I think he’d struggle to do 3 jobs.
4 jobs
Ross is parachuted into a reasonably safe Westminster seat.
The manner in which it has been done could well make that safe seat pretty rocky - it's an incredible dick move. Kick man out of his job (and announce its for his own good - it was a compassionate sacking - not one they would want to trouble the guy about by talking to him) then declare you don't really need two of your other three jobs.
I'd genuinely be surprised if local voters don't try to oust him, or at least just stay at home.
That’s not correct. Ireland has two official languages; Irish and English
Fair point! I don't know why I never think of Ireland as English 😁
So anyway.........nice of Ursula von der Leyen to make her victory speech yesterday in English for the Irish!
[ double post - forum struggling ]
Obviously, it wasn't just for the Irish. It's an official language of the EU for good reason.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_European_Union
The most widely understood language in the EU is English, which is understood by 44% of all adults, while German is the most widely used mother tongue, spoken by 18%. All 24 official languages of the EU are accepted as working languages, but in practice only three – English, French, and German – are in wide general use, and of these, English is the most commonly used.
Neil – the better reference is ‘Tricky Dicky’ by Ian Dury…
The song is called Billericay Dickie. That’s why I said it.
"Reform candidate said UK should have been neutral against Hitler"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjmmrwexv4ko
Written on the Unherd web site in 2022, so this one didn't even require trawling back through 10 years of tweets to find.
Ross is parachuted into a reasonably safe Westminster seat. Mind, his first instinct was to be MP, MSP and ScotTory party leader but as he can’t keep his expenses paperwork straight I think he’d struggle to do 3 jobs.
You'd think he'd be "straight down the line" regarding his finances
https://www.tiktok.com/@labourparty/video/7377417464218422561I think it’s the Labour party in Ireland that have been using Sylvanian families.
Obviously, it wasn’t just for the Irish.
Yes I was aware of that English is the lingua franca, rather ironically. I was merely highlighting the bizarre nature of Ursula von der Leyen speaking directly to fellow Germans, in her party, in English.
She actually thanked from the rostrum specific German individuals directly, who were on the platform with her, in English.
Still I guess that it's great to remind everyone, especially after the advances of the far-right across Europe, who actually won the war 😁
Douglas Ross has announced he will resign as leader of the Scottish Conservatives
It wasn't the most coherent of announcements - as you might expect! Did he actually say that? Or did he say "if I win, I will resign". I know a decent tory candidate with enough local presence should be able to win that seat even in the current Tory meltdown but its not infeasible that he loses - afterall if he was not trying to sway people he could have waited until July 5th...
I'm sure I heard somewhere that there's almost an 'EU English' dialect, due to a load of non-native speakers communicating at the EU in it, and directly translating native idiom into English.
Also by all accounts the Flemish and Walloons often communicate in English rather than the language of the enemy.
@poly - I understand that he is resigning as leader but will remain an MSP unless he wins the seat as an MP.
https://twitter.com/Douglas4Moray/status/1800113976505991386?t=iVCASol9NhftoATaUZ5itQ&s=19
I’ll be voting Labour by choice and it fits the tactical vote here too but id be happy to vote Lib Dem if I lived in a blue wall area.
And that’s exactly who the Lib Dems are targeting. I’d say it’s working too. That manifesto launch was clearly directed at people who’ve voted Tory in the past, are socially liberal, find the present incarnation abhorrent but just won’t vote Labour.
I think it was also a tacit nod to Labour voters to vote tactically in seats Labour can’t win that’s it’s safe to vote Lib Dem again.
I think the Tories might be in for a rude awakening in the ‘Blue Wall’
"I’m sure I heard somewhere that there’s almost an ‘EU English’ dialect"
There is an international English. It is neither US nor UK English, but what a large community of people (overseas students at US or UK Universities, people who want to get on in professional careers or academia etc) speak. I have experienced it when teaching diverse groups of overseas students they clearly understood each other better than I undetstood them.
I think the Tories might be in for a rude awakening in the ‘Blue Wall’
I'll never forgive Redwood* for quitting this year and denying me my local Portillo moment.
The only problem for the Lib Dems is they've taken over the council propped up by Labour and have some VERY unpopular decisions to make that the Tory's repeatedly kicked into the long grass. Like approving 4500 new houses on a single greenbelt development or suffer death by 1000 cuts as they lose every other smaller planning application on appeal as the Tory's never developed/passed a workable local housing development plan.
*again, he's perennially unforgivable
It’s the first time I’ve heard that theory. Have you got a link to a political analyst who claims that Russians are in Syria because Putin wants to help the far right in western Europe?
I was talking about the rise of the AfD being directly linked to immigration in the 2010s - particularly in light of Merkel's "We've got this" speech of 2015(14?). In this regard I can refer you to the excellent 'Shortest History of Germany' by James Hawes. His main contention is that the Roman 'limes' still dictate largely where attitudes prevail and that the Elbe, not the Rhine is the temperamental border in N Europe. But he lays the blame for the large spike in AfD popularity at the door of the Syrian migration crisis.
As for the initial point about Russia weaponising Syrian migration to Europe - here you go.
I was talking about the rise of the AfD being directly linked to immigration in the 2010s
You claimed that Russia are involved in the Syrian civil war because they want to help the far-right in Western Europe destroy the EU by creating refugees.
There must surely be easier and cheaper ways to help the AfD?
The overwhelming majority of Syrian refugees are in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon, btw.
I’ll never forgive Redwood* for quitting this year and denying me my local Portillo moment.
@thisisnotaspoon - I follow Redwood on Twitter just to witness how incredible it is that one man can be so consistently wrong about absolutely everything for the duration of his entire life. Its uncanny.
This would support the regularly-made claim that he is fact from another planet
It’s not just the AfD, it’s not just Germany… but you know all this, even without reading anything posted above.
I know that the Russians are not as suggested in Syria specifically to create a refugee problem in Western Europe to help the far-right parties undermine the EU.
I also know that there are relatively few Syrian refugees in Europe, the one exception is Germany. The overwhelmingly majority are in countries neighbouring Syria.
I also know that every day brings a new conspiracy theory on the internet. Yesterday I learnt that apparently the Oct 7 Hamas attack was actually carried out by the United States and Israel, the motive apparently was to get their hands on Iran's oil. Yeah go figure.
You claimed that Russia are involved in the Syrian civil war because they want to help the far-right in Western Europe destroy the EU by creating refugees.
There must surely be easier and cheaper ways to help the AfD?
The overwhelming majority of Syrian refugees are in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon, btw.
Taking those in turn.
1. I said that Putin was getting what he wanted from Syria - a destabilising flow of refugees from Syria into Europe. You asked for links - there are two above. One is a US General in an official statement where he identifies the use of weapons and targeting with no military purpose other than to make people 'get on the road' as he puts it.
2. There are, and he probably does those too. Why would the two strands be mutually exclusive?
3. You know as well as I do that actual numbers are only a part in creating the narrative of fear. Particularly in post-industrial western countries where there are large pockets of left-behind people who are easier prey for populists. And the countries you mention are simply closer and also more closely aligned religiously and culturally to Syrians in any case. Any migration flow in history has a massive bias in where people end up towards the least distant and the most likely to be similar to 'home'.
My mention of political analysts was specifically I with regard to the escalation of support for the AfD in the wake of what some perceived as an open door policy from Merkel in the wake of what turned out to be peak migration from Syria. That correlation is covered in the book I referred you to. As well as being well documented elsewhere.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
I understood exactly what you said, it's here:
A few years ago I saw a report on Syria that postulated at the end “we still don’t know what Russia wants in Syria”. I thought at the time it was an odd thing to say. It revealed a bias towards the west, quite reasonably, wanting an end to the conflict and some kind of resolution. But it completely misunderstood Putin. He’s all about constant destabilisation that allows nationalist-populists to sow fear in western Europe.
Putin got (and continues to get) exactly what he wants out of Syria – a constant flow of Muslim, brown-skinned refugees into western Europe where they can then be pointed at by the far right as an easy target and used to sow fear.
I just don't agree with the premise behind the theory. Let's leave it at that.
where they can then be pointed at by the far right as an easy target and used to sow fear
[img] 
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The poster was released by Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party and depicted a photograph of Syrian refugees near the Croatia-Slovenia border in 2015
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_Point_(UKIP_poster)
Had some LibDem bumph through the door today, first bit of election material I've had so far. I've actually been delivering them myself as part of my postie job.
Never heard of the guy but he's a local lad apparently Daniel Callaghan. He's campaigning on all of the right local issues and billing himself as the only real alternative to Sunak. If that were really the case I could see myself tactically voting for him instead of my prefered Labour.
However, no idea how accurate UK Polling Report is but they are predicting Sunak holding the seat on 43% with Labour on 27% and Lib Dem coming fourth behind Reform on 9%. Shame really, it seems like the anti Sunak vote is split there.
I know a lot of the local Tories are thinking of giving a protest vote but I can't see them giving it to Labour.
Yeah I will be following my heart and voting Labour but having seen the Lib Dem thing I'm surprised a lot of the older local Tories that I know aren't going in that direction.
Where’s that?
Mid Bucks constituency, I'm hoping this lot might help but not holding too much hope.
https://www.midbucksprimary.org/
Another poll/prediction is giving labour a closer but still dim shout at 29%, so I'll probably stick with them & make sure the family know too.
I think the Tories might be in for a rude awakening in the ‘Blue Wall’
I can assure you we're doing our best to make it happen. 🙂
Good luck! We’re doing our best to get shut of ‘em up here
I want my own personal Portillo Moment when our useless Tory MP, Deputy Chairman James Daly (majority 100) is given his marching orders. I’ll be stopping up for that result coming in if I have to sit up all night 😃
In Rutland Labour is predicted 2% behind the Tories, if only a few Libs or Greens could see sense Kearns would be OUT.
A week to the deadline for withdrawal notices, I guess if Reform were planning on repeating the antics of the Brexit party then they'll wait to the final hour to prevent Labour , Libdems and Greens acting in kind.
Latest poll
https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/latest-gb-voting-intention-7-10-june-2024/
A 3 point increase for Labour in 4 days. And Reform UK 2 points behind the Tories.
These polls are getting silly. I don’t believe it will be anything like that on the 4th.
so much for the polls narrowing once the election was called 😕
Well whatever else happens, Ed Davey seems to be having a fantastic time. Are we sure he isn’t just on holiday?
Our constituency is very similar (the recently created East Grinstead and Uckfield). Torys are predicted to get in on a massive majority due to huge numbers of city boys and racist pensioners.
Problem we have is that the Labour candidate is a bit of a bellend.
So for me its probably got to be Lib Dems as the candidate is a good guy but if the lib dem and lab vote was combined it would get rid of the Tory......
But there seems to be no tactical campaign
Here’s self confessed Zionist Shitlord Luke Akehurst attempting to connect with voters, good try Luke, now crawl back under your stone
Was speaking to my lefty Marxist friend few days ago regarding the GE, which according to him might not be a massive win for Labour. He told me he had some "expert" information on the possible GE outcome which may disappoint Labour if they were hoping for a landslide victory. He is very active politically and will go out to protest whenever there is a need.
Hhhmmmm ...
