Febrile atmosphere here for the first Lemmy ukpol election
🚨 GENERAL ELECTION 🚨
It’s happening
An election to change governments away from one that I feel has been greatly damaging to the nation and my life should be a happy occasion.
Yet, I look at the alternative in our two party system, the new government, Labour, that will undoubtedly get voted in (unless they somehow catastrophically implode within the next few weeks, getting caught sacrificing goats during an orgy at Stonehenge or something)… is basically just a slightly different shade of Tory.
That’s not to say everyone in the party is, or that they’re identical, but enough are, especially the ones in power, and while small things will change for the better, Labour, like the Tories, are too far gone to actually fix any of the underlying issues we face.
Are they going to reverse privatisation of the failing NHS, failing water suppliers, failing rail infrastructure, etc etc? Of course not. Are they going to stand up for unions, workers rights, and our rights to protest? Of course not.
Are they going to begin the long slow process of rejoining the EU, which was such a huge benefit to the UK and yet was taken away through brainwashing, misinformation, and good ol’ right wing racism, a process that I will only see come to fruition within my lifetime if started right now? Of course not. They can’t anger the right wing portion of their following that they’ve been slowly building since dropping the guise of being an even slightly to the left of centre political party.
They’re certainly not going to go against big what big business and the rich want, because those are the groups keeping the ruling class of the nation - including the government - in power, and in the lap of luxury, both now and when they leave office and move on to a private paycheque full-time.
Notice how both parties harp on about “the economy”, (as well as the media that tells us all what to think - owned by the rich), and do everything they can to make it happy and healthy, but do nothing at all to address the growing - now utterly gigantic - distribution of wealth gap between the rich and the majority of us, which stretches much further than simply poor wages - it affects what we have access to, what job and education opportunities we have, how healthy we are, who we’re able to meet and spend time with…it affects everything, and it’s all being ignored in favour of helping “the economy”.
They tell us that a strong economy will bring us all prosperity, that somehow the billions in profits made by the rich will drip down into our teacups for us to lick up, but the reality is that the businesses they serve just find more ways and excuses to raise prices, reduce service quality, cut wages, and get more payouts.
The current government is the worst of the lot, to be sure, and I’m glad they’re going soon. But I’m sad, because I know we won’t get any real change in this election. Just a chance of colour scheme, and a shuffling around of minor priorities and allocations for services, which will make some people happy, as it will appear as if the new government are truly changing things…
But it’s akin to rearranging the furniture in a house that’s on fire. It might feel fresh and better for a few people for a short time, but the whole thing is still burning down in the background.
Probably because the heat from the fire will keep “the economy” nice and warm.
:-(
Are they going to reverse privatisation of the failing NHS,
Not really, but they’ll stop speeding it up.
failing water suppliers,
Only partly and not very effectively, but they’ll strengthen regulation
failing rail infrastructure, etc etc?
Yes they will
Are they going to stand up for unions,
Partly in terms of legislation, but they’ll be terrified of picket lines and press coverage, so very little in terms of mood music.
workers rights,
Actually, yes, just not as much as we want
and our rights to protest?
I hope so.
Are they going to begin the long slow process of rejoining the EU
Absolutely not. But they might well strengthen common regulation and win concessions for trade with the single market.
When’s the Stonehenge orgy? Asking for a friend.
@obinice @PeteBauxigeg @Sarahw well, if you want all that lot, there’s likely to be one candidate where you are offering pretty much that. #VoteGreen
“Less shit” is better than “total shit”.
This, this is what the left wing never seem to get! They’d rather stand on principle and let the Tories stay in power.
Incidentally, I actually think Starmer’s Labour will be a very positive government, but even if they were just ‘better than Sunak’, they would be better than Sunak so let’s get them into power.
Hopefully there are enough on the left who are pragmatic
Tell me about it, tankies love a good purity test. Well shit the bed mate you might just have to vote for someone who doesn’t 100% agree with you.
Winning the argument(!)
Labour, like the Tories, are too far gone to actually fix any of the underlying issues we face.
The only way this is ever true is because people refuse to accept that change is possible. Even Tories could be reformed if enough people of conscience stood up and made their voices heard. Remote as that possibility is… it’s still a possibility.
The truly irredeemable only exist in fantasy, as a cheap source of righteous fury for the heroes. The real world is far too grey to accept such absolutes.
Apparently Tories are sending letters to the 1922 Committee over this. God, please let the Tories have a leadership election now. It would be so funny.
* tory moment *
Maybe the lettuce will get a go this time
I’m guessing the election still goes ahead even if they get rid of Rishi beforehand?
I’d imagine so. Can’t unset that in motion.
@[email protected] That’s why the sudden rush-move. Calling the election before enough letters can arrive to have him kicked out.
It would be hugely entertaining. However, the 1922 committee bend the rules when it suits them. There’s no way they’ll admit in public that the threshold has been reached even if it does, and I don’t think it will because even the loony right has a majority who have a sense of self interest. It’s too late politically now that the general election has been announced, and there’ll be a leadership election after the general election anyway, even if something remarkable happens and they keep a slim majority or achieve a coalition.
Probably goes without saying in a politics community, but:
Everyone go and double check that you’re registered to vote at your current address and make sure you arrange for a postal/proxy vote if you’re gonna be on holiday or otherwise away (particularly students who may have registered at their uni addresses, this date is almost certainly partly chosen to disenfranchise students)
Don’t ever believe polls no matter how safe things look, surprises on polling day are not uncommon.
You’d hope after AV and Brexit, people would know better.
And 1992. Labour started off way ahead in the polls but they narrowed and then one poorly conceived party political event knocked them into second place. Labour have a big lead now in the polls, but they’re coming from a long, long way behind.
Also make sure you have voter ID!
About bloody time.
It’s been raining hard nearly all day today, only just stopped. But I guess it’s true that every cloud has a silver lining.
Yay! HANG THE TORIES!!!
Oh wait. Sorry. Not like that.
But then again…
Hang them out to dry
July 4th is going to be a double British thanksgiving!
Gonna be great to exist as a trans person the next month…
HIGNFY is going to be interesting!
And just after Private Eye was printed!
The Tories absolutely need to go the way of the Whigs, but it’s all just window dressing until money is removed from politics.
Great, the next round of distraction theatre is here sooner than expected, and no one is even questioning what this is serving as cover for… 🎉🙄
Either way, it achieves its goal - get/keep the public riled up in its division and focused entirely on the next round of blue v red, while those who control both (and who exist outside of the party system, and therefore completely outside of voter control, by design of course) continue to relentlessly fuck us over.
Labour have been declaring loud and clear who they are and what they stand for (lmfao, as if spineless Starmer can even “stand” for anything), anyone who still believes they offer an alternative at this point is as gullible as a tory voter.
I will continue to vote none as long as I am forced to pick between one evil and another, there is no “lesser” when they both play for the same team (and it isn’t team working class).
You have a choice, to see this for what it is and not participate in their divisive charade. Be brave enough to see solutions outside of the narrow system those in power have created for you to feel like you are participating in the decision making (like the pretend wheel you might give a toddler to play with in their car seat so they feel like they’re driving), and instead start making decision for yourself, that will actually impact your life and the lives of those around you - start consciously unlearning the lies you’ve been indoctrinated with all your life (like that parliament has or ever will serve the people and not for those who own the land and hoard the money), spread this information to others, and start organising alternatives to the bullshit we’re expected to keep putting up with (namely the continued extraction of resources from the people upwards, or “reverse trickle down” which is how the system was designed to work, and the aforementioned division of the people in to blue v red instead of haves v have-nots) because it’s the easiest way to keep us from revolting.
Fucking revolt.
Or just vote. It’s easier, less risky and more likely to make a real difference in the country if we succeed in changing the government.
If you protest in any way that’s even slightly inconvenient, you’ll just go to prison, having been disallowed from even explaining why you were protesting and then be forgotten to everyone except your family.
The Conservatives have made it very very easy to lock you up and silence you in the process. So step 1 is to change the government to someone who is less likely to outlaw holding a sign in a street.
So, you’re saying vote lib dem?
/S for good measure
I’m not saying I’m going to spam this every day but, you know. I am.
Why would I want to disgrace myself by volunteering for a political party?
Think less of it as volunteering for a political party and more as volunteering for ideological pragmatism. You don’t have to have cloned sensibilities to work with someone or some organization to better your country/county/city.
Because Labour are better than the alternative and helping to bring about a better government would be a productive use of your time?
I mean, “better government” remains to be seen.
These are politicians we’re talking about.
Ah, good ole’ “They’re all bad and there’s nothing we can do about it so might as well just sit on our asses as the world burns down around us instead of doing literally anything meaningful to help”
Such a classic.
Are you familiar with the Post Office scandal, or maybe the infected blood one instead?
Because both of those things happened under Labour and Conservative governments, and neither has done anything about it. The idea that somehow one side is inherently better than the other is pure copium.
People don’t really care much for Labour. They just don’t want the Conservatives anymore. That’s not a recipe for amazing success in government.
So better to just do nothing instead, aside from bitching on the internet, amirite?
No government is going to be perfect, but it’s never going to get better unless people actually do something instead of sitting on their ass and whining.
Are you familiar with Brexit, Teresa May’s Hostile Environment for Immigrants, Windrush, partying while the Queen mourned alone following the covid rules, Trussonimics sending inflation soaring and Sunak literally today denying that there’s a problem with DWP putting hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers into thousands of pounds of debt by not allowing them to earn a penny over £151 if they want to keep a single penny of their payment for providing care, noting in their system that the increase in the minimum wage put them over, not warning them, not even cancelling the payment, just waiting for literally years then taking them to court to claim back all the money in the intervening time?
This “both sides” stuff is such a croc of *.
Is it really that disgraceful?
