ireland doesn't appear to want independence. The Protestants won't want to be in the same bed as the Catholics because they firgure Pope will be hiding under the Catholics' covers telling them what to do. Scotland, on the other hand, is probably already rigging the sails to set forth to Europe the first chance they get.
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They won't be welcomed like they hope. Several of the more influential European countries have regions with mixed support for independence. They don't want break-away regions to think they have a future in Europe and can stand up on their own.
If EU allows Scotland in, Spain will worry Catalonian support for independence will increase because Catalonia will think they can join EU and not be completely alone. Germany will fear Bavaria could move for Independence. Italy fears the Northern Italian calls for
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Is this going to happen before or after recession and decades of systemic unemployment brought on by hard Brexit and dissolution of UK as Scotland and Northern Ireland seek independence?
During clearly. Hard Brexit is a myth created by project fear. What is actually going to happen is the UK will leave on WTO terms and suddenly become the trading capital of the world with the steal and fishing industry magically reappearing overnight, all immigrants vanishing like the snapping of Thanos, and the fibre will be rolled out by strapping fibre cable drums to the horns of magical unicorns cantering through the streets.
#democracyrules #eunotademocracy #savemyoffshoretaxhaven
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What about Wales?
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The Whales will be ok once transparent aluminum is discovered one day by strangers from another land bearing chemical property gifts.
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Promising to leave out the Welsh is how we plan to convince Scotland to join us.
We're also going to build a colossal statue of Prince Charlie, the world's largest, just north of Hadrian's Wall.
Full Fiber Broadband Bonanza (*) (Score:2)
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2033 (Score:3)
Smarter than Trump, but quite nasty (Score:5, Informative)
There's the whole little boy with tousled hair performance, but this is a pretty horrible person and we fear the worst. Only about 100K old people in the Conservative party 'chose' him, so he's not really 'our' prime minister, either.
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Indeed. The worst possible person to deal with a serious problem. And that he wanted this position in the present situation makes him evil, plain and simple.
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Only about 100K old people in the Conservative party 'chose' him, so he's not really 'our' prime minister, either.
That is exactly what it means for him to be your Prime Minister. The parliamentary system is the system you have, you don't have a Democratic Republic where you would directly elect a leader.
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Where did you get the idea he's smarter than Trump? Sure he went to Oxford but to get a classical literature degree which he passed as well as any idiot who drinks too much and doesn't study enough in college would (2nd class).
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Johnson doesn't tweet like Trump does though, that's probably the indication that you're looking for. He has a twitter account, but it seems to be managed for him and the tweets are just standard campaign stuff.
Quick Brief on How a UK PM is Selected (Score:4, Insightful)
I know much noise will be had that "only 160,000" were allowed to vote for the Prime Minister. That's how it works there.
https://www.parliament.uk/abou... [parliament.uk]
The *leader of the party* that wins the most seats in a general election is appointed Prime Minister by the Queen.
https://researchbriefings.parl... [parliament.uk]
The current system of electing the *Leader of the Conservative Party* consists of two stages:
-- Conservative Members of Parliament select a choice of two candidates to present to the membership of the whole Party;
-- Party members vote, on a "one member one vote" basis, for their preferred candidate from a shortlist of two.
The rules for valid nomination of candidates and the process for reducing the field down to the two, should there be more than two candidates, are determined by the Executive of the 1922 Committee in consultation with the Conservative Party Board. In the event of a leadership election the Chairman of the 1922 Committee will announce the procedure to be followed. The broad principles are set out in the Conservative Party Constitution but not the detailed rules.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/po... [telegraph.co.uk]
At the 2018 Conservative Spring Forum, Party Chairman Brandon Lewis announced that the party's membership stood at 124,000.
Thus, election by a vote within a population of 160,000 is completely within normal practice.
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This may have ultimately fucked the Tory party. Their members are not very representative of the wider country, and they selected a deeply unpopular leader.
With luck this will be the end of their party as a major political force in the UK.
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While I'll welcome the end of certain Conservative policies there aren't any credible alternatives offering themselves for election.
The SNP, Greens and Labour all want a socialist paradise that will destroy the economy. The Lib Dems, Greens and SNP want to hand control of the country to the EU. The Brexit Party don't want to be in the EU but have no idea what to do apart from that. The Northern Ireland parties, SNP and Plaid Cymru all stand on a platform of hatred.
I don't fear Boris being Prime Minister mai
If he is careful, he will get a place in history (Score:2)
As the guy that ruined the UK for half a century or longer. But my personal guess is he does not have the stones to keep his promises. Probably will start lying and forgetting his promises today evening or so. Will be interesting to see whether this becomes a Brexit according to the EU's wishes or no Brexit after all.
You actually believe him ? (Score:2)
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There is and always had been bias in reporting. Now the real question is if you are smart enough to recognize bias as it is, and filter out the useful facts and not get emotional tied to the fact the reporter disagrees (or agrees) with your view. Even raw facts will often have a Bias because the fact reporter needs to filter out information so they may be numbers that the reporter deems unimportant, while someone with a different bias will focus more on those ignored values.
The problem with bad reporting
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The biggest problem is that most people are quite happy in their respective echo chamber. An unbiased reporter would piss them all off.
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People with different letters in front of their names all work for the same employer, the government. If you cut spending then the government gets smaller (lost jobs) and no politician wants to go on record for costing people jobs. Government is about managing problems, not solving them.
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You don't understand how the government spends money, do you? 2/3's of the government is mandatory spending on U.S. citizens. The other 1/3 is on the military and other odd assorted programs like the EPA...although admittedly they appear not to want to do a job. The actual amount spend on the people working for the government is peanuts, discounting the military it is less than $200 Billion (I'm being conservative, I believe it is less than $100 Billion). The military would only bring that up to around $500
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So if you want to cut the deficits, you must go after the mandatory spending and raise taxes.
Not and. Or.
We're going to raise taxes on the rich, raise spending, and cut the deficit.