Posts tagged “uk politics”
Blair wasn't a liar on Iraq -- he was incompetent, trusting US intelligence without question. New Labour was always a center-right confidence trick, and disaffected supporters were right to feel betrayed, but wrong to let that push them toward Conservatives who'll be far worse for Britain's social services.
The Daily Express ran a shameful hit piece on Dunblane survivors, trawling their Facebook profiles for ordinary teenage behavior to portray them as louts, without speaking to any of them. Lazy, disgraceful journalism that exploits trauma victims twice over. The paper owes them an apology.
The US barely notices treason accusations while the UK nearly topples a government over accidentally lost CDs. Surely there's a middle ground somewhere between these two extremes of scandal reaction.
A photo of Cameron with a hoodie-wearing youth perfectly captures the absurdity of the "hug a hoodie" policy. Hilarious either way you read it.
I break down the UK election issue by issue and tally up the results: Lib Dems and Labour tie, but with similar Europe positions, Lib Dem edges ahead. Conservatives surprisingly win on crime and war, but I'm voting yellow unless the Tories look like they might actually win.
Labour -14 Conservative -18 Liberal Democrat 30 UK Independence Party 3 Green 18You should vote: Liberal DemocratThe LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.Quiz at Who Should You Vote For, via Dom, as usual.
Launched dual-cam StalkerVision. Also: the BBC's undercover racism exposé in the police is a ratings grab but solid journalism. Shocked a cop admired Hitler, though it's just the tip of a deeper national racism problem. Could any British institution survive this kind of scrutiny?
Britain has up to 1.1 million paedophiles, and we can't jail them all. Criminalisation and persecution drive the problem underground. Treatment works better than prison, as one clinic's 80% success rate showed before hysteria shut it down. This is majority persecution of a minority, nothing more.
The Tories are dropping their anti-gay stance, which I support, but I worry about where the bigoted voters will go. A Steven Norris quote in the article points to a disturbing answer: the BNP. Maybe we need the Tories to keep losing to keep the scary right-wingers away from power.
