shocked my best friend voted Reform

Of course he won't, he will double down on tories misgoverning. As I have said before people are angry as govt is not keeping us safe which is their first duty. There have been many murders on the streets by illegal immigrants from war torn countries some of them white (and all covered up/memory holed). Alot of these people have severe mental health problems. We haven't got the resources to treat mental health of people already here.

What has lead to the riots this week has been years of failure to control immigration by both the Tories and last Labour government. They both promised time and again to sort it but didn't. That was a big part of why people voted Brexit, and they still didn't sort it. And this is why we are where we're at today.

Kier Starmer promised on his manifesto to stop the boats and sort out immigration and how much it costs us in millions each year. I wonder if he will stick to that promise!

It's actually ok to be intolerant of other's intolerance. It's ok to judge people by their actions, which this is. In fact, I'd be quite happy to say that if you are hate-filled, intolerant, racist, misogynistic, homophobic or otherwise an asshole, please give our friendship a wide berth as we'd have little in common!

If I founds out someone I held in high esteem voted Reform it would definitely colour how I think of them.

Reform have one policy - anti immigration. Since they don't seem too upset about the vast amount of 'legal' migration (which is 10 x that of refugees etc), the only thing that differentiates them is the colour of their skin and their economic status.

To me, morally, judging someone who is in dire need and happens to have a darker complexion than yourself is pretty bad. Openly saying you'd stand on the beach and shoot refugees isn't just 'bad', it's abhorrent. Voting for people who say that is equally awful. It says pretty horrific things about your character, and I don't want to associate with that level of inhumanity.

Why? Politics is really important. Its the future of the country at stake, You dont have to argue nastily about it but you should be able to discuss it. I have Brexiteer friends, but I'm not going to lie, I think they opened up a door to the protestors we see on the streets this week. But I don't blame them personally!

I know people who voted for Labour, I didn’t. I swerve political conversations where I can and don’t think about it.

Ultimately it’s their choice and you’re being unreasonable thinking that everyone should be on the political page as you.

Reform = racists.

Any friend of mine who voted for them would no longer be a friend.

Which is a pity, for the NHS was one of the greatest creations of the British, and a great act of Christian charity as well. I hope it doesn't. Bloody stupid Tories, neo-liberalism, and thick Labour.

It’s not talking about subjects which lets misinformation go in corrected. That’s how the far right like Farage and Trump are flourishing

It matters quite a lot to some of us.

That’s very ignorant of you! What does it matter who they vote for?

They’re not destroying the NHS though, that’s well on the way to destruction thanks to years of obstructive management and crappy governments.

A French style insurance based health care is probably an inevitable future scenario.

And I'm old enough to remember the 80s and 90s when things actually worked and they're was far less division. Wtf would anyone vote Labour or Tory when they have made such a mess of the country?

No you're the one that can't read. The manifesto says a French style health system. That sounds great to me - they have far better outcomes than our broken NHS.

Well, she might not have read their manifesto and realised they intend to destroy the NHS in favour of an US style health industry system. Most people never read manifestos. She might not want to vote LibDem on either the Brexit issue (they promised to hold a referendum and only carry out the result if they agreed with it - terribly democratic, obv), or on the trans issue (LibDems have drunk the Kool Aid), or not wanted Labour on similar issues. She might just have voted anti-Tory, ofcourse, which is where most Reform votes came from. I stopped thinking well of Farage when he let slip his ideas on NHS reform (he was swiftly shut up by his minders, but I heard).

So you publicly advertise who you vote for and your friend makes no issue about it but you are now wondering if she's some kind of extremist despite the fact you have known her 30 years. You don't say if you asked her why she voted as she did, you've just decided you'll think about her differently.

Your friend sounds far more mature than you. You should tell her how you feel, I'd want to know if any of my friends were so childish so I could phase them out.

I didn't vote reform but I read some thought provoking reasons about why someone people did. Bigoted arseholes will have their reasons for voting for any party. Your bigotry seems to be intolerance of different political perspectives.

Yes JOB is a total twat I can't bear to listen to him. I always remember how he talked to KJK when she phoned in, no respect and really rude. And he also championed Carl Beech the paedophile. No idea how he's got the nerve to have a book called how to be right, he's wrong about everything.

James O' Brian is the biggest fucking hypocrite going. Typical of all left wing champagne socialists who preach to the working classes how they should think, feel and vote and be tolerant of everyone whilst they live in their protected rural bubbles.

Brexiteer, not Brexiter. I am one. Being a socialist (following the line of Tony Benn) I of course voted to leave the EU, which, far from being a lovely intranational group fest, is a setup to enable big business to flourish and to remove agency from electorates that do not conform either to the neo-liberal social and capital model followed by the EU, or its woke ideas. The EU also always backs businesses over unions in any workers' rights/pay disputes, especially invoking the right of establishment (one of the 4 freedoms) to allow a company to bring in cheaper workers from another EU country - this has the added bonus of reducing wage rates generally.
Never would I vote Reform, though I know some people would combine the two, voting for Brexit to be free of EU rules (the joke is 'EU rules' frequently turn out to be international rules which cannot be got out of, e,g. denial of tax breaks for large enterprises/share dealing etc).
Reform stands for privatizing the NHS on the US health industry model and giving tax breaks to the rich. Surprised anyone voted for them if they realised that - but their vote was mainly gained from the Tories. That is, Labour did not win, the Conservatives lost.

Ugg! James O'brien. I used to listern to LBC but I stopped when all the presenters tried to get thier personal views accross especially during covid and Brexit and JOB was the worse. He will be out of a job soon now his beloved Labour are in power he has nothing to moan about anymore. Condescending arse.

SallyWD
When LBC radio presenter James O’Brien asked why he objected to Romanian migrants but not Germans — like his Hamburg-born wife Kirsten — Farage retorted: "You know the difference."
Farage also suggested he would be concerned about living next to a house of Romanians

To be fair to Farage - he says he was originally asked about 'living next door to a group of Romanian men'. James O'Brien was being disingenuous. Of course there's a difference between a group of (low skilled/low paid) Romanian men sharing an HMO and a German woman (who used to work for a bank) with two children. James O'Brien sends his daughters to a private school and was spotted looking for a property in a well known 'desirable' cul-de-sac near the river. If you think James O'Brien would happy living next door to an HMO of Romanian men then I have a bridge to sell you.

Thanks Faye.

That’s an interesting definition of woke. I think that covers part of what woke means.

For me, it means more being aware of injustice and acting to address it and make a difference. I don’t like the way that sometimes people do this in a very public way that doesn’t achieve very much and can feel quite superficial and performative e.g. by putting posts and photos on social media of things they want to protest against, rather than actually doing anything in-depth and meaningful and productive to address injustice.

I never see woke being used in a neutral context though. I always see it being used by people who want to make a politically charged point and who are trying to use woke as an insult or criticism (edit: to draw attention to people who are perceived to be politically correct or politically judgmental to the point of obsession). I never use the word woke because of that.

Liberal in this sense means following a political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties and democracy.

Woke is the belief that certain historically marginalised or discriminatory against groups should be given special treatment in order to redress a balance.

They’re not the same thing at all really.

What do they mean?

@VerySadCase
@FayeGreener

"It's a well known problem that a lot of teenage boys are attracted to the far right. "

Throughout history the youth have always wanted to rebel against the establishment and for many years the establishment is liberal and left wing even under the Conservatives.