To think the main Mumsnet demographic are out of touch politically

[Veiledveritas]

Reform.are smashing the polls yet any Reform voter is despised and ridiculed on here.

Don't insult the intelligence of the elderly, older people have seen it all before new parties promising everything to all people and then not delivering, because it is patently impossible. Stopping immigration would need huge changes to the laws on how we treat other human beings. Would we really want people dying in droves on small boats in the Channel? Send them home, send them where? Many have no documents or come from dangerous or impoverished countries. Reduce taxes and increase spending that will work...Not.

I'm not surprised by this at all, WFH is good for ordinary people, who save time, and businesses, who save money on office space. However it hurts the massive corporate landlords who rent out office space, and reform despite their "for the people" bollocks, are always firmly on the side of the ultra-rich.

But I guess their highly educated and involved supporters know that.

I've signed up just to join this thread, after years of reading. I'll probably get shouted at but I just want to give my honest opinion. It comes from the heart, with sadness, and not with any wish to upset anyone.

I'm in my fifties. I was born and brought up in London. I moved away for many years and then returned about ten years ago. I would never vote Reform, but I am more and more understanding why people do.

Here are my worries.

The character of our country, particularly in large towns and cities, has been completely changed by the numbers of immigrants. Many of those from other countries have a different way of behaving in communal spaces, which gives a very different 'feel' when moving around these areas. This can be uncomfortable for those of us who remember when people were quieter, more polite, and considerate of others' needs. There is a harshness and cruelty, now, to public life.

The people coming over in small boats are, for the most part, young Muslim men. Many of them are charming to speak to and have very sad stories to tell. It is one of the main tenets of the Muslim faith that it is imperative to try to convert (revert) those of other faiths and none. To achieve this they are allowed, by their religion and their imams, to use any means necessary, including lying. This is why I struggle to believe the claims that Islam is peaceable. I worry that the overall plan is to build up a critical mass of young Muslim males in order to 'revert' the UK. After all, we no longer have an effective police force or army to do anything about it, if it were to happen.

These are genuine fears. I'd be interested in your thoughts. Thank you for reading.

I still believe it’s people sticking it to the main parties and do t believe reform would win a general election.

Local councils near me voted reform a lot last year and have now found out they are the reform lot didnt and dont have any clue about running a council, haven’t kept any ‘pledges’ they made and in fact have made things worse

when it comes to an general election would people really vote for reform who have no track record of running a country and whose members can’t even run local councils?

Yup. Mao almost destroyed a country with it. The cultural revolution ended up with faction v faction. He changed what faction he supported regularly, and none of those fighting knew what they were actually fighting for. The real battle was actually Mao trying to keep power at any cost.

And Trump is doing exactly the same. As is Farage.

Ha ha.
You keep on telling yourself that.

The UK is a centre right country and most of middle England do not discuss or shout out about politics unless they are angry. We see the benefit heavy culture growing, see illegals arriving by boat.

Farage talks the talk and people like what he says. Amongst other issues, to tell the masses he will stop faffing about with the illegal boats, house illegals in green neighbourhoods, allow the English to fly their flag just like any other nation (such as the Scottish, Welsh, Irish, USA, French etc) and not have gammon shoved down their throats will appeal. We don't want interference by Brussels or to pay billions into their scheme.

Whether he will be any good, well time will tell. I didn't vote as around here we voted last year, but who will get my vote next time - probably Tory as I am unsure about Reform. Definitely not the greens as they are batshit crazy. Not Labour as they only care about the feckless and illegals. Not LibDems as they believe women can have a penis.

I'd put good money on that people who talk about Islington in that way have never set foot there. I was born in the borough, lived there for decades, went to school there. It's hugely diverse and multicultural; there's wealth alongside terrible deprivation and everything in-between.

I’m interested in how the navy are going to sort out the small boats problem? What do you propose, they pick up migrants and…do what with them?

It is also great for people in the UK who do global roles (timezones) and enables them to keep such roles in global companies

If I wasnt able to touch as many timezones as I do while wfh, then my role would simply be moved to the US.

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ETA wfh is also a brilliant equaliser for the North/South divide that politicians allegedly care about

But the people OP is talking about believe that the reason Reform have been doing so well is that they’re very good at hoodwinking stupid people.

IMO the real reason is this exact dismissive attitude to real problems left unaddressed by the mainstream parties.

If reform can get people jobs and pay for health care and defence then I’ll vote for them. Sadly I suspect that’s a pipe dream.

Reform promised to fix the pot holes where Iive. Have they? No. He’s not even in the country 😂

Of course, it's undeniable really.

The interesting thing is that there were similar posts around the time of Brexit - i.e. saying the result showed that MN posters were out of step with the rest of the country. And yet subsequent events have meant that the. rest of the country has moved round to the Remain viewpoint.

I suspect events will change minds similarly around support for Reform, but sadly we will have to go through a lot of chaos first.

The English are allowed to fly their flags 🙄. No one is stopping them.

Many of the Reform voters I know ARE those claiming the benefits that everyone is complaining about - I’m baffled as to how they think this is going to play out 🤷‍♀️

My assumption when I see ppl saying they want the navy to sort it out, is that they want warships patrolling the channel and threatening to fire on any small boats they see - and doing it if they don't turn back

I also work on the basis that most ppl are not actual psychos who wish death on ppl so they genuinely believe r that a small boat threatened by a warship in the channel would turn back and not risk death. However im not at all confident on that score - they've already risked enough death as it is, I doubt a warship would stop them by fear alone

If there was a send them back political party whose only policy was ICE style round up and eviction from the country they’d give Reform a real challenge - that’s the only thing many of their voters care about.

I’m glad the Greens appear to have been halted. That’s the only surprise in the results so far for me.

surely you know Mumsnet is left wing? If you say you support reform - you are immediately a racist etc so probably many don’t. I’m a conservative supporter but will vote reform if it means I get Labour or the greens out. Even tories get battered on here.

I'm extremely left wing. (Socialist with Communist sympathies.) Bollocks to Reform. I've seen some of their ideas and they're no friend of women or the working class. (Speaking as a working class woman.) My friend was telling me I should vote for them because they want us to leave the ECHR, something we helped set up after WW2, and the reason we have certain rights. Her reasoning for this is because of trans people. Now I know she's very involved in that, but voting for a party for one issue and ignoring the rest of the issues is ridiculous to me. (And I still think trans people should have the same basic rights as everyone else. The High Court ruling recently was all I wanted.)

Well a lot of them just are!

I saw a clip where a guy pretending to be a Reform rep told voters to their face policies like "so we're going to give tax breaks to millionaires, great hey? You will pay more though, is that alright" and the thick twats just grinned along and were like "fantastic!"

Morons. Vote for who you like but at least have some fucking understanding of what you're doing, not just hear some soundbite about boats and jump on a bandwagon 🙄

That’s a really nasty and completely unwarranted attack on one of the most measured posters. Oh, the irony!

Reform currently have 43% of the vote. However their support is predominantly men. Polling consistently shows only around 20% of women support Reform. That chimes perfectly with MN. Around 20% of MN support them and 80% loathe them.