To be worried about the dark political direction of this country

[Krenonges]

Has anyone else seen the video doing the rounds of Farage being properly grilled in Congress? Honestly, it was the first time I’ve ever seen him held to account, unlike here, where the UK media give him endless airtime and barely challenge him.

They raised his 17 appearances on Russian state TV and his open admiration for Putin. Shocking, but not exactly surprising. Apparently he’s over in the US slagging off the UK, trying to cosy up to Trump, and giving speeches at far-right, anti-abortion events. Is this genuinely what he’s about now?

What I can’t wrap my head around is how he continues to poll so highly. Time and again he seems to act in ways that are completely at odds with the UK’s best interests, yet his supporters see him as some kind of saviour who’ll “stop the boats”. The irony being, of course, that the small boat crisis is a direct consequence of Brexit – the very thing he spent years pushing.

I know politics is never squeaky clean, but this feels different. It feels like there are darker, more insidious forces backing him, with the aim of undermining and dismantling the country bit by bit. It’s frightening to think how many people are still buying into the image he’s carefully crafted for himself, when the reality seems so much murkier.

All I ever hear from Reform voters when I challenge them is 'Yes, but Labour are crap' or 'You're just a leftie'. I'm not that left wing or even a Labour supporter, and i know Labour arent doing a good job right now. I just can't understand why people think Reform is the best alternative when Farage is clearly going to pimp the country out to his rich backers. The 'stop the boats' immigration debate is just the red herring, dog whistle policy that will get him votes.

“They”?
This othering is an huge part of the problem. They are human beings. I’ve no idea of your religion. I’m an atheist, think it’s all man made nonsense. I don’ t hate anyone because they believe in a god, though.

Well that just sums up where people are getting their political opinions. SM🙄
We're a doomed 😥

As do extremists of all varieties. Why only mention Muslims?

But demographic change in the UK is a legitimate worry in itself for many.

@BlueJuniper94 we have too many old people, what change are you worried about?

I’m considerably more concerned about inequality and the climate crisis than the off chance possibility that I might run into a trans woman in the loo. The former two are very real and definite threats to everybody’s peace and happiness.

@Krenonges
Okay, so who should we vote for at the next election and why?

Hear, hear.

Again understood and partly agree
But as other posters have said it really isn't just about immigration
Of course it appears, and often is a major issue in some areas. Integration especially is a key issue
But as others have said its the wider issue of the economy that's the main issue. We have been on a slide for many years, if we had proper growth we should have invested in the infrastructure to support agreed immigration (nhs, schools, housing etc) but we failed to do so. So immigration is blamed for everything when its a wider picture than that
Same as reform are now blaming net zero for things. Of course it costs money, but not investing will cost more
It's distraction politics. It won't help the majority of those who vote for it, and that truly worries me

Most of whom are cared for one way or another by immigrants

Most of whom are cared for one way or another by immigrants

With have to ignore that I think

He's not interested in stopping the boats. Without the boats he's nothing.

?

The problem with that though is what jobs will they do? They can't work in hospitals, care homes, or with the vulnerable or children as they need to be properly vetted.

We don't need more unskilled workers in this country to work in shops, restaurants etc. We have enough people already to do those.

I find it extremely alarming and the only thing I can think of is something like make a wax effigy of the revolting frog who wants to be trumps mini me and stick pins in it😵

You're spot on, he will be the same as the Tories, pretending he wants to stop the boats but knowing that they are the thing that keeps people voting for him and supporting him. So he will only do things which actually make the problem worse in order to keep up his support.
The more power he has the more he will fear losing it and the tighter he will cling to it- same as trump.
He'll turn the UK into a version of the USA, an even more risable version, if such a thing can be imagined🤦🏼‍♀️

Why on earth would you apologise for being British? That just sounds plain daft.

I worked in a Gulf country. There were people there, nice people, from very poor countries, who had paid "agencies" (gangmasters) to obtain a work visa and get a crappy low-skill job with no paid time off, 12 hour days seven days a week, living in a labour camp.

There are people paying gangmasters to come to the UK illegally because they want greater economic opportunities. They happen to originate from authoritarian countries, which gives them some material to put together an asylum claim, but they are not passing through numerous other safe countries to come to the UK because they think it's a beacon of human rights and good in the world. They are coming here to make money, hoping to gain paid work through links with existing immigrant communities and lax regulation at the bottom end of the job market.

If you allow those same people to come here illegally and then "give in" and say OK, you can work, make yourself useful while your claim is being processed - you create a major pull factor and there will be twice as many boats.

I think this is a result off the dumbing down of politics people get their news from, algorithm led, social media where it’s an echo chamber with unverified information. We are increasingly divided as dissenting opinions are vilified which pushes people towards the far right.

Its not a situation unique to the UK, it’s one that’s being played out across Western Europe. If you tell someone they they are idiots for thinking that way then they tend to gravitate towards whoever reinforces that opinion. Then the algorithm tells them they are right.

People are frustrated, privatisation of health care doesn’t seem like a threat when you are currently funding a system but can’t get a dentist, no Gp appointments available or find yourself on a,seemingly, endless waiting list because not imminently dying.

Totally agree
I was concerned that some "liberal left" policies had gone too far, but that's balanced now and its time to move on
It's like Trump supporters saying they were more worried about trans athletes in women's sports than Roe Wade being overturned. Both concerned me but I know what the bigger issue was!

Still quite aggressive in some parts. A Lib Dem MP / Cllr tweeting violent gun threats to ‘terfs’. I don’t want that.

@MrsSkylerWhite sorry that should have said we and I was being sarcastic.

My phone keeps doing weird auto corrects

Start by holding the current government accountable before you jump to the next election possible outcomes. What do you expect? To vote Labour because Farage is worse? In the meantime Labour is crap and are corrupted to their teeth. Focus on them first as we will have a few years for the next elections. Curious to know how would you vote if there was an early election?

Party that offers a better life? Which one?

Libdems whose only mission in life is to oppose planning applications and stop building work anywhere. Even a slug has more use in the ecosystem than a libdem MP.

The greens aka pound shop Antifa Marxists, but really too wet and middle class to actually be taken seriously as even that.

Your party or whatever it’s called, led by Fruit and Nut. No thanks.

The Tories, who led us here. Hope they are finished for good.

There is no centre right movement, which believes in low tax, high growth, business friendly ethos which understands that the best way to make a prosperous nation is to encourage enterprise, let people keep their own money, incentivize productivity, not a welfare lifestyle. Reduce immigration drastically and to high skilled, high earning net contributors, and get the millions on benefits back to back work instead instead of giving out freebies. And steer clear of workery.

Naïveté as its best here. Have you realised that some religions are just a cover for cultural identity? Some are too incompatible with western culture values and society. Ignore at your own peril.

I understand people being concerned about immigration. I understand people feeling disenfranchised from politics and not feeling heard. I understand them not liking Labour or the Conservatives. But I don’t understand why on earth they think Nigel Farage could possibly be the solution to their problems.

And historically, it’s not really gone well when countries going through difficult economic times have elected far-right leaders who scapegoat one group of people for all the country’s problems.