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I dunno about anyone else, but when I hear someone using the term 'woke' without irony it only outs them as idiots.
Woke (no irony) "idiot" right here and proud of it.
When I hear someone taking the micky out of woke it outs them as facho right wingers or extreme left.
Come on, mattyfez, be welcoming cuddly and nice to all on STW. 🙂 Jeez this forum sometimes.
but for clarity firstly that offensive and totally unrepresented poster (it had bugger all to do with the UK and deliberately only featured young men) was produced by UKIP not the official Leave campaign.
Two cheeks of the same arse I’m afraid Ernesto.
The ‘official’ campaign was a bit coy about its racism, with its nods and winks, because it knew it could be. Why? Because Farage and Banks and the ‘unofficial’ campaign provided the foghorn to their dog whistle. Outriders, doing their dirty work for them.
Both campaigns were saying exactly the same thing, just in different ways.
To believe otherwise you’ve either got to be hopelessly naive or absolutely delusional
A whole load of human rights are written into EU treaties, Ernie. You don't want those but want the ECHR. So you refuse the EU that has teeth but want the ECHR that is consistently ignored by the countries signed up to it.
A good summary of Niges performance this morning….
As soon as NF gets forced to talk about tax he sounds less animated and interesting than Keir. Listen to yesterday’s speech - but do take a pillow and a nice blanket
Keep the conversation on the economy, sort the economy, and Reform are toast.
Keeping the conversation on the economy is easy enough but sorting it out will never be done with Reeves and Starmer in charge. Let's say she fixes her black hole and balances her books, do you think the average voter would notice? Of course they wouldn't, all they will notice is the stupid things that were done to 'fix the economy' and things getting worse for them rather than better.
I notice that among his economic plans yesterday he was looking to target public sector pensions, which would achieve his goal of shrinking the Civil Service as anyone who can would take the financial hit and retire early.
I've pretty much decided that if Reform do get into power I'll resign the next day. I've worked under governments of both colours and held my nose to deliver policies that were never going to deliver or I fundamentally disagreed with, but I'll not serve under a Reform government.
I notice that among his economic plans yesterday he was looking to target public sector pensions, which would achieve his goal of shrinking the Civil Service as anyone who can would take the financial hit and retire early.
The blue-rinse brigade will shit themselves at yesterday's announcement that the triple lock will go under a Reform government.
At this point I almost feel that they need to get in, break everything, and let the population learn from their stupidity.
notice that among his economic plans yesterday he was looking to target public sector pensions
I know a few public sector workers (NHS) that will still vote reform despite this.
At this point I almost feel that they need to get in, break everything, and let the population learn from their stupidity.
Hasn't this already happened with Brexit/Boris/Truss
Nope, there is lots left to break - NHS, benefits and so on.
Yes and as Starmer and Reeves will never do that Farage is free to BS away.
When you are actually in a position of authority and have to make hard "decisions".
@kerley - they are starting to do some of the right things - I’m involved in some - but by their nature they are confidential until they happen (otherwise they won’t happen).
We’ll see if it’s enough.
but for clarity firstly that offensive and totally unrepresented poster (it had bugger all to do with the UK and deliberately only featured young men) was produced by UKIP not the official Leave campaign
Remind me... who was UKIP leader at that time? 🤔
And, FWIW, drawing lines between Banks and Farage on the one hand and the official leave campaign on the other is ridiculous.
Keeping the conversation on the economy is easy enough but sorting it out will never be done with Reeves and Starmer in charge. Let's say she fixes her black hole and balances her books, do you think the average voter would notice? Of course they wouldn't, all they will notice is the stupid things that were done to 'fix the economy' and things getting worse for them rather than better.
Very true. Also surpluses just don't happen much at all in modern economies as they're extractive - so she's on a doomed journey.
(The public might notice by virtue of things being cut or pay more tax to get the spreadsheet to balance. )
But not directly, and probably won't connect the dots.
A balanced economy not balanced books please governments.
This is likely to make Reform voters have a cognitive reality dysfunction.
The hero on the train is called Samir Zitouni.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxr4qn6d66o
Sounds like woke fake news to me poopscoop!
I bet it was good old Tommeh and Our Nige themselves who stopped the attacker with their bare hands!
^^ Indeed.
It's almost like someone's skin colour and ethnic origin have no bearing towards their character.
Mind blowing stuff!
Thoughts and prayers, thoughts and prayers.
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The blue-rinse brigade will shit themselves at yesterday's announcement that the triple lock will go under a Reform government.
I hold Nigel Farage in the same contempt as the vast majority of other commenters on this thread, but I have to say I agree with this point. Triple lock was a good idea at the time raise the living standard of some pensioners who were genuinely skint, but it should always have been time limited. Now none of the main parties dare to mess with it and it's become a vast drain on the exchequer with no end in site.
It obviously wouldn't sway my voting decision to Reform, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day, (which is once more than Nigel).
The blue-rinse brigade will shit themselves at yesterday's announcement that the triple lock will go under a Reform government.
I hold Nigel Farage in the same contempt as the vast majority of other commenters on this thread, but I have to say I agree with this point. Triple lock was a good idea at the time raise the living standard of some pensioners who were genuinely skint, but it should always have been time limited. Now none of the main parties dare to mess with it and it's become a vast drain on the exchequer with no end in site.
It obviously wouldn't sway my voting decision to Reform, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day, (which is once more than Nigel).
I’m not sure I agree with you on this. Despite the triple lock, the UK spending on state pension provision is relatively low, the percentage replacement rate relative to pre retirement earnings is low and pensioner poverty rates are high.
calling someone a racist for saying coloured people instead of people of colour (yes it does happen)
I can confirm that it does happen yes, because I'm the source of your example - this genuinely happened to me.
I wasn't outright called racist, but I was schooled that I'd said the wrong thing despite being well-meaning. I'm as "woke" as they come but I agree with you here, this sort of linguistical pin-dancing silliness helps neither side.
For someone who repeatedly asks me to explain what I mean it is quite extraordinary how little attention you pay to what I actually write. You appear to be arguing with what you think I should be saying rather than what I am actually saying.
You use a lot of words to say very little and then when someone asks for clarification your Condescension Gland goes into overdrive. It's almost as though you do it intentionally.
Pro tip: if someone asks for clarification, it might just be because you weren't clear rather than them just being feeble-minded plankton in the shadow of your towering intellect.
Whatever the original definition of woke was a hundred years ago this is what it is widely seen to mean now in the UK in 2025. For the record I don't use either terms.
You used the term "woke brigade" in this very post. 🤷♂️ I suppose you were being ironic.
that offensive and totally unrepresented poster (it had bugger all to do with the UK and deliberately only featured young men) was produced by UKIP not the official Leave campaign.
It was produced by UKIP to adorn the sides of Leave.EU vans.
They're two cheeks of the same arse in any case. I doubt many voters were analysing whether Leave propaganda was "official" or not.
It was produced by UKIP to adorn the sides of Leave.EU vans.
Whoopsie! 🤭
Incidentally, lest we forget, shall we remind ourselves what the 'official' Leave campaign was up to at the time?
"Vote Leave" were the 'official' leave campaign (the ones using the NHS logo on everything). "Leave . EU" was a UKIP (Farage et al) spin off to make their case without having to stick to the same campaign rules. See also the shenanigans that had the DUP and others based in NI campaigning across the whole UK via social media without having to stick to the same rules as the whole UK campaigns. All very messy. A campaign for everyone.
Pro tip: if someone asks for clarification, it might just be because you weren't clear rather than them just being feeble-minded plankton in the shadow of your towering intellect.
Whatever the original definition of woke was a hundred years ago this is what it is widely seen to mean now in the UK in 2025. For the record I don't use either terms.
You used the term "woke brigade" in this very post. 🤷♂️ I suppose you were being ironic.
I hadn't realised that you needed a towering intellect to understand what I was saying but when I said that I don't use either of the terms I was of course talking about "coloured people" and "people of colour", I simply say "black man/woman/person", it seems to work fine for me.
Edit : It also seems to work fine for the NHS which uses a standard set of 16 ethnic group categories none of which include the term "person of colour" but several categories do use the term "black".
Dunno if that makes the NHS racist?
The NHS would have a problem if it DID use the term "coloured people" but as you say it doesn't then all good and woke.
They are also just about to roll out some training about antisemitism but never did the same for Islamophobia so guess they may not be that good after all...
They are also just about to roll out some training about antisemitism but never did the same for Islamophobia so guess they may not be that good after all...
I think the NHS has accepted and treated some wounded Palestinians, though. That would probably meet the definition of antisemitism for Israel, Netanyahu and Mirvis - so I guess that training can't be rolled out fast enough. Phew!
The NHS would have a problem if it DID use the term "coloured people" but as you say it doesn't then all good and woke.
i said that the NHS doesn't use the term "people of colour" and it was with regards to that that I said I didn't know if in the eyes of some people that makes them racist.
The NHS uses the term "black" to describe black people, the same as me and most of the rest of the population, Including the police, but apparently not everyone is happy with that term.
I see Nige is courting the yoof vote…
I see Nige is courting the yoof vote…
He is using the well-established right-wing tactic of trying to convince voters that only a government that shafts you can be truly trusted.
It worked a treat for the Tories and LibDems in 2010 when they successfully managed to convince voters that austerity was a great idea.
Tice is on Today, on the one hand states we need to have "a rational and informed discussion" about pension reform, then goes on to stoke the flames by saying public sector employees still have gold-plated pensions and asks "if you're a public sector employee, do you want to be apologising to your grandkids for being responsible for bankrupting the country!?"
How big do we reckon Tice’s pension pot is?
Tice can get ****ed. Mrs 100th is a police officer and has been front line in uniform and been assaulted. She now has to deal with RSOs which is having a huge mental health impact. She will retire in 5 years time after paying 12%+ into her pension. Annually she'll be on just over £16k. All thanks to the new pensions schemes.
I listened to Dickies rambling. When it was pointed out to him that the OBR has forecast that civil service pension liabilities are forecast to decrease substantially over coming years, he didn’t let mere inconvenient ‘facts’ get in the way of the fantasy world him and Nigel inhabit.
How big do we reckon Tice’s pension pot is?
Pretty small. At least the bit that is visible to financial authorities will be.
Tice can get ****ed. Mrs 100th is a police officer and has been front line in uniform and been assaulted. She now has to deal with RSOs which is having a huge mental health impact. She will retire in 5 years time after paying 12%+ into her pension. Annually she'll be on just over £16k. All thanks to the new pensions schemes.
Very much this. I'll have 27 years in the civil service when I hit 60. The pension (old and new schemes) is not much more than what I'll get from the 16 years in my private pensions before that.
In the light of this:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c891403eddet
this came into my head:
Reform = Racist Extremists Full Of Russian Money
Genuinely not expecting a sentence anywhere near that long. I hope Farage is absolutely shitting himself.
As a flag shagging **** wit should I be taking to social media to demand this fallen warrior:s release or wanting him beheaded?
It's all so confusing these days.
If Farage was doing the same work for free… what a bargain for Putin… buy one get one free.
If Farage was doing the same work for free… what a bargain for Putin… buy one get one free.
Farage does nothing for free
Genuinely not expecting a sentence anywhere near that long. I hope Farage is absolutely shitting himself.
I am genuinely mystified why/how Nathan Gill got over 10 years. Is it purely because he didn't declare the money? It just doesn't add up to me. Making the pro-Russian statements didn't break any laws, why would it?
And taking Russian money obviously isn't a legal problem as Putin's oligarch have been bankrolling the Tory Party for years, and much more recently than Nathan Gill who took Russian money long before Russia attacked and invaded Ukraine.
Presumably Putin's oligarch will now want to shift bankrolling Reform UK rather than the Tories. They obviously don't pump money into UK political parties because they are concerned about how the cost of living crisis is affecting the UK population and they want to do what they can to help.
All the Russian money the Tories have received in very recent years has been because Putin felt that it would serve Russian interests, I can't see how that is any different to the moral case against Nathan Gill.
If it is because in the case of Nathan Gill it wasn't declared then over 10 years in jail sounds ridiculously over the top and both Tory and Labour politicians should be shitting themselves with regards to undisclosed donations, it seems to regularly happen.
Tbh whatever the explanation 10 years sounds totally over the top to me, Jonathan Aitken only got 18 months
https://goodlawproject.org/revealed-the-tories-are-still-receiving-funds-from-russia-linked-donors/