Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd December 2024

[refitman]

Morning all

[RogerOThornhill]

Good morning.

Well that's a bit awkward for the usual suspects...apparently the driver with murderous intent in Germany was an AfD supporter and anti-Islamic 'takeover of Europe' type. This one is a classic "Yeah but no but yeah but"

[AnatolyKasparov]

Ultimately he was still a brown person, and this is all that matters to them.

[refitman]

They're having some real issues with the messaging on this one

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Well that was bizarre. The Coop bank just blocked my debit card for potential fraud after I went to a cheese shop, Lidl, then visited a craft beer shop where my card was declined. After rushing home in a moderate panic and ringing them the woman I spoke to offered absolutely no explanation whatsoever of why going to a couple of local shops and a supermarket would be flagged as potential fraud. The best she could offer was 'unusual spending pattern' but I've been to all those shops many times so that was bollocks. I understand the banks need for extra security but if a man can't go out and get himself some cheese and beer without nonsense like this happening then I say it's gone too far.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Wow, that is quite the plot twist. Although if you read the responses to Hodges here there is a simple explanation. Apparently the guy's support for the AFD, Zionism, anti-Islamic replacement theory, Geert Wilders, and all the rest was merely a cunning ruse to hide his true Islamic extremist beliefs. Which of course sounds entirely sensible and not mad at all.

[AnatolyKasparov]

No arguing with DFH there!

[Sky'sGoneOut]

As is my tradition I made my own early Christmas dinner this evening before eating it with wine and some Studio Ghibli anime. On Christmas day itself I shall be eating the most expensive meal I've ever paid for in my life at a swanky hotel in the borders (£100 a head before drinks or extras). Needless to say it wasn't my idea and I lodged an objection but got outvoted. It better be good. If they can do better than the port reduction gravy I just made with (properly) caramelised onion and garlic I'll be impressed.

More importantly however the anime was this -

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6587046/

If it does turn out to be Miyazaki's last then he's gone out in quite some considerable style. The boy in question is moved from Tokyo into the countryside after his mother dies during the incendiary bombings of WWII, where he quickly becomes aware that the titular heron he encounters there is no ordinary bird. At which point things rapidly go down an insane rabbit hole and he ends up in a bizarre underworld with giant parakeets with a taste for human flesh. It's beautiful, twisted, and most importantly utterly free of the tedious influence of Tolkien. Which is what makes most Japanese fantasy and Miyazaki in particular so great. There's no orcs or elves or fucking wizards. Just weird psychedelic Shinto offering cathartic lessons, in this case about grief. Miyazaki is 83, the last of his generation still making these films, and from what I've seen the next generation have bought into the American idea of three acts and cloying Disney sentimentality. Even the subtitles for this were horribly American. So this may be the end of an era, and an art form, and as such I couldn't recommend it more highly if you get a chance to see it.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

[refitman]

Just the dumbest people in charge of this country

[refitman]

This could be hilarious

[AnatolyKasparov]

Just the dumbest people in charge of this country

Again, we shouldn't put too much store in unnamed "sources" giving it the big I am.

As some have pointed out, this would get said even if they *were* planning to do something. Indeed it is the sort of thing Farage would say before doing it.

[refitman]

How about a government minister then?

[refitman]

Just the dumbest people in charge of this country

Any day now, they'll present some kind of argument against Reform's
positions. Maybe they'll even come up with some policies that will actually help people. But in the meantime, sure, just do fuck all.

"We’ll beat Reform by defeating their arguments rather than changing the rules to stop them getting money from Elon Musk,” said a source. “You don’t successfully take on populists by changing the rules in bid to thwart them.”

[AnatolyKasparov]

How about a government minister then?

There is a general review of party funding underway, with the prospect of legislating in late 2025. I can certainly see the argument that doing something ad hoc now just in response to media headlines would actually play into Farage/Musk's agenda.

[Frog222]

Excellent speech, and completely crazy reaction --

[Frog222]

How about a government minister then?

There is a general review of party funding underway, with the prospect of legislating in late 2025. I can certainly see the argument that doing something ad hoc now just in response to media headlines would actually play into Farage/Musk's agenda.

Plenty of reviews, 2006/7, 2016, and this in 2022

An important new review into the UK’s political finance framework

https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/ ... -framework

iirc the Tories quite recently reduced the range and powers of the Electoral Commission , so breath not being held that anything interesting , or even radical(!) will result !

[AnatolyKasparov]

I am cautiously optimistic that Labour will be a bit more ambitious on stuff like this.

[Frog222]

Crossing fingers AK !

[refitman]

They haven't been ambitious on anything else (except maybe punishing pensioners), why would they start here?

[refitman]

It was in the fucking manifesto and they're prevaricating over saying they will do anything. Maybe it wasn't one of the pillars? Or was it foundations?

[Frog222]

Just in from Yorkshire Bylines

The truth about democracy and the threat of dark money

https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics ... ark-money/

Extract --
"" So-called ‘super PACs’ in the US can spend unlimited amounts of money outside the official campaigns, but there is some legislation controlling them. There is no legislation at all in Britain on third party campaigns that sit to the side of politics. There is currently nothing to stop an Elon Musk funding something like a Reform UK super PAC, involving far more money than the parties could ever manage to raise.

Fighting back for democracy
Geoghegan calls for new rules, including a cap on political donations, and legislation to prevent shell companies making political donations. A company with no reported, taxable profits in the UK should not be able to donate here. The maximum fine for breaking electoral law in the UK is currently £20,000, small change to such big donors.

The cross-party Committee on Standards in Public Life and other committees have all made proposals that would go a long way to curb these influences. But, argues Geoghegan, politicians and parties in the UK and elsewhere seem to have accepted broken politics, poor standards and a lack of transparency, all of which feed into a lack of trust in politics and anti-establishment sentiments.

We have been too slow to address the issues of electoral reform, dark money in politics, and disinformation. It’s time for politicians in the UK to wake up to these issues. The danger has been apparent since 2016, and if we don’t mobilise, we could soon be in a much worse place. ""

[AnatolyKasparov]

It was in the fucking manifesto and they're prevaricating over saying they will do anything. Maybe it wasn't one of the pillars? Or was it foundations?

They confirmed today that legislation is coming, as I said in a previous post.

This hysteria was kicked off by one single anonymous quote, which shows how broken our media is than anything else.