shocked my best friend voted Reform

[clearmoon]

Long standing close friend came round for dinner and we were nattering away, and she just mentioned off hand in the conversation that she had voted Reform. i am really shocked. We don't discuss politics much. But I would have guessed lib dems or labour. I love her dearly. But I do wonder if I should think about her differently now, or just carry on as before

YANBU - She is not such a good person as I thought all these years
YABU-its all fine

I don't think this is hyperbole. Plenty of political policies cause deaths, and a lot of suffering, in the UK and in the U.S..
There's a record kept of deaths caused by austerity policies, for example, and another kept of suicides due to the policies on disability benefits (which were investigated by the U.N.).

If voters don't want to kill people, why vote for policies that kill people? If it's due to ignorance rather than malice, there needs to be more awareness raised, so people make more informed choices.

It’s people that can’t do much about it. A pensioner can’t strike. Just take the hit so others don’t

Spot on. It's always "hyperbole" when you're not the one at risk though, isn't it?

I don’t think the poster means this.

“This political party wants me dead!” is usually an incredibly hyperbolic way of saying “I’m gay/trans/black/Mexican etc. and the political party in question isn’t falling over itself to cater to people like me.”

I don't see anything wrong with either of those interventions.

You are the problem with this country. Downright bloody rude because you can't cope with someone that doesn't agree with you.

Yes people can be killed by policies and they can be killed by left policies more than right (and more directly too) which is part of the reason people are getting angry. Eg man in Hartlepool killed by illegal immigrant shouting about Gaza which has been totally memory holed by the media. Govts first duty is to keep people secure and safe and open borders has done the opposite, and we can't even deport rapists and murderers from the most dangerous countries in the world. How people on the left think they have moral upper hand beats me.

First time I see a Tory government called lefty. It was Tories we had past 14 years, right?

Not a checklist, no, but surely most people would want to know that those who are closest to them have compatible values?

Or are you saying that you have no moral standards that are important to you?

If you make people work till 67 it’s presumably for a pay, so I can see why free prescription charges age could be raised. I haven’t actually seen it proposed anywhere, apart from scare threads on MN.

I like how some people claim to be so laissez faire about who they spend free time with, yet heap a lot of insults at those who feel otherwise. All the time saying “I don’t judge, you do, you horrible liberal”.

Wait til they get started on disability benefits !!

Just for clarity, are we saying that it is racism- and akin to nazi-ism, to be concerned with illegal immigration and its impact on communities?

Is this a strictly UK-based rules or are all countries who have strict immigration laws racist and nazi states?

I'd want to know why she voted that way. If it was protest vote, that may be ok. If she's racist, that's not ok. Who you vote for says something about what you believe is right and wrong, there are things that I consider so fundamentally wrong - such as racism - that I wouldn't feel comfortable continuing a friendship.

It absolutely isn't racist to have concerns about immigration policy and how it is managed or implemented.

It is racist when people express those concerns in racist terms.

HTH

Could you give examples?

That would be different, if indeed it happens.

Also, why do you feel the need to add patronising and smug cliches?

No, I can't be arsed. If you don't already know what racism is, then do some reading on the issue.

After what Ben Habib said about allowing people on boats to be left to drown, I'd struggle to respect anyone who'd vote for a party represented by him

How disappointingly predictable.

So what if it is?

I'm more than happy to engage with people who actually want to learn but it's easy enough to tell when someone has a different agenda. Why should I waste my time?

I want to learn.

Give me specific examples of Reform having racist and nazi-like policies.

The problem is they never can or will, they will throw accusations about like confetti from the left but never back it up with facts.

Its the typical left way forward throw labels and hope they stick, keep saying it until enough believe it for it to be true.

Pathetic

If a party had actual racist policies of course most people couldn’t be friends with someone who votes for them. But if we’re talking about people being concerned about illegal immigration, then we aren’t talking about Nazi policies, are we?
If reform have genuinely racist policies, I’d like to know them so that I can inform others who might be tempted to vote for them in the future.