Nobody Cares about Britain

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Germany and France are co-financing a culture channel named Arte TV, which produces high quality content stuff in French and German.

Today arte released a documentation named "Not my king - qualms about King Charles." So it is about the growing movement in the UK to get rid of the royal family and replace it with an elected head of state, like a president.

Some people were irritated about the behaviour of British police at a demonstration against the king/monarchy.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Manchester Central Mosque incident not terror-related, police say

Police arrested one man who was reported to be armed, a search is underway for a second male

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

 

[Beebo Brink]

Germany and France are co-financing a culture channel named Arte TV, which produces high quality content stuff in French and German.

Absolutely. "High quality content" is the first thing I think of when I see yet another story about the British Royals....

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Absolutely. "High quality content" is the first thing I think of when I see yet another story about the British Royals....

Hehe I do understand your point of view but trust me: this is not a gossip channel. It has built itself a stellar reputation here on documentations and magazines.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana fight it out over who gets to run the increasingly comical Your Party: Zero hour: Corbyn and Sultana duke it out in battle for the soul of Your Party.

I'd be more amused were it not for the fact that a lot of the hard-left tankies seem to have given up on Your Party (understandably enough) and have joined The Greens, instead, saddling them with some pretty dubious policies like pulling out of NATO (which would please Putin and Trump, if no one else).

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Exclusive: Bombshell Intelligence Report Reveals Russia Cultivated Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

Watch now (6 mins) | My intelligence sources are telling me it's even worse than everyone thinks it is.

andrewlownie.substack.com

 

[Beebo Brink]

Exclusive: Bombshell Intelligence Report Reveals Russia Cultivated Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

Watch now (6 mins) | My intelligence sources are telling me it's even worse than everyone thinks it is.

andrewlownie.substack.com

Whoa. If it's true that Andrew was immersed in traitor-level corruption, and the Palace was warned and did nothing, that's an entirely different level of "Wtf are you royals even good for?"

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Whoa. If it's true that Andrew was immersed in traitor-level corruption, and the Palace was warned and did nothing, that's an entirely different level of "Wtf are you royals even good for?"

I suspect we'll find that someone ensured the warning didn't get as far as the Queen because they didn't want to force her to choose between shielding Andrew and prosecuting him some kind of Official Secrets offence.

 

[Beebo Brink]

I suspect we'll find that someone ensured the warning didn't get as far as the Queen because they didn't want to force her to choose between shielding Andrew and prosecuting him some kind of Official Secrets offence.

If you can't take the heat, you shouldn't be in the kitchen.

 

[Tigger]

Ever since Labour got in to power we've been bombarded with stories of how Reform is the government in waiting, just hovering there waiting to sweep the left wing parties into the dustbin of history and usher in a new age of Trumpian right wing british governments.

So when a byelection comes around, with labour failing to gain popularity, we've been expecting Farage's new fascists to storm to victory. Ex Tories have been so convinced of it that big names from the previous Tory government have been falling over themselves to sign up as new Reform members.

But Farage has failed. The Green party gained 40% of the vote taking the seat, Reform got 28%, Labour 25% and the Tories just under 2%. That's 2/3rds of voters voting for left leaning parties and 1/3rd going for the right.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gorton-denton-results-by-election-vote-share-turnout-greens-labour-b2928687.html

So what Im taking away from the result: The hard right is nowhere near as popular or inevitable as our media keeps insisting it is. It often seems that the whole of our media landscape is working hard to promote Farage's party as much as they can.
Labour's result isnt as bad as Id feared, for a government that can't stop putting it's foot in it and has no idea how to communicate with the public to keep a 25%+ vote share is relatively decent performance. This kind of mid term election often being used to punish unpopularity. And finally, the Tory party is dead and beyond resurrection.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

British chap talking about the current state of the Union, and what might happen if in May in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland separatist parties might come into power.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Ever since Labour got in to power we've been bombarded with stories of how Reform is the government in waiting, just hovering there waiting to sweep the left wing parties into the dustbin of history and usher in a new age of Trumpian right wing british governments.

So when a byelection comes around, with labour failing to gain popularity, we've been expecting Farage's new fascists to storm to victory. Ex Tories have been so convinced of it that big names from the previous Tory government have been falling over themselves to sign up as new Reform members.

But Farage has failed. The Green party gained 40% of the vote taking the seat, Reform got 28%, Labour 25% and the Tories just under 2%. That's 2/3rds of voters voting for left leaning parties and 1/3rd going for the right.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gorton-denton-results-by-election-vote-share-turnout-greens-labour-b2928687.html

So what Im taking away from the result: The hard right is nowhere near as popular or inevitable as our media keeps insisting it is. It often seems that the whole of our media landscape is working hard to promote Farage's party as much as they can.
Labour's result isnt as bad as Id feared, for a government that can't stop putting it's foot in it and has no idea how to communicate with the public to keep a 25%+ vote share is relatively decent performance. This kind of mid term election often being used to punish unpopularity. And finally, the Tory party is dead and beyond resurrection.

It's very good news that Reform lost in Gorton and Denton, but I think we need to remember that the place was until recently one of the safest Labour constituencies in the country. In 2024 the result was Labour 50.8%, Reform 14.1%, Green 13.2% and something called Workers Party of Britain (I suspect that's a George Galloway vehicle) 10.3%. So there was always a substantial left and centre-left majority -- the only question was how it would split. I was worried that Reform would get in on the strength of a spit Labour -- Green vote, but thank heavens that didn't happen.

It's a dreadful result for Labour, in that it demonstrates they can no longer rely on what were two of their most secure inner-city constituencies -- students and the South-East Asian Muslim diaspora. In a way it's good news, because for far too long Labour, whether under Blair or Starmer, have been able to take the attitude that their natural supporters on the left have nowhere else to go. Corbyn relied on this too, to an extent, in that the non-Corbynite Labour supporters like me didn't have anywhere else to go, either.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

British chap talking about the current state of the Union, and what might happen if in May in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland separatist parties might come into power.

NI is a separate issue, in that eventually it's going to join the RoI but not until sufficient Unionists are prepared to agree without tipping the place into civil war. People in Scotland and Wales, I suspect, whatever they think of independence in principle will, when they have to vote on the issue in a referendum, do the sums and realise that in practice independence would be a pretty expensive exercise.

 

[Beebo Brink]

If you can't take the heat, you shouldn't be in the kitchen.

I've been mulling over this dynamic of Queen Elizabeth shielding Andrew, or possibly having people working under her shield her from Andrew's misdeeds.

Hereditary monarchy basically sets you up for this divided loyalty between family and country. We want humans in positions of authority, not psychopaths who can say "off with his head" even when it's their own child at fault. I could truly empathize with Joe Biden over his pardon for Hunter; no matter how bad it looked (ha ha! those were naive days) who can deny a father saving his son?

The temptation to trade for favors based on your parent's elected position is tempered by the fleeting nature of political office, not to mention rules against nepotism. But the royal family is based squarely on nepotism. Merit is certainly appreciated, but it's not required, and the highest position of authority can last for decades. That leaves so much time for corruption to take root and grow, with the added boost of a sense of entitlement that can take a dark turn toward arrogance. It's not like you even have the choice of being there; you are literally born into the cauldron of temptation.

None of which is to say that monarchy should be abolished (not my country, not my call), but it does offer some challenges as to how to manage the risk inherent in the system. Relying on parenting skills to raise decent royal children with a sense of integrity is not really a reliable risk-management plan.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I've been mulling over this dynamic of Queen Elizabeth shielding Andrew, or possibly having people working under her shield her from Andrew's misdeeds.

Hereditary monarchy basically sets you up for this divided loyalty between family and country. We want humans in positions of authority, not psychopaths who can say "off with his head" even when it's their own child at fault. I could truly empathize with Joe Biden over his pardon for Hunter; no matter how bad it looked (ha ha! those were naive days) who can deny a father saving his son?

The temptation to trade for favors based on your parent's elected position is tempered by the fleeting nature of political office, not to mention rules against nepotism. But the royal family is based squarely on nepotism. Merit is certainly appreciated, but it's not required, and the highest position of authority can last for decades. That leaves so much time for corruption to take root and grow, with the added boost of a sense of entitlement that can take a dark turn toward arrogance. It's not like you even have the choice of being there; you are literally born into the cauldron of temptation.

None of which is to say that monarchy should be abolished (not my country, not my call), but it does offer some challenges as to how to manage the risk inherent in the system. Relying on parenting skills to raise decent royal children with a sense of integrity is not really a reliable risk-management plan.

I'm pretty certain that one result of all this will be that the finances of the Duchy of Cornwall (the source of the Prince of Wales' private income) and that of the Duchy of Lancaster (the source of the monarch's private income) will come under more detailed scrutiny, possibly by Parliament's Public Accounts committee. Other than that, the Andrew problem was long in the making, and it's pretty clear that, in their different ways, both Charles and William have been determined not to repeat what they see as the mistakes of their respective parents.

Quite what role William's younger children, Charlotte and Louis, will play in later years is an open question, since we have no idea what the royals will look like under William. Being the monarch's younger siblings must be pretty difficult, particularly for the second child -- the spare.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

particularly for the second child -- the spare

I just hope that Harry takes his Spare Energy in a more positive direction than Andrew. Harry certainly has his ‘quite alright’ moments.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Partner of sitting Labour MP among three arrested on suspicion of spying for China

Detectives from counter-terrorism policing London, which is leading the investigation, arrested a 39-year-old man in London, a 68-year-old man in Powys, Wales, and a 43-year-old man in Pontyclun, Wales. The police have not identified the men, who remain in custody.

However, sources told the Guardian they included the partner of a Labour MP. A second person is understood to be the partner of a former Labour MP. The identity of the third, or whether they have any links to parliament, is unknown.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Right-wing influencers who've become economic migrants to Dubai and are now regretting it

Isabel Oakeshott: Economic Migrant, Tax Exile, Future Evacuee?

The commentators who fled Britain for lower taxes have built careers sneering at the country they left - yet still rely on it when the world turns dangerous.

www.bearlypolitics.co.uk