Wednesday 17th April 2019

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refitman
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Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by refitman »

Morning all.
HindleA
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by HindleA »

https://policyforum.labour.org.uk/commi ... ity-system" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Willow904
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... tudy-finds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Even moderate intake of red meat raises cancer risk, study finds
The usual context free reporting from the media:
A five-year study of half a million men and women who have signed up to the UK Biobank research project found those who were more or less keeping to the guidelines, eating on average 76g of red or processed meat per day, had a 20% increased risk of bowel cancer compared with those who averaged 21g a day.
Without knowing what the cancer risk of eating 21g of red meat a day is, how can we evaluate the significance of the increased risk? And is this a risk associated with eating more than 21g on any one particular day, or associated with a total consumption that averages out over a period of time as over 21g?
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HindleA
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

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http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/lone-par ... ax-credits" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Willow904
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by Willow904 »

This is an interesting talk from Carole Cadwalladr, as she describes how she first became aware that some voters in the EU referendum had been targeted by political ads on Facebook that the rest of us were unaware of:

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And there's this today about some of the content of that political advertising:

https://www.channel4.com/news/revealed- ... nt-footage" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Revealed: How Leave .EU faked migrant footage
Holding people to account for the breaches of electoral and data law during the EU referendum remains as important as ever, regardless of whether our politicians decide to take us out of the EU. If we fail to act against such attacks on our democratic integrity the problem of dark money disproportionately influencing the political debate in this country is just going to grow.
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HindleA
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

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https://www.parliament.uk/business/comm ... nse-17-19/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
AnatolyKasparov
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by AnatolyKasparov »

Cadwalladr is OK as long as she sticks to this sort of detailed stuff. As far as the broader political overview is concerned, not so much.
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Willow904
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by Willow904 »

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Cadwalladr is OK as long as she sticks to this sort of detailed stuff. As far as the broader political overview is concerned, not so much.
What I found interesting was what started her looking into Cambridge Analytica in the first place, the way she became aware of a hidden facebook campaign. After the referendum I was really struck by how all the leave voters being interviewed by reporters seemed to use identical phrases - they all, almost without exception, apparently voted to "get my country back", a campaign slogan, despite my interest in politics, I hadn't even been aware of in the run up to the referendum. These people didn't just have different views to me, they'd been participating in a completely different EU referendum campaign. Apart from the immigration billboard poster from Farage that got some mainstream coverage, I hadn't seen any of this kind of campaign. The revelations about Facebook being used to microtarget political ads started to explain why. The lack of electoral commission oversight of such a campaign and lack of knowledge by other opposing campaigns of the nature of this campaign was immediately and obviously a subversion of the spirit of democracy. Focusing on Cadwalladyr, rather than what she has revealed, is exactly what Farage, Banks and co want. She is not the story here. Mark Zuckerburg is refusing to share information with a government select committee. That's the story.
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AnatolyKasparov
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by AnatolyKasparov »

Also the way she seems to think Russian bots are everything, whilst decades of poison from our national newspapers barely merit a mention.
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Willow904
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by Willow904 »

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Also the way she seems to think Russian bots are everything, whilst decades of poison from our national newspapers barely merit a mention.
I agree the anti-EU propaganda from our billionaire owned press is by far and away the biggest single influence on leave voters (though I personally think anti-Soviet bloc, and thus anti-Eastern European, propaganda during the cold war was also a major influencing factor, informing the specific anti-Polish prejudice that was amplified by the right wing press during the Blair years). However, British papers taking sides in political votes is an accepted part of our electoral culture. Unregulated social media influence isn't. The point is do we just sit back and allow it to become an accepted part of our "democracy" (like the appalling bias we are already exposed to from the foreign owned press) or do we fight it?
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by PorFavor »

Good morfternoon.
EU elections: Farage will win unless Labour backs remain, says Beckett

Ex-minister says supporting another form of Brexit will give victory to Nigel Farage’s party

Nigel Farage’s Brexit party will win the EU elections unless Labour can portray itself as the natural home for remain voters, Margaret Beckett has claimed. (Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ett-brexit
AnatolyKasparov
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by AnatolyKasparov »

Four local council byelections last week:

Lambeth - a narrow Labour hold (19 votes) over the LibDems in a ward where a previous byelection two months ago had seen a big swing to the latter (LibDems won all three seats here back in 2002, but Labour took them in 2006 and made things safe post-coalition) and this time there was a further 5% swing to the LibDems as both parties finished over 40% - Labour's share was only modestly down on February's vote but the LibDems put a tactical squeeze on both the Green and Tory votes (though as with earlier this year, the Greens just won the battle for third place) Women's Equality with just over 2% and UKIP a little under - both slightly *up* from their previous showings which may frustrate the LibDems given how close it was.

Burnley DC - LibDem hold (though the incumbent had gone to a new localist group, the Burnley and Padiham Independents) in a ward where they have had the upper hand in recent years - 3 Labour councillors elected in the 2002 all-outs, but from 2006 the LibDems took all the seats in successive years and since then Labour have only won in 2012 (lost four years later) and 2015 (the seat that is up next month) This time round the LibDems won with a share in the mid-30s, a 10 points drop since last year - Labour in second place also fell back however and the LibDem drop seems significantly down to a BPI candidate standing and getting a respectable 17%. Tories little changed in 4th, whilst Greens advanced slightly to nearly 6%.

Merthyr Tydfil - Independent hold with 60% of the vote in a ward where they have been on top in recent years - various strains of Indies won all three seats here in 2004 and 2008 before Labour took a seat in 2012 and then won another in a byelection later that year, only to lose a seat back in 2017 (a postponed poll held on GE day) when things split 1Ind/1Merthyr Ind/1Lab. There was nobody from the localist Merthyr Independents this time, and the first of two generic Indies romped home. Labour slightly down on two years ago, whilst the other Independent got 13%. Tories stood here for only the second time since the 1990s (the other occasion being the previous byelection) and their 3% was actually a slight improvement since then.

Edinburgh - SNP gain from Labour in a division that split 1Lab/1Nat/1LD/1Green in 2007 before Labour won the LibDem seat in 2012 - an unusual double byelection here in 2015 then saw the SNP easily hold their seat whilst Labour narrowly took the Green position, before Labour duly went down to a seat in 2017 when the SNP topped the poll with 2 whilst the Greens won back their representation. In actual fact, the SNP share was little changed now from two years ago (or indeed the 2015 poll) but their main challenge now came from the Greens who advanced to over a quarter of the vote - a six point increase - in what appears to have been almost a straight swap with Labour who fell a similar amount. Unlike most Scottish vacancies recently the Tories were also down to just over 10%, not far ahead of the LibDems who doubled their 2017 share - even if they are still some way below their former strength here. Then a large array of also-rans - the first of two Independents on 1.5% not far ahead of UKIP, then a Scottish Socialist (the only minor party to stand last time, not much changed) then another Indie, the far right outfit For Britain and finally the Libertarians continuing their tradition of coming last in Scottish byelections - in this case with all of 12 votes.

No contests this (Easter) week, but one final vacancy next week to finish April before the May local elections.
Last edited by AnatolyKasparov on Wed 17 Apr, 2019 9:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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adam
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by adam »

I have been leafletting for next week's byelection :)
I still believe in a town called Hope
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citizenJA
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by citizenJA »

adam wrote:I have been leafletting for next week's byelection :)
Thank you! Mr citizen has too.

Good afternoon, everyone
PorFavor
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by PorFavor »

Tory activist sent Muslim minister emails praising Enoch Powell

No 10 copied in on messages to Nusrat Ghani referencing ‘rivers of blood’ speech
(Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... och-powell
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citizenJA
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by citizenJA »

Let's join the Tories and sabotage them...
Hannah Jane Parkinson wrote: We could hold fringe meetings in ironic burgundy trousers. Who’s in?
I'm tempted.
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citizenJA
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by citizenJA »

I've got the trousers sent by my younger sister. She's got the correctly coloured garment for any political situation.
PorFavor
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by PorFavor »

According to Sky News, the Home Office says that a technological solution to the Irish Backstop is at least a decade away.




Edited - typo
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RogerOThornhill
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by RogerOThornhill »

Robbie Gibb becoming the story again I see.
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AnatolyKasparov
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by AnatolyKasparov »

Let's all laugh at city, just like in the olden days :)
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PaulfromYorkshire
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Re: Wednesday 17th April 2019

Post by PaulfromYorkshire »

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Let's all laugh at city, just like in the olden days :)
What a thriller!
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