Zack Polanski and the guillotine

[Everanewbie]

AIBU to be sceptical that much will be done about Zack Polanski's tweet of an image of man wearing a t-shirt depicting a guillotine and the words "making plans for Nigel"?

Now I am not in favour of prosecuting people for words, and I don't want ZP sent to prison. But I would like to see this level of hate stop.

And I am finding the left to be extremely hypocritical with the violent rhetoric while simultaneously celebrating the arrest of Lucy Connelly and Graham Linehan?

And these are the people who extremists at both ends of the scale seek to speak to.

If you think its sweeping and cherry picked, then can you provide alternative evidence that shows cutting welfare doesn't result in increased cost and that it does increase employability? Because I'm always open to rethink my position in light of evidence.
I agree that something has to give. But what that something is needs to be decided on carefully, with full consideration of the costs and consequences, not as a knee jerk reaction because people are angry with other people because they don't think they're living life as they should.

No I won’t, because I don’t want to derail from Polanski and other extremism. As I quite clearly said.

Just one more post on it, then I’m leaving it there. I’m not saying I have evidence to hand, but I highly doubt that in every way it’s straightforward that specific benefits cuts are never “the greater good”. Who decides what that is? It’s good that you say you’re open minded to evidence. So am I. I think the idea that no one could ever make an evidence-based argument in favour of cutting certain benefits is naive at best. That shouldn’t be taken as me saying I’m in favour or not. I’m simply making a general point based on your point. Anyway, back to Walter Titty.

Sure. Mustn't derail at the point you're being asked for evidence. Perfectly fine when you just want to tell me I'm wrong without providing any.

You think all public sector workers are left leaning?

Thank you.
I'm sure we will be in perfect agreement that Polanski is an odious grifter, at least. Which is a view I have also arrived at after considering all evidence.

I agree about Polanski, sadly. I used to like the Green Party and quite a few family members used to vote for them. (I never did because I’ve always voted Labour or Lib Dem.)

I find it very sad, the way he’s changed the Green Party.

I would hold everyone to a higher standard than Trump. If the British left's defence is that their behaviour is not significantly worse than Trump's we are in trouble.

I've not met one that isn't. Teachers, nurses, social workers. Police and fire brigade might be different. Teachers most definitely share the same rhetoric.

Absolutely!

My DH isn’t particularly, despite working for the Council (bridge engineer) and being a union rep. He’s very centrist and a floating voter.

@CoffeeCantata - I thoroughly agree about the calibre of politicians.

There are some dismal MPs in Parliament. Actually there are masses of dismal MPs. We do not need “activists” with a single cause, or those who have done nothing except been local councillors (which was never meant to be a “job”). There are few who are articulate or able to speak thoughtfully (speeches are now frequently AI written) and the questioning in committees is very poor.

ZP is appalling. He is an opportunist and hopefully has had his moment. It is horrible that he thinks his way into Parliament is teaming up with radical Islamists.

Isn't the guillotine the traditional punishment for traitors in France?
So if someone was taking Russian dark money, supported overseas interference in British democracy, as best friends with the Russian dictator, taking bribes to influence national politics for the benefit of shady overseas billionaires, preparing to hand over the assets of the country to the Republican Party, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Trump, maybe that might be considered a little bit treasonous?

Most public sector workers I know are right leaning.... we just cannot speak out publicly for fear or being reported/struck off.
As per the Restore Mayoral candidates who is also a nurse.... he's been suspended by the NMC for speaking actual facts about his daughter being groomed and raped by Pakistani men.
Teachers... yeah. They are a breed apart....

Sorry, is your logic that because in revolutionary france they executed people using the guillotine, it is ok to imply that you wish to guillotine a modern day MP? Also, how much do you know about the French revolution and the people they executed? Maybe do some research before you happily glorify their chosen method of execution. They did not just execute people guilty of "treason", (except maybe by some arbitrary metric they made up to excuses the execution of 17000 people, including whole families with their children).

Yeah, it’s a tiny bit frowned on to wheel out the old guillotine now they haven’t had the death penalty for 35 odd years.

Yes - it's a serious problem, I think. I could blather on for paragraphs about it but will try not to!

So many political figures now are just plain low calibre. And they seem to relish being as divisive as possible when they should be states-person-like and try to find common ground, and to reconcile differing views and interests. But, you see - that's the hard bit - it takes a really exceptional person to do that, and these people are not exceptional.

I despair of people like ZP. They seem like horrible teenagers with no judgement or perspective - just wanting to jeer, sneer and threaten. That is NOT what I want or expect from politicians. I want to feel uplifted, given hope and inspired by their vision - not have a nudge and a snigger about their bad-taste joke.

I said previously that I remember so many great MPs from the past - Tories, Liberals and Labour - all of whom were head and shoulders above most I see today. Some wrote books when they retired from politics - not just autobiographies but serious academic history books - because they knew their stuff and understood the context of UK politics, what had gone before, what had worked and what hadn't etc etc. They had vision and took the long view - and their public discourse was dignified and civilised.

I wonder if EvagoraY is right about the decline in calibre due to the box-ticking method of choosing MPs? Once you stop appointing people on merit, you're going to make compromises on quality.

I should add - I see it as all part of the same 'decline of the West' picture.

Could anyone here (who's older than 30) have imagined in their wildest dreams that they'd see a mob storm the Capitol in the US? Or a brave statesman like Zelensky aggressively bullied and belittled at the White House by the POTUS and his henchman because he wasn't wearing a suit????

These things are mind-boggling. It's not quite that bad here yet, but if we keep getting dumber the way the US population seems to have done, we'll get people like Trump and Vance.

Accepting that politics has to be like the sort of stuff ZP and Farage put out will lead us there!

Who's the MP ?

Funny that it's the Reform/Restore types who are all in favour of bringing back the death penalty...

Probably best that both of your types be careful what you wish for.

As pp said, you can look to the French Revolution to see how it played out back then.

For the most atrocious murders, yes. Not for advocating for the exit of a trade bloc and placing limits on immigration via established mainstream methods.

Could anyone here (who's older than 30) have imagined in their wildest dreams that they'd see a mob storm the Capitol in the US?

Raises hand. (But then I know the history. Remember this is a country that happily allowed human beings to be bought and sold for (checks notes) four score and seven years.)

I mean in the 80s, as I left school, I never imagined I'd read that a dictator, in Europe would be put against a wall and shot. (Let alone have it repeated for the cameras). But, there you go. Funny old world, innit ?