Britain - The Official Thread

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How will you vote in the 2024 UK General Election?

  • Conservative Party

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Green Party

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Labour Party

    Votes: 14 48.3%

  • Liberal Democrats

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Other (Wales/Scotland/Northern Ireland)

    Votes: 1 3.4%

  • Other Independents

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other Parties

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Spoiled Ballot

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Will Not/Cannot Vote

    Votes: 8 27.6%
  • Total voters
    29
  • Poll closed .
Dennisch
Are you guys blown off the island yet?

Just read that they declared a code red for the most of Britain.
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Note quite that bad, but those up North are having a reckless night and several places have been severely flooded.

upload_2015-12-5_21-58-14.png
 
Not too bad here at the moment, nothing passing 65mph here yet, but I did get buffeted around near the countryside this morning. Luckily I am somewhat south east of the flooding.
 
Found half a shed roof in my front garden at 9 am this morning. Found the other half up 20ft into a tree about 50 meters down the road. Bit breezy.
 
We were spared the bulk of the rain, but one of our fences was peeling apart and half-collapsed into the garden last night. Should be able to fix it with materials from work next week.

I've see a few downed trees in the area since these storms began. Likely to find even more after this weekend.
 
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TenEightyOne
Stabbing at tube station being treated as "a terrorist incident". BBC.
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Shoot. That was my local tube station at one point. Really hope the three (?) stabbed are okay.

That being said though, is it being classed as terrorism because the man shouted 'this is for Syria'? Or because of something else. Reason I say this is because over the years there have been crimes in East London far worse than that, and the stories my father has told me about some of the incidents he responded to were a lot worse than three people being stabbed, but they were classed as GBH and the like.
 
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Johnnypenso
Apparently it's possible now in the U.K. to fall on someone accidentally and have your penis end up in her vagina
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... while she's asleep, 'unprepared' and in possession of a teenage-sized one. After you've had sex with another woman and your penis is merely 'poking out' of your nightclothes.
 
The argument that the BBC is becoming more and more right-of-centre in dying attempts to please its masters-and-ballsqueezers (the Tory government) has a little more ammunition today; UKIP (1 MP) will get three Partly Political Broadcasts per year on the platform while the Greens (1 MP) will get... none.

There has been much spitting of lentils over this, I'm sure.
 
TenEightyOne
The argument that the BBC is becoming more and more right-of-centre in dying attempts to please its masters-and-ballsqueezers (the Tory government) has a little more ammunition today; UKIP (1 MP) will get three Party Political Broadcasts per year on the platform while the Greens (1 MP) will get... none.

There has been much spitting of lentils over this, I'm sure.
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The Greens have been massively ignored by British TV in general while UKIP had a run of being the news du jour for a considerable while.
When the BBC news came on, I used to shout "the UKIP advert is starting" to my housemates.
 
TenEightyOne
The argument that the BBC is becoming more and more right-of-centre in dying attempts to please its masters-and-ballsqueezers (the Tory government) has a little more ammunition today; UKIP (1 MP) will get three Partly Political Broadcasts per year on the platform while the Greens (1 MP) will get... none.

There has been much spitting of lentils over this, I'm sure.
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S_Bridge
The Greens have been massively ignored by British TV in general while UKIP had a run of being the news du jour for a considerable while.
When the BBC news came on, I used to shout "the UKIP advert is starting" to my housemates.
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I have been listening to the BBC radio world report news and features for many, many years in the midnight-4am PST time period. I am 100% convinced that all the reporters and correspondents are fully liberal, secular, left-of-center, pluralistic and multicultural in their cultural and political outlook. I have not detected the slightest institutional or individual bias on the part of BBC radio to play up UKIP or any sort of more conservative agenda.

Is their house now becoming divided against itself?
 
TenEightyOne
The argument that the BBC is becoming more and more right-of-centre in dying attempts to please its masters-and-ballsqueezers (the Tory government) has a little more ammunition today
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The BBC are trying to please the Tories by giving more coverage to a rival party? :p

I'm not a fan of it either, but has all the UKIP attention been entirely unjustified? Most of their coverage has been a result of their (somewhat unprecedented) electoral successes in the 2013 locals, 2014 europeans and this year (in votes if not MPs). The Greens are on the rise, but for better or worse they haven't matched a lot of UKIP's achievements, not yet anyway.

I don't know the rules for PPBs though - are there any, or is it just up to the Beeb's judgement?
 
Dotini
I have been listening to the BBC radio world report news and features for many, many years in the midnight-4am PST time period. I am 100% convinced that all the reporters and correspondents are fully liberal, secular, left-of-center, pluralistic and multicultural in their cultural and political outlook. I have not detected the slightest institutional or individual bias on the part of BBC radio to play up UKIP or any sort of more conservative agenda.

Is their house now becoming divided against itself?
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I think there's a genuine altruism about the BBC that has been part of its culture for many years. With the exception of (comparatively) few executives the wages aren't competitive with the private sector and the Corporation inevitably attracts media-savvy experts who share that altruistic motivation and who prize that over large private-production salaries. That's where I think the natural left-of-centre leaning comes from rather than any particular policy framework. The BBC has been notably strong in its resistance to outside (political) influences in many cases over the years but this government, more than any, seems hugely irked by the apparent refusal to conform to dictated agendas.

Friends who work at/around production level in Media City (the BBC's base in Salford) tell me that they're more and more conscious of what seems to be a politically motivated agenda. While there's no specific pandering to the current government's dictated line there is a fear of upsetting the Tories any more than is strictly necessary. It's my own feeling that once a "free" media outlet begins to show editorial bias beyond the human bias of its components then the end is nigh.

For the BBC... I think, with sadness, the end may be nigh.

Further to @TRGTspecialist's comments; for the case in hand it must be remembered that while UKIP and The National Lentil Party each shoved a single member into the Queen's chambers UKIP still garnered nearly 4,000,000 votes, none of them from badgers or people who live in trees on motorway sites.

And are UKIP really a rival party? The conservatives seem keen to draw UKIP voters near and then show them that not only can they have their nationalist, isolationist dream but that there's a party delivering it right now.
 
TenEightyOne
And are UKIP really a rival party? The conservatives seem keen to draw UKIP voters near and then show them that not only can they have their nationalist, isolationist dream but that there's a party delivering it right now.
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Indeed, I suppose it depends on how likely a strong coalition between the two would be (possibly a deal could be as good as done if we vote to leave the EU). But at the moment with the Tories' slim majority and every seat counting, I presume they'd prefer UKIP votes to be Tory ones, for their benefit.
 
@TenEightyOne Is this normal behaviour for a non-left leaning party?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/cel...quality-breach-for-saying-he-had-man-flu.html

Jeremy Vine, the BBC radio presenter, has been reported under the broadcaster's "equality and diversity code" for saying he had man flu.

The 50-year-old broadcaster revealed he was suffering from a persistent cough at night after falling ill a few days ago during a feature about Victorian ailments on his Radio 2 lunchtime show.

He referred to his "man flu" while talking to Dr Sarah Jarvis about whooping cough - a highly contagious bacterial infection of the lungs - and other illnesses common in the 1800s.

But Vine announced on Tuesday morning, the day after the programme, that his comments had been reported to Corporation officials.

In a post on Twitter that was later deleted, he said: "Oh great, someone's reported me under the BBC Equality and Diversity Code because I told @DrSarahJarvis yesterday I had man flu."
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Let's face it, the only reason the BBC give air time to stories about the Conservative party or UKIP is to try to paint them in as bad a light as possible. I can near enough guarantee the subject matter of Beeb Tory article; it would either be about cuts (usually about the NHS, which is nonsense, as real-terms spending is increasing), something anti-Europe, or an attempt at personal embarrassment. UKIP will always be about personal embarrassment, and nothing about the performance of the party or recent work.
 
DG_Silva
@TenEightyOne Is this normal behaviour for a non-left leaning party?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/cel...quality-breach-for-saying-he-had-man-flu.html
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I don't see what party politics would have to do with that, it strikes me as bizarre and ridiculous. It should be noted that he's not in trouble for anything at this point, he's simply been reported for saying "man flu". I'm pretty sure that will go no further.

DG_Silva
Let's face it, the only reason the BBC give air time to stories about the Conservative party or UKIP is to try to paint them in as bad a light as possible.
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Rubbish, unless you can actually show some? A quick look at the BBC news site at this moment certainly fails to demonstrate your point, it definitely fails to show the anti-balance you infer from them.

DG_Silva
t would either be about cuts (usually about the NHS, which is nonsense, as real-terms spending is increasing)
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Source required.

DG_Silva
or an attempt at personal embarrassment.
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Source required.

DG_Silva
and nothing about the performance of the party or recent work.
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Still rubbish. Another quick look at the site shows that they carry all the UKIP election broadcasts and events and a number of frank news stories reporting the main view of senior UKIP characters as the struggle for power in the party continues.

Personally I think you're talking out of your hat.
 
TenEightyOne
Friends who work at/around production level in Media City (the BBC's base in Salford) tell me that they're more and more conscious of what seems to be a politically motivated agenda. While there's no specific pandering to the current government's dictated line there is a fear of upsetting the Tories any more than is strictly necessary. It's my own feeling that once a "free" media outlet begins to show editorial bias beyond the human bias of its components then the end is nigh.
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Are you sure that's not something of a toothless tiger? Our ABC was in the opposite position, accused of being a "lefty lynch mob" by the government because it was critical of the government (who seemed to think that because it was taxpayer-funded, it should be a propaganda channel even though they have the Murdoch media for that), which culminated with a terrorism suspect who was acquitted on appeal being allowed to question a senior government figure about controversial national security policies live on air (where the suspect came out looking like the more reasonable one - it takes a special kind of madness to achieve this) and they survived.

I mean, what's the worst thing the Tories can do? They have a stable majority government and are not faced with crippling (and by crippling, I mean single-digit approval ratings in opiniom polls) unpopularity, so why the pressure to push a conservative agenda?
 
prisonermonkeys
I mean, what's the worst thing the Tories can do? They have a stable majority government and are not faced with crippling (and by crippling, I mean single-digit approval ratings in opiniom polls) unpopularity, so why the pressure to push a conservative agenda?
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For the most part I think it has to do with the upcoming in/out Europe referendum - to answer directly I'd say the worst thing the Tories could do is repeat a referendum kludge like Proportional Representation and bamboozle the people into voting us out of Europe.
 
TenEightyOne
Effectively close them.
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That would almost certainly kill their popularity. Any attempts to interfere with their operations because they weren't pro-Tory enough for the Tories' liking would be interfering with freedom of the press - and freedom of the press is usually the first casualty of a dying democracy.

Once again, we're ahead of the curve - after criticising the ABC for not congratulating him and his government for their policies, Abbott tried to cut their funding and the funding of sister channel SBS (or, as we like to call it, the sex and Hitler channel because all it seems to broadcast is French erotica and documentaries about the Nazis). It went down like a lead balloon; the public interpreted it as the government trying to influence the media, and we tumbled down the freedom of the press rankings.

So why do the Tories seem to think that they can interfere with the freedom of the press and get away with it, least of all after advocating freedom of speech following the Charlie Hebdo attacks? Or is freedom of the press a relative term, and better described as "freedom of the press (but only when it's politically convenient for us)"?
 
Famine
... while she's asleep, 'unprepared' and in possession of a teenage-sized one. After you've had sex with another woman and your penis is merely 'poking out' of your nightclothes
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:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

Not much of a contribution to the topic, I know. But matey, I salute you :cheers:

Epic
 

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