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Brexit

Westministenders: Theresa's Common People

986 replies

RedToothBrush · 18/05/2017 13:50

She came from Oxfordshire she had a thirst for knowledge
She studied geography at Saint Hugh's College
That's where politics
Caught her eye

She told them that her husband was loaded
The press barons said "In that case have a rum and coca-cola"
She said "Fine"
And in thirty seconds time she said

I want to look like common people
I want to do whatever common people do
I want to eat like common people
I want to sleep like common people
Like you

Well what else could Fiona and Nick do
They said "We'll see what we can do"

They took her to a supermarket
I don't know why
But they had to start it somewhere
So it started there
They said pretend you've got no money
She just laughed and said
"Oh you're so funny"
They smiled "Yeah”
Well we can't see anyone else smiling in here

Are you sure you want to live like common people
You want to see whatever common people see
You want to eat like common people
You want to sleep like common people
Like me

But she didn't understand
She just smiled and held Trump’s hand

Order that benefits get the chop
Tell them all to get a job
Promise to bring back the grammar school
Pretend you don’t think them a fool
But still you'll never get it right
'Cause when you're laid in bed at night
Watching the news talking about building the wall
All have to do is call your mates to fake it all

You'll never live like common people
You'll never do whatever common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
Whilst you blame it all on the EU
Because that’s all you can do

Sing along with the common people
Sing along and it might just get Brexit through
Laugh along with the common people
Laugh about leaving the EU

It’s the most stupid thing that you will do
Because you think that it is cool
You’ll call them a ‘lying foreigner’
But don’t say we didn’t warn you
You’ll regret saying we are better off out
'Cause everybody hates a benefits tourist

It doesn’t matter if you can’t do the math
With all those pockets that you grease
You’ll win the vote in Bath

You will never understand
How it feels to live your life
With no meaning or control
And with nowhere left to go
You are amazed that they exist
And wish they were all white
So you tell ‘The Big Lie’

Get THE flat above THE shop
Cut your hair and get THE job
Trick some mugs and hire some fool
Pretend you are not really cruel
But still you'll never get it right
Instead you're plotting late at night
About which ‘cockroach’ will take the fall
All have to do is call your mates to fake it all
Yeah

You'll never live like common people
You'll never do what common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
As we plan to leave the EU
Because there's nothing else left to do

But ‘moan’ about how we don’t want to leave the EU.

OP posts:
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BiglyBadgers · 25/05/2017 10:24

The conservatives and May in particular have been after encryption for ages. They have a deep seated distrust of anything they can't see. If people are doing things the government can't access it must be bad. I don't really think this latest effort to push for the end of encryption (which as already pointed out is unachievable and pointless) has any real connection with the Manchester attack. It is just another excuse for them to have another go at it. It also works as a handy distraction from their own failings.

BiglyBadgers · 25/05/2017 10:32

I think their we 2 types of people calling for the end of encryption and the heavy regulation of the web. Firstly those who simply do not understand technology. There are a lot of those in government, I have done IT support for some of them and the lack of knowledge is terrifying in people who are running the country. They believe it is perfectly possible to do these things. They also subscribe to the 'If you have nothing to hide' school of thought. I suspect they also believe in the effectiveness of a panopticon style of surveillance in that if everyone is being watched all the time they won't dare to do anything bad (which is clearly tosh).

There are also the people who know full well this stuff is not possible. However it acts as a helpful scape goat to blame and if they can reduce free speech, sow suspicion and disrupt the forming of disagreeable groups all the better. I suspect there is also an element of wanting undermine the power of the big tech companies who are becoming increasingly threatening to governments. For these people the fact it is not possible to achieve their stated aims is all the better as it means they will have a perpetual enemy they can rail against but never defeat.

Eeeeeowwwfftz · 25/05/2017 10:49

bigly Has anyone pointed out to them that if governments can hack into your online banking, fraudsters can too?

CeciledeVolanges · 25/05/2017 10:49

Haha Lurking re your π joke

BiglyBadgers · 25/05/2017 10:56

Oh lots of people Eeee. It is one of the main reasons tech companies give for refusing to put back doors in their systems. However, I just don't think that Government really cares if our social media or payment systems get hacked. The government will keep closed encryption for their communications and systems of course.

BluePeppers · 25/05/2017 11:01

LH i would have a major issue with a society where the government can see everything. Isn't that going against human rights??

Anyone who thinks that 'if you don't have anything to hide, you don't have any risks/problems' is naive at best. and needs to go back to school to learn about history again

prettybird · 25/05/2017 11:05

So true bluepeppers Sad

whatwouldrondo · 25/05/2017 11:08

The Police and Army have well developed processes for dealing with terrorism. We know that they are successfully stopping plots all the time but they have always warned that there was a risk some would get past them. All intelligence information is subject to a process for assessing the risk and significance, if this man was known what was known will have been assessed to decide the course of action including whether he should be watched and from what was known he did not cross that threshold. There is a hell of a lot of noise out there. The Counter terrorism unit has an army of people who spend their days assessing each bit of it. From what I know about counter terrorism, and military activity in general, from people involved, the government will be basically doing what they are told as these processes swing into action.

I honestly do not think it matters whether May is strong and stable or weak and wobbly or even fed up of experts she has to bow before the professionals. I am quite sure they are the ones making the decisions.

Mother I have been in Central London, three days running, in the City and West End, through mainline and tube stations, at the theatre and at Chelsea, and whilst I am sorry and understand you felt nervous, I haven't seen any evidence anyone else does. There are not noticeably more Police on the streets and bag searches are as perfunctory as ever, in fact they were not bothering at Chelsea and we seemed to be the only ones commenting on it. All those baby boomers up from the country seem to be in a Chelsea Flower Show zone of complacency....

Chelsea was by the way a manifestation of post Brexit Britain. The head woman at the RHS has been quite open about the fact that they could only get sponsors for 8 big show gardens (usually there are 12 or more) because of the Brexit vote, interesting given the average age of her members and the visitors to the shows and gardens ? It will only get worse, perhaps in future instead of firms sponsoring the creative people to build the inspiring gardens (not that many were this year but that is another controversy) that make Chelsea the greatest garden show in the world, it will all be trade stands flogging expensive status symbols to the few very wealthy that stand to get wealthier......

LurkingHusband · 25/05/2017 11:18

aha Lurking re your π joke

Only half a joke, sadly

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Pi_Bill

I am willing to wager, that given a Chris Morris "Shatners Bassoon" approach, it would be possible to get someone as patently dim as Amber Rudd to come out backing this bill to the hilt. Maybe start by pointing out how the dynamics of explosions is predicted and modelled using mathematics (which is also at the heart of encryption).

LurkingHusband · 25/05/2017 11:23

The problem is not being afraid of this government. It's the next one that scares me.

Yes, this government might genuinely want to collect information on our politics, religion and sexuality so gay communist Presbyterians get a free puppy. But when the next government gets in with an agenda to make all homosexuals wear pink triangles "just in case" ...

BluePeppers · 25/05/2017 11:52

Homosexuals or immigrants with a triangle on their clothes LH?

LurkingHusband · 25/05/2017 12:21

Homosexuals or immigrants with a triangle on their clothes LH?

The only thing I can be sure of is that it will be red, white and blue.

MrsSummerisle · 25/05/2017 12:47

twitter.com/DannyShawBBC

Danny Shaw ‏Verified account @DannyShawBBC 27m27 minutes ago

BREAKING. Security officials say since 2013, 18 plots have been thwarted - including five since the Westminster attack in March.

Motheroffourdragons · 25/05/2017 13:17

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ on behalf of the poster.

Motheroffourdragons · 25/05/2017 13:19

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ on behalf of the poster.

MangoSplit · 25/05/2017 13:36

Going back to the discussion about social care, I thought this was worth a read:

Social care needs to increase by quarter within a decade

whatwouldrondo · 25/05/2017 14:00

Mother The bag searches have been in place in some theatres and museums etc. for a while now. The British Museum put up a marquee every Summer to cope with the visitors. Wembley Arena and Stadium have been making thorough checks of concert goers for some time now, and restrict the entrances to a few they can fully guard. It takes ages to get in but I have never heard anyone complain. I was merely highlighting that in a city that has had a long history of terror attacks, including in the recent past, the past three days have not seen any noticable changes, both in the police presence and the general atmosphere. But then it was already in a state of heightened alert, and as Sadiq Khan highlighted, and got roasted for it, an attack in the capital city is almost certain so that then you have to focus on the likelihood of you being one of the unlucky ones that is in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is a fact of life we have lived with for a very long time, certainly in the forty years since I moved to London and forged in experience. I had a very anxious several hours after the 7/7 bombing when the phones were down and my DH had travelled through Liverpool Street in the rush hour and was then trapped in a building that was in lockdown, I did not hear from him until 4pm. Almost 800 people were injured in that attack so few Londoners are not very aware of the horror of these attacks. We reach out to the people of Manchester in their trauma but I do not think it has changed attitudes as far as going about our daily lives are concerned. As I said I was rather shocked at the complacency of the people going into the Chelsea Flower Show as we were waved past the bag check. I found that less than reassuring..... I have not been near Parliament or Downing Street though, presumably the army is deployed there.

I absolutely agree about the cuts to Police numbers in general but in relation to counter terrorism they have been expanding, not cutting. Of course their processes evolve all the time in response to developments but knowing people who do the job they do not think resources are the issue. The issue is the sheer volume of information that goes across their desks which has to be assessed according to strict protocols, to try and ensure things don't get missed whilst not wasting resources on fruitless investigations. When you think of someone working in counter terrorism you probably do not think of some of the Mets brightest and best working in what is effectively a production line for processing vast amounts of information.....

LurkingHusband · 25/05/2017 14:10

The bag searches have been in place in some theatres and museums etc. for a while now.

Someone (and it may as well be me) needs to question the wisdom of deliberately creating a crush of people in a public place as some sort of defence against the atrocity on Monday ?

Charmageddon · 25/05/2017 14:12

I agree about police cuts having gone too far & I do think that more regular, familiar faces in community style policing approaches is necessary for all manner of policing issues.

However, wrt tacking extremism & radicalisation specifically I think the Tories are the only ones who have given it any real thought or emphasis.

On Daily Politics today they had a couple of people on (from security think tanks).

They both said that the Tory manifesto was far more robust & promising wrt intended measures for extremism & security than the others.

"...there is some detail in the Tory one which demonstrates a certain level of thought and focus on this, but if we look at the Lib Dem & the Labour one we can see that they're only really talking about surveillance powers and prevent, without engaging with the bigger issues..."

LurkingHusband · 25/05/2017 14:29

However, wrt tacking extremism & radicalisation specifically I think the Tories are the only ones who have given it any real thought or emphasis.

You mean they're going to stop the UK getting involved in military missions where the number of innocent civilians being killed are uncountable ? Got my vote then.

They both said that the Tory manifesto was far more robust & promising wrt intended measures for extremism & security than the others.

Didn't think so. As you were.

PattyPenguin · 25/05/2017 14:32

Someone (and it may as well be me) needs to question the wisdom of deliberately creating a crush of people in a public place as some sort of defence against the atrocity on Monday?

The same point was raised at the time of the Brussels airport bombings which happened before check-in and so before the bag checks already in place. So what do you do? Have security checks on the entrance doors? Which then creates queues of people outside the building, offering another potential target.

However, I would argue that because people arrive at different times, even for, say, a 7.30 theatre performance, the people queuing to have their bags searched in the foyer present a smaller target than the entire capacity of the auditorium would be if there were no checks.

Sometimes you can't eliminate risks altogether - you just have to reduce it as much as is practicable.

MrsSummerisle · 25/05/2017 14:36

Charmageddon

On Daily Politics today they had a couple of people on (from security think tanks).

They both said that the Tory manifesto was far more robust & promising wrt intended measures for extremism & security than the others.

"...there is some detail in the Tory one which demonstrates a certain level of thought and focus on this, but if we look at the Lib Dem & the Labour one we can see that they're only really talking about surveillance powers and prevent, without engaging with the bigger issues..."

Exactly. The way the anti-Tories are talking on social media (including MN), you'd never guess that the main opposition included gems like these:

www.express.co.uk/news/politics/804823/Labour-Diane-Abbott-police-MI5-Met-IRA-General-Election-2017-Early-Day-Motion

The shadow home secretary, who is due to give a speech at the annual Police Federation conference in Birmingham tomorrow, was revealed to have backed a Commons motion demanding the scrapping of MI5 and the Metropolitan Police's Special Branch.

She joined other Labour Left-winger including Dennis Skinner and Dave Nellist in back the controversial parliamentary Early Day Motion in April 1989.

andrewgilliganblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/21/diane-abbott-backed-victory-for-the-ira-see-the-document/

As part our ongoing investigation into the Labour leadership’s links with the IRA, The Sunday Times found that Diane Abbott explicitly backed victory for the IRA in an interview with a pro-republican journal.

Abbott, who will become home secretary if Labour wins the election, said in the 1984 interview that Ireland “is our struggle — every defeat of the British state is a victory for all of us. A defeat in Northern Ireland would be a defeat indeed.” She said she did not regard herself as British.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/19/john-mcdonnell-denies-backing-call-to-end-mi5-and-disarm-police

John McDonnell is at the centre of a row about whether he endorsed a statement before the election advocating doing away with MI5, special police forces and armed officers.

Jeremy Corbyn caused widespread acrimony among Labour’s parliamentary ranks by saying he was “not happy” with a shoot-to-kill policy against terrorists.

Who the hell could trust Labour on security?

Charmageddon · 25/05/2017 14:50

Quite MrsSummer, Jeremy Corbyn also suggested allowing tax payers to opt out of funding the military, amongst other things.

LurkingHusband · 25/05/2017 14:53

Who the hell could trust Labour on security?

The part that owns RIPA ?