I reckon very left of Tory, but slightly right of Labour? Greenish maybe?
Realise no one pays any attention to the Green Party and they don't exactly get any headlines but they are more left than Labour (even more so now with Starmer as leader). It should be the natural choice for anyone who doesn't like what Starmer has done.
As for STW as a whole, I think it is populated with a lot of shy tories who pop up now and again stating that they cannot say what they want because they will be shouted down and the left wing people shout the loudest, probably because they have something to shout about whereas the shy tories are not that unhappy as still have their party in charge.
So it would balance out somewhere in the middle if there was any sort of secret ballot.
Anybody remember the Natural Law Party who promised world peace through transcendental meditation and an end to poverty by applying the Constitution of the Universe. They even sent a squadron of 7,000 yogic flyers to end the conflict in Kosovo. Maybe something like that...........................
I think it is populated with a lot of shy tories
Interesting then that the folks who've done the compass and posted the result aren't "shy Tories" but are mostly either bang on Labour or between Labour and Green.
That there political compass test.
Our race has many superior qualities, compared with other races.
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree
WTAF?
Maybe I read that wrong. Appears to translate as "are you a racist?"
People with serious inheritable disabilities should not be allowed to reproduce.
Hi! Are you a Nazi?
Yep, it's a blunt tool, but then; people and their opinions when they think no ones is watching...
Interesting then that the folks who’ve done the compass and posted the result aren’t “shy Tories” but are mostly either bang on Labour or between Labour and Green.
Yes, a shy tory is hardly going to be posting that they are a tory are they, hence the word shy.
Just for giggles I filled in all the questions in the most authoritarian nationalist racist nazi way I possibly could...
...and still came out about one square off the centre.
…and still came out about one square off the centre.
No imagination! I can get it to +8 on the authoritarian scale without really trying that hard.
As for STW as a whole, I think it is populated with a lot of shy tories who pop up now and again stating that they cannot say what they want because they will be shouted down and the left wing people shout the loudest, probably because they have something to shout about whereas the shy tories are not that unhappy as still have their party in charge.
I think most people self identify as aspirational lefty environmentalists, but their desire for those conflicts with both the dislike for top down authoritarianism on such issues (like raising taxes, fining individuals for emissions) yet also object to any personal responsibility for their actions either.
Paraphrased from various politics threads:
"You can't force me to give up my ICE car/van, but something needs to be done to get 'people' out of their cars to reduce emissions".
"Why am I being charged the ULEZ to drive my T5 into London to see my relatives, surely I'm not the problem?" (when any sane person would realize that London of all places in the UK is easiest to get to/around by public transport).
"Inheritance tax needs sorting out, but only as long as the threshold is £1 higher than the leg up I intend to give my family, obviously it's fair they get a leg up whilst less well off people stay in poverty, it's only a problem when better off people give an even bigger leg up I can't compete with".
Tofu Eating Wokerati Party obviously
Tofu Eating Wokerati Party obviously
Pretty much my result as well.
Tofu is vile though.
It would have a red flag and a green plant of some sort on the cover of it’s manifesto to signify leftwing environmentalism, but inside it’s all about fixing potholes, how carbon footprint reduction is an aspiration unless you need a T6 van to drive somewhere to ride your bike every weekend in which case it’s that nasty global 1%’s fault (i.e. anyone above the median in the UK but we ignore that because whatabout Putins Superyacht?).
There’d be something about insulating old housing stock. Unless you’re middle class, then you can just have a woodburner because that carbon neutral and the emissions are someone elses problem.
Infact everything will be someone else problem, the last government, footballers clogging up A&E, food causes obesity, etc, nothing will be our fault.
We’d proclaim to be progressive, inclusive and woker than woke, but somehow end up with a cabinet stuffed with middle aged white men because we just happened to think they were the right people for the jobs.
There’ll be a controversy where Shell and BP are told in a great tubthumping announcement to be immediately accountable for all The environmental impacts of their fuels in the UK, this lasts until Wednesday when someone points out they don’t own any refineries in the UK anymore. The reaction is slightly more muted and confused when 4 companies you’ve never heard of and INEOS are added to the list. British Cycling and the Americas Cup team go bankrupt shortly after.
To try and get back on the front foot a junior minister will accidently bankrupt Scotland with rushed legislation that fines the producers of fossil fuels rather than the users. The total fines paid by Scotland for the audacious crime of producing the diesel that is powering the Ruling STW party’s Zil T6’s are enough to fund the entire government program for 4 years. The resulting cutbacks in Scotland amount to the canceling of the planned chairlift at Innerleithen and no new trails in the Tweed Valley for 6 months. Somehow the Caingorm mountain railway and ferry budgets both still increase. All government iPads are confiscated before the next Glasgow football Derby.
The final downfall will be when the Ministry of Crayons catering bill from Greggs is leaked to the Telegraph.
This is a very fine piece of work, one of the best posts I've read on here - rolled back the years when there was a fair bit of wit on here.
Tofu is vile though
Yeah, not a fan either.
"Tofu Eating Wokerati" was Braverman's reference to the liberal "blob" that stands in the way of her dream of a glorious fascist state, you know like those pesky laws and courts. "Anti Growth Coalition" was Truss' label
I think most people self identify as aspirational lefty environmentalists, but their desire for those conflicts with both the dislike for top down authoritarianism on such issues (like raising taxes, fining individuals for emissions) yet also object to any personal responsibility for their actions either.
Maybe, my only conflict is that the country is run in such a poor way that I am not happy with what is being invested and how taxes are used to control things and the pretence it is 'our' money.
Things like inheritance is not an issue for me as I would get rid of inheritance all together as it is just furthering the imbalance but again why should a state that I disagree with the actions of get all of my money when I die? It won't because it is mostly going to charities where I can choose how it is spent.
Dysfunctional, nationalist, ageist, trans dubious, car centric soft tory, is how I read the forum.
How can you be vaguely green and want to kill animals for sport eating or species cleansing is beyond me.
I am old and cynical so don't mind me
I do wonder if, when they’ve completed the quiz, a fair few folk realise that their views are actually left of centre despite having voted Tory their whole lives.
Then continue to vote Tory.
Inheritance tax needs sorting out, but only as long as the threshold is £1 higher than the leg up I intend to give my family, obviously it’s fair they get a leg up whilst less well off people stay in poverty, it’s only a problem when better off people give an even bigger leg up I can’t compete with”.
Saw an interesting suggestion that recipients should be taxed on inheritance as part of their income, rather than blanket on the estate?
“Tofu Eating Wokerati” was Braverman’s reference to the liberal “blob”
I'm more a blob than a tofu eater, and "steak bake eating woketati" doesn’t sound as bad, does it?
Dysfunctional, nationalist, ageist, trans dubious, car centric soft tory, is how I read the forum.
How can you be vaguely green and want to kill animals for sport eating or species cleansing is beyond me.
Which forum are you on?
.
Saw an interesting suggestion that recipients should be taxed on inheritance as part of their income, rather than blanket on the estate?
TBH that seems about as fair as it could ever be, put the estate in a trust then let them draw down on it as income rather than as a gift. Creates a huge loophole though where you could just take a loan from the trust and pay it back when you die.
I think there does need to be a bigger incentive to spend money rather than hoard it though. It'd be better for everyone if the incentive was to shuffle off the mortal coil with empty pockets.
That's interesting. When I saw those charts I thought you just had to plonk the dot where you thought it belonged. In that case I would have gone for right in the middle left/right and a touch more libertarian, but it's not far off to be fair. I've only voted tory once in 40 years, but that's probably still one more than many folk on here.
If STW was a Political party, where would we be?
Bearing in mind that about 90% of the comments on political threads consist of people expressing their deep and unrelenting hatred of the Tories, interspersed with occasional similar expressions of hatred towards voters, possibly in trouble for hate crimes I would have thought.
Yep, it’s a blunt tool
I've completed it 4 times now testing out the theories above, and I'm either:
a) A RW fascist
b) A communist
c) Somewhere in the bottom left
d) vaguely in the middle somewhere but nowhere near Switzerland
At the very least I'll be on 'everyone's' watch lists now.
YMMV 🤷♂️
and yet at least 3 posters think the tone of the forum is way to the right of that.
Its unclear how "left" and "right" are defined.
If its US style then anyone who is still visible is likely to be a bit right wing by European standards.
WTAF?
Maybe I read that wrong. Appears to translate as “are you a racist?”
I think it's quite a clever question. For a lot of people racist means you throw around abusive terms and have a skinhead. I think there are a good number of people who don't think of themselves as racist because they don't do that or associate with that behaviour but would agree with that question's sentiment.
Hi! Are you a Nazi?
Actually, I struggled a bit with that question based on personal experience!
I know someone who went totally blind in his teenage years. I met him as his triathlon guide - so he clearly still had quite a good active life but it was tough at times and the amount he relied upon his wife to have that life was bordering on unreasonable. He was told any child he had would have a 99% of experiencing the same. Elected to have 2 children anyway. When I first met him the kids were 6 and 8 and had excellent vision. They are now in their early 20s and are both completely blind. I think I've come to the conclusion that the government should not have prevented him having children but morally he should have adopted instead of having his own. It would not take much to persuade me to go further seeing their life now first hand.....
Bearing in mind that about 90% of the comments on political threads consist of people expressing their deep and unrelenting hatred of the Tories, interspersed with occasional similar expressions of hatred towards voters, possibly in trouble for hate crimes I would have thought.
+1
This forum typifies the Thatcher quote "The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money".
Its unclear how “left” and “right” are defined.
Have you taken the test? There's a certificate that you can print if you want, as well as your dot, there's political personalities on it, most of the US presidents are upper right, the only one in the lower left is Bernie Saunders.
This forum typifies the Thatcher quote “The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money”.
The trouble with thatcherism is eventually privatising profits and socialising losses means the country runs out of money.
Given the way she pissed oil money up against the wall and gave away vital infrastructure and housing cheap without any real maintenance plans its baffling that people keep saying that quote.
Many of the problems we face today are down to her and those who followed throwing away of our countries assets.
Hi! Are you a Nazi?
Not necessarily. Eugenics started as a movement in the UK with supporters from across the political spectrum and then spread across Europe and into the USA.
In the UK forced sterilisation was debated in the 1930s although defeated in a parliamentary vote. It may have eventually got passed aside from the Nazis whose actions discredited the eugenics movement.
Elsewhere though sterilisation laws were passed including the USA (note sure if all or just parts) and a few European countries.
Denmark carried out sterilisations until the 60s and dubious birth control techniques into the 70s and Sweden used forced sterilisation into the late 70s.
100% of the folks who’ve posted a political compass have been in the lower left quarter, and yet at least 3 posters think the tone of the forum is way to the right of that.
The tone is definitely left wing but that is made up from around 10 posters on political threads. There are a lot of other people who don't post on the threads and now and again a right wing person pops along to say they just get shouted down as soon as they say anything so don't bother while other right wing people (the sort I work with) don't really want to be questioned as they struggle to justify the shit the tory party get up to but happily vote for them anyway.
The tone is definitely left wing but that is made up from around 10 posters on political threads.
But none of the published compasses on this thread are those political big hitters.
There are a lot of other people who don’t post on the threads
So how d'you know what their politics are? and if they don't contribute anyway...
and now and again a right wing person pops along to say
But if the forum population is soft right (as you claim) that should be the prevailing sentiment rather than the occasional poster dipping in and out, and saying they're not allowed to voice an opinion.
The trouble with thatcherism is eventually privatising profits and socialising losses means the country runs out of money.
Given the way she pissed oil money up against the wall and gave away vital infrastructure and housing cheap without any real maintenance plans its baffling that people keep saying that quote.
Many of the problems we face today are down to her and those who followed throwing away of our countries assets.
I don't disagree, but how many posters have said they're libertarian left. But would also demand regular re-testing of drivers? Or stricter environmental legislation?
Or that something be done about sewage in rivers?
How absolute is the right to free speech?
Those are all authoritarian.
How many posters would repeal Cycle 2 Work Scheme (because it's clearly not used by the majority to buy a sensible bike for cycling to work) , and add an additional tax on luxury hobby equipment?
That's left wing.
Trying to reduce that to a 2 dimensional graph is impossible because people can and do hold hugely different views on different topics.
I'd happily endorse environmental laws that amounted to a de-facto ban on private car use.
I'd also die on the hill of not needing a license to ride a bike.
Does that make me authoritarian or liberal on environmental and transport issues?
I think we would be in coalition with MumsNet………
They're right of centre over there, doubt they'd coalesce with this leftist paradise 🤣
Personally I'd say it makes some people feel good about themselves to see bad (and by bad in this case I mean right wing) in others where there is none. It helps them with moral superiority.
A bike forum community (term used with trepidation) is always going to have it's outliers. As a sport it's got more than it's fair share of middle aged and middle class. So there will be closet tories in our midst. But if we are to talk in generalisms the tone of most contributors is centreist left. Blair not Corbyn, could listen to Rory Stuart without getting too hot and bothered, but would love the opportunity to harm Rees Mogg with a rusty spoon.
But if the forum population is soft right (as you claim) that should be the prevailing sentiment rather than the occasional poster dipping in and out, and saying they’re not allowed to voice an opinion.
Just a feeling I get, that's all. Living most of my life under a right wing government and being surrounded by right wing people has undoubtedly taken it's toll on my hope!
So how d’you know what their politics are? and if they don’t contribute anyway…
It is patently obvious that all the political threads lack any sort of contribution from a Tory perspective. When, for example, was the last time a Rishi Sunak supporter posted on the Rishi Sunak thread?
Anyone doing so could at best expect to be called a troll, that is usually what happens to anyone who goes against the stw political consensus.
The idea that no one who claims to ride a mountain bike is likely to be a Tory supporter is really not feasible. In contrast the idea that punters who support and vote Tory find the political threads too hostile is far more believable.
t is patently obvious that all the political threads lack any sort of contribution from a Tory perspective.
Exactly. So why then do some posters think there's a soft right bias to the forum? It makes no sense. There's almost unanimous condemnation of Starmer's reforms of Labour form a further left perspective on his thread, so none of the political threads are particularly soft right biased
but how many posters have said they’re libertarian left. But would also demand
Oh fo'shure it's always a spectrum, and you can only answer the question the compass asks after all. There was a really interesting article on YouGov about the popular ideas from opposite sides of the political spectrum that appealed to their opposites (ie left wing ideas popular with right wingers and vice versa) which is exactly what you're talking about
It is patently obvious that all the political threads lack any sort of contribution from a Tory perspective. When, for example, was the last time a Rishi Sunak supporter posted on the Rishi Sunak thread?<br /><br />
I seem to remember a thread a few years ago where someone asked why people voted Tory & specifically asked that only people who voted conservative should answer it. The idea being that we could gain some understanding as to why conservative voters acted in the way they did & what they themselves thought their motivations were. The result? we had pages of people saying that Tories were selfish bastards who were only concerned for themselves & they had blood on their hands etc etc. Not one person who voted conservative popped up to actually answer the question posed.
