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

Paedophiles are a present threat to children so if you found out someone was one and you still wanted to be their mate you would be an idiot. How you vote is a step away from being a criminal or a pervert, even if it is for Reform.

It's a well known problem that a lot of teenage boys are attracted to the far right. Goes along with all of the incel/Andrew Tate stuff.

Yes this is true. It’s coeducational though.

I'm betting it was mostly boys voting for Reform though. Research has shown a massive gender divide on this for Gen Z. Much less pronounced amongst older voters.

Which thugs are you referring to? The ones in Southport or the ones in Leeds/Manchester/Southend or all of them?

They’re all the same. Violent and opportunistic men.

What do you mean by ‘woke’ here? Isn’t it enough to write ‘liberal’? Why add ‘woke’?

Because they mean two different things.

Yes but in reality it would probably have been £17 . Money for the NHS was last seen on the Brexit bus it must be parked up somewhere now.

@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.

What do they mean?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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?

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.

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

It matters quite a lot to some of us.