maxque
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Post by maxque on Jul 14, 2021 13:38:37 GMT
It’s probably in more in the Tories interest to finish second here then a Labour win. From a pure party perspective probably but from a constitutional point of view any SNP loss has to be the priority Which is a ridiculous point of view, as Scottish Independance won't be decided by a Westminster by-election. Anyways, normalcy is restored by providing them the choice of solid left-wing and right-wing alternatives, not by hiding policy behind a flag. A flag isn't policy.
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Post by maxque on Jul 13, 2021 19:43:34 GMT
Regrettably in my experience often true. I can think of a couple of cases where the woman in question forgave the partner and let him back into her life. In every case that my advice was sought I said that abusers very, very frequently repeat their behaviour and that domestic abuse is about power in a relationship not momentary, substance induced violence. Low self-esteem, sometimes generated in that relationship, can be a problem for the person abused - not feeling they deserve more, or that they cause the behaviour, or that this is some kind of love. These things make domestic abuse a difficult crime to prosecute requiring skilled, empathetic police work. So no, I wouldn't see the matter as closed simply on the say so of the partner. I agree, but given that there is nothing even hinted at that this was anything other than a one off incident, given that a caution was deemed appropriate thereby indicating the offence was at the lowest end of the scale, and the perpetrator didn’t contest the allegations at any point and referred himself for disciplinary investigation by Plaid, I would be leaning on the side of the situation being under control. If it was a one-off incident, I doubt someone would have involved the police.
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Post by maxque on Jul 12, 2021 14:39:51 GMT
Is there a shortage of suitable candidates to head NATO? The important criteria isn't suitability, it's whether it's a candidate other countries would back.
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Post by maxque on Jul 9, 2021 22:34:27 GMT
Uh no. There are no Sikhs left in Pakistan to create a state there. Any such state would have to cover a few districts of the Indian Punjab. However, with the current rate of migration, the state may as well come up in British Columbia or Ontario. Or Slough. 😜 Slough, Brampton and Surrey Sikh City-States?
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Post by maxque on Jul 8, 2021 23:46:02 GMT
That sounds unlikely- the outgong independent councillor for Feniton was scathing about the lack of any campaigning from Labour there. Of course, the previous strong county campaign by the same young Labour candidate for St Michaels had covered Feniton as well as Honiton, so they may have uncovered some potential there at that stage, and certainly the Labour vote in Feniton went up a bit, but I'm sure they were concentrating on St Michaels this time. I think the Local Democracy Reporter (who is in his first week in the job so cut him some slack) was confusing the two wards. Note he refers here to a Liberal Democrat candidate for Feniton having done no campaigning - but the man he names was a candidate in Honiton St Michael's. Some of them will see no by-elections for months, he gets the job a few days before multiple ones. Rough start.
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Post by maxque on Jul 8, 2021 23:43:52 GMT
I don’t wouldn’t hazard a guess, but oddly, according to Joe Ives’ Twitter commentary they were more hopeful in Feniton. That sounds unlikely- the outgong independent councillor for Feniton was scathing about the lack of any campaigning from Labour there. Of course, the previous strong county campaign by the same young Labour candidate for St Michaels had covered Feniton as well as Honiton, so they may have uncovered some potential there at that stage, and certainly the Labour vote in Feniton went up a bit, but I'm sure they were concentrating on St Michaels this time. Joe Ives corrected himself later. Also, it seems the Liberal Democrat in St Michaels seems to have told Joe Ives he did not campaign.
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Post by maxque on Jul 8, 2021 23:37:02 GMT
Fact of the week: Jake Bonetta wasn't born when Labour last won a council seat on East Devon District Council. According to the Election Center, the history of Labour seats in East Devon is Exmouth Withycombe Urban in 1973 (Liberals only ran 2 candidates; Labour took the 3rd one) Exmouth Withycombe Urban in 1976 (Liberals took the 2 others seats) Sidmouth Woolbrook in 1979 for a 3 year term (election by thirds) Sidmouth Woolbrook in 1983 (taking back the seat lost in 1982) Sidmouth Woolbrook in 1987 (back to all-outs) Ottery St Mary Town in 1999
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Post by maxque on Jul 8, 2021 23:09:16 GMT
I thought it would have been a old town councillor, involved in the town since decades, but apparently he did his A-Levels last month and is aged 18.
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Post by maxque on Jul 8, 2021 22:47:37 GMT
EAST DEVON Honiton St Michael’s BONETTA, Jake E (Labour) 807 JENNY, Brown* (Conservative) 522 HOYLES, Jules (Liberal Democrat) 63 807 for Labour and 63 for LDs? Are you sure?
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Post by maxque on Jul 2, 2021 22:06:55 GMT
Oh spare us the sour grapes crap. The candidate simply gave her perspective on some foreign policy issues that were being raised by the voters. If you're so concerned about it, no doubt you'll show us where you condemned Bob Blackman's shameless pandering to Hindu nationalists, not to mention the infamous "Sadiq Khan's coming for your jewellery" leaflet from the Goldsmith Mayoral campaign. It's hardly sour grapes if I wanted (on balance admittedly) your candidate to win It's also not pearl clutching to notice that leaflets pandering to sectarian division were going out. If I was responsible for Keir's leadership surviving, I'd have probably done the same. I'd have hated myself for it, but I know my weakness. Your side went in to the gutter. The Tories didn't. It's unlikely you'd have made the margin if you hadn't Smethwicked Own it Repeating a lie about sectarian leaflets multiple times won't make it true, no matter how hard you try.
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Post by maxque on Jul 1, 2021 22:47:40 GMT
So, we are having both Labour councillors in Inner London and Conservatives ones in the Home Counties worried?
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Post by maxque on Jun 21, 2021 2:03:05 GMT
There's a bit of a scandal going on in french politics: www.francetvinfo.fr/elections/departementales/video-elections-regionales-et-departementales-2021-couacs-en-serie-dans-la-distribution-des-plis-electoraux_4667331.htmlEvery election, Laposte (the former french public mail system, now a private company still controlled by the state) used to distribute electoral propaganda (1 leaflet 'profession de foi' and 1 ballot paper from each candidate). Now, because of the rules for a free market, for the openness of "marchés publics", a private distributor was chosen for half the regions, because his offer was cheaper. Indeed, it was cheaper because they don't have at all the proper infrastructure and number of workers to get it right. Lots of voters (including myself) still haven't received the electoral propaganda. We used to receive it one, two weeks before. There are a lot of voters who use it either to compare candidates' programs (and choose who to vote for) or to take the ballot paper in their pocket before going to the poll station (ballot papers are available at the polling station, but you can take none of them; if you take some, it is mandatory to take at least 2, so that your vote remains secret inside the polling station - stating who you are voting for is considered unleawful propaganda inside a polling station, so no buttons, nothing that should identify your vote). Thanks, EU and your free market and free access to public purchases. So, what you're saying is that lots of French voters are incapable of finding out what candidates policies are without getting a mailshot, even though there is news on the television, radio, internet and the local and national press? This says rather more about French electors than it does about competition in the postal system. To be fair to them, TV coverage of regional/department elections is dismal and only focused on Paris and where big names are running. Internet is touch and go, some newspapers hide everything behind paywalls, or worse, they display freely information about candidates supported by the owner of said media, while other candidates get stuck behind paywall. UK local press and TV is, I know it's hard to believe, better than France for most zones (from what I've seen, Bretagne/Normandie and the Southwest has the best coverage, but it's utterly dismal in the Northeast quadrant). Tracking local by-election results is a disaster, there is no reporting by authorities in most places and sometimes, the only way to get a result is have someone local buy a paper version of the local newspaper and hope there is something about it in it.
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Post by maxque on Jun 19, 2021 23:04:31 GMT
True. But it's hard to see how the EHRC would have simply said "oh dear" to being told to get lost? They could have applied for judicial review or the authority to carry out an investigation, I guess. It would have been a bad look for Labour to say no, ultimately. My opposition to this is because I don't like the set up of the EHRC and what they do. I'd prefer a very different set up, and ultimately I'd like it abolished. I get particularly annoyed about equal pay/gender gap issues: they should either name the offenders or shut up, because every time they do nothing they reveal that they're toothless. The smart answer by Labour would have been to say yes, but only if Conservatives agreed to do the same about Islamophobia.
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Post by maxque on Jun 18, 2021 22:53:31 GMT
Yeah, if vetting could have found that, he would have been arrested a long time ago.
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Post by maxque on Jun 18, 2021 17:29:46 GMT
Some of those turnouts are absolutely horrific. Indeed, they are way too high.
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Post by maxque on Jun 18, 2021 17:03:57 GMT
But the potential of getting an UK person in that position is also something the government considers. Having a close ally lead NATO may well be worth a by-election loss, given the size of the majority. Which is different from your original point that Theresa May will not listen to Boris Johnson. In case of resignation. If she is denied nomination on those reasons, she can just resign, so Boris has the double whammy.
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Post by maxque on Jun 18, 2021 16:47:44 GMT
Wasn't that the guy Armchair kept claiming as the best candidate for Wakefield in forever?
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Post by maxque on Jun 18, 2021 16:36:51 GMT
Yeah, I'm sure Theresa May will do whatever Boris Johnson tells her... Sigh. If an MP wants to go off and make lots of money in business, then no, there is nothing the whips can do. However, if they want to be NATO Secretary-General, Director-General of the WTO or something at the UN it requires UK government support or it is not going to happen. If they have a seat which would be at risk, the whips/party leadership can just say no. But the potential of getting an UK person in that position is also something the government considers. Having a close ally lead NATO may well be worth a by-election loss, given the size of the majority.
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Post by maxque on Jun 18, 2021 15:10:30 GMT
Apparently she is in the running to be head of NATO, hence the speculation Surely the government should now be firmly saying "no" to any MP ho wants to resign/take another job in middle class London commuter belt seats? Yeah, I'm sure Theresa May will do whatever Boris Johnson tells her...
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Post by maxque on Jun 18, 2021 2:00:50 GMT
Happy that the Conservatives took a beating. Just a shame it’s at the expense of the Lib Dem’s success. Will that party ever die. It *may* have saved Labour in B&S and Starmer's leadership as it will knock several points off the Tory rating (although in fairness even in the Tories which is only party that's good at regicide they normally get at least two years). I'll leave it for others to argue whether that's good or bad - but personally I think that he's done "OK" - indeed more than OK in difficult circumstances with covid to get anything over. Of course sometimes as probably with the Lib Dems in the 2013 Eastleigh by-election it's better for the party to lose by-elections.... I feel this is making a loss in B&S more dangerous for Starmer (the LD could take a seat from Conservatives, but Starmer can't even defend a seat against the same people).
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