|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jul 22, 2022 21:48:54 GMT
When did this last happen? Beats going around more prime ministers over five years. Worse than the UK right now in terms of PM longevity. Well, (if we're talking heads of government regardless of title), the UK has had four since the 1st January 2010 (Brown, Cameron, May, Johnson). Poland, Ireland and Denmark are also on four, Belgium has had five. France, Slovenia and Italy have had 7, as has Australia if you count Rudd twice, and Greece with various caretakers. Two Kevin Rudds, what a frightening idea. Likewise Austria if you count Kurz twice. Spain, Sweden, Norway and Portugal have had 3, the same as Turkey, which doesn't have one anymore. The Netherlands, Germany and Hungary are on just two. Romania has had a whopping ten, and that's not including caretakers and Victor Ponta turning up three times.
|
|
|
India
Jul 21, 2022 22:44:06 GMT
via mobile
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jul 21, 2022 22:44:06 GMT
Draupadi is the first President born after Indian independence. Huh. Makes sense, I guess. Italy still hasn't had a president born in the era of the republic. The first prime minister to fit that bill was d'Alema in 1998, so quite a contrast.
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jul 3, 2022 19:47:22 GMT
There has been a fatal shooting at Denmark's second-largest shopping mall this afternoon, Fields in Orestad.
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jul 3, 2022 18:19:27 GMT
Probably Socialist People's Party, maybe Red Green? The Socialist People's Party officially call themselves Green Left in English, as of March this year. A reference to the Green Left in the Netherlands perhaps, or just a rebrand?
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jul 2, 2022 22:14:05 GMT
There isn't going to be a gushing Graun article about Mette, is there?
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 30, 2022 12:02:30 GMT
Isle of Mann (85,000 population) is not too far off the right size. Presumably it would likely also be Conservative as it's attracts tax exiles (and unlike Jersey or Guernsey is accessible to to your average Brit) Yes, but a visit there would demonstrate that it is far from homogenous. It used to be a fairly poor place and, as with any affluent community, the place can't work without the work of a lot of less affluent people . The local Labour Party does win seats in the House of Keys in Douglas (which has quite large amounts of social housing). It's definitely within recent times that Manx have stopped coming to mainland en masse. Lots of Manx and people with Manx family in Manchester and Liverpool. It probably goes the other way these days-on my last visit, it seemed like a boss-class of Northerners being served by Ulstermen!
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 24, 2022 11:04:31 GMT
Masks are great. They serve as an early warning of who is likely to barge past you to get something off the shelf at the supermarket. This morning I had a FFP2 mask and gloves couple stop and gawp at the bottom of the escalator in Basel SBB and narrowly avoid a pileup. Is it still prevalent in Deutschschwiiz? When I was in Geneva and Lausanne in April, there was hardly one to be seen.
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 24, 2022 8:20:51 GMT
How do you propose to do that? By law? They were imposed by law. I don't recall you objecting. (No, I would not support the use of the law, because unlike most of the nation last year, I am not a tin pot fascist without the self-awareness to know that I am one) Masks are great. They serve as an early warning of who is likely to barge past you to get something off the shelf at the supermarket.
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 23, 2022 17:59:32 GMT
is there a reason this isn't called the lrem group? Do catch up! LREM was apparently reborn on 5th May with an entirely new identity, in celebration of President Macron's then-recent re-election. One has to be distinctly old-fashioned even to recall that it was ever called anything else. You've got to admire Manu's self-belief. First, name your party after yourself but in a smug way. Then rename it again to imply that you are the Republic. Then again to imply that you are a Renaissance Man.
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 22, 2022 23:12:00 GMT
I think it is a "dead parrot" in its present form, but those last few words are far from irrelevant in French politics! . In 1981 Mitterrand was elected ahead of Giscard. This was despite the lack of a pre-electoral pact on the left. At one stage Mitterrand was trailing the clown, Coluche, in the early polling for the first ballot. Coluche* and his challenge are best remembered, but even in 81, Mitterrand was regarded as being quite old-fashioned and outright old- he was a decade older than Giscard and Barre, narrowly younger than Chaban-Delmas, and legally old enough to be Chirac's father. Never seen in the UK, and I can't find English subtitles, is this incident in 1981 where the singer Daniel Balavoine attacked him as old-hat and out-of-touch. *Coluche is considered a clown but he was a rather sharp comedian and on occasion a fantastic actor. And did huge amounts for charity, including having a hand in the invention of food banks, an idea Mitterrand co-opted.
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 22, 2022 14:33:35 GMT
It's also worth noting that the continuity between SFIO and the PS is more legal than real: SFIO rebranded itself as the PS after the difficult 1960s, but then the party was taken over - lock, stock and barrel - by Mitterrand and his followers who essentially created an entirely new organisation in Mitterrand's image. The old SFIO cadres soon lost what power they still had left and faded away into the background, ending up largely as supporters of Jospin who wasn't from a SFIO background himself. Who was it that said cruelly of Jospin that he had all the charisma of a retired RE teacher from Sweden?
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 22, 2022 12:25:46 GMT
I think it is a "dead parrot" in its present form, but those last few words are far from irrelevant in French politics! Yeah, French parties can never quite be killed off. Just ask the Radicals!
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 22, 2022 7:21:22 GMT
I fear you're being a touch generous to him there. I would argue that he is attempting to recreate the mainstream left but very much as a vehicle for himself and his immediate supporters. After all, would the French Left look as badly-splintered if he himself had decided to stay and fight for control of the PS rather than form his own group? He's like a star striker who never tracks back. I think he would have been forced out of the party, like some of the 'frondeurs' during the Hollande presidency. A fair point. How long will it take for the PS to recover, do you think-or can it?
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 21, 2022 12:56:14 GMT
France doesn't have a mainstream left anymore, and mainstream right is on life support. Far right, far left or a little man with a napoleon complex at the authoritarian centre. Deeply and multiply flawed man that he is, one thing that JLM seems to be attempting is to recreate the "mainstream left" as a thing. I fear you're being a touch generous to him there. I would argue that he is attempting to recreate the mainstream left but very much as a vehicle for himself and his immediate supporters. After all, would the French Left look as badly-splintered if he himself had decided to stay and fight for control of the PS rather than form his own group? He's like a star striker who never tracks back.
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 20, 2022 21:40:42 GMT
Helped massively by Macron and his cronies. Who could ever have thought that repeatedly megaphoning that the mainstream left was as bad as the far right would actually have consequences? France doesn't have a mainstream left anymore, and mainstream right is on life support. Far right, far left or a little man with a napoleon complex at the authoritarian centre. Authoritarian Centre is a pretty good description!
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 20, 2022 19:51:57 GMT
Nice to see the regionalists take a kicking, especially as they were really just Podemos splinters. Is there a more embarrassing nationalism in Spain that Andalusian nationalism? Other than the weirdos who want the Canaries to switch from Spanish to reconstructed Guanche. . Asturias has the right balance. A strong regional identity which is marked by real differences in culture, history and linguistics from its neighbours. But who's regional identity is not in conflict with a "Spanish" identity. If you're ever in Madrid, and near the San Fernando food market - there's a cracking Asturian bar there with great traditional food and cider. And opposite is a Venezuelan stall that does brilliant empanadas.
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 20, 2022 17:24:20 GMT
A quite remarkable set of results with 99% of the vote counted: PP 58 (+32) PSOE 30 (-3) VOX 14 (+2) Podemos-types 5 (+5) Andalusian regionalists 2 (-15) Ciudadanos 0 (-21) This will send jitters through the PSOE leadership (Andalusia is traditionally one of their strongholds) and it will sooth nerves in the PP camp as their leadership woes earlier in the year appear to not have influenced the electorate. Nice to see the regionalists take a kicking, especially as they were really just Podemos splinters. Is there a more embarrassing nationalism in Spain that Andalusian nationalism? Other than the weirdos who want the Canaries to switch from Spanish to reconstructed Guanche.
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 20, 2022 10:59:44 GMT
The new president of the assembly will be elected on the 28th June, and NUPES will be putting a motion of censure against the government on the 5th July. The new minister of agriculture, Marc Fesneau, is already raising the spectre of Macron calling fresh elections.
Alexis Corbière, JLM henchman, has accused Manu of not being clear enough in opposing RN. Which seems a little silly and somewhat hypocritical.
Richard Ferrand, president of the assembly and Macronista royalty, has lost his seat.
Final word goes to Eric Ciotti: "the Fifth Republic has turned into the Fourth".
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 20, 2022 10:52:43 GMT
There was another one in Finistère I think. Can't remember his name.
The defeated Modem candidate appears to be another one of these celebrity sailors that France is oddly fond of. Well, it's not the end of the world.
|
|
|
Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 19, 2022 23:07:21 GMT
Aisne 3rd continues to be a meme constituency and re-elects its PS incumbent comparatively comfortably under the circumstances. One of Le Pen's strongest constituencies in the Presidential poll and also has the longest SFIO/PS winning streak (back to the mid 1960s). A series of small, bleak postindustrial towns in the north of Picardy, none of which are particularly notable. And a considerable contrast to the prosperous and conservative city of Saint-Quentin (France's answer to Lichfield), one of a small minority of constituencies that elected an LR member. (St Quentin dominates Aisne's 2nd constituency, so that constituency might as well be called St. Quentin). Maybe Stone would be a better fit. Or Aldridge-Brownhills. A little detached from various maligned communities, but enough to have its own identity.
|
|