Zia Yusuf’s speech today

[CoalHouseDoor]

His speech today for Reform

I’ve been politically homeless after being a lifelong labour voter, but this was pretty impressive.

if they don't, we will be living under Shariah law in 5 years time or less
You cannot honestly believe that, surely? Absolutely ridiculous.

To be fair, Reform supporters aren't known for their critical thinking skills, generally.

I thought I'd give the speech a chance (only fair).

Completely lacking in substance. Embarrassing stuff.

A TLDR for people who can't be bothered to watch the video:

I'm an immigrant! A good immigrant! But now we have too many immigrants!

Britain is great! Everyone should be proud to be British!

Our political leaders have failed! We won't!

Nigel Farage is a real leader and will save us all!

I think that just about covers it.

I've also given it a go. It's about as 'inspirational' as Catherine Tate's Nan.

even if say hypothetically, uk became a khalifate (not possible unless >80% of the population wants it as per islamic law... but anyway). Shariah law only applies to Muslims. so unless you are planning to become a Muslim, not sure why it's relevant to you? except of course it's a convenient word to use to scaremonger.

ps do you even know what shariah law is? do you realise much of the uk legal system is inspired by the islamic legal system eg. the jury system comes from shariah law?

Sharia law and the UK legal system both have the concept of juries but the UK's adoption of the jury system derives from Anglo Saxon practices (refined by the Normans). Some have claimed that the UK's common law has roots in Islam don't seem to have much (if anything) in the way of supportive evidence.

I’ve lived as both child and adult in two different Muslim majority countries, and I live in the UK now precisely because I don’t want to live under sharia law.

I know exactly what it is.

But that’s not quite what I took from the speech.

there is no country in the world right now that actually implements shariah law. they call it shariah law, but it's just their excuse to do whatever they want.
also even in those countries it doesn't apply to non Muslims

I know what your point is. you are scaremongering and trying to rile up anti Muslim hatred because every one knows this is not an actual risk in this country.

What did you take from the speech?

I saw a lot of flag waving and a bit of "there are too many immigrants now" but was there anything else?

It wasn't the OP that brought up the "we're gonna be living under Sharia Law" thing.

unfortunately have no references at hand. uk law is not my area I have to say, my source was a rather good talk on the history of UK law and it's historical connections to Islamic law at Lincoln's inn Fields (not sure I spelt that correctly)

I took heart from the positivity with which he viewed this country’s past and potential.

I agree with him that uncontrolled immigration is resulting in overstretched resources and a lack of assimilation. I think he was brave to address it; denying the issue is going to lead to more swings to the actual far right as we are seeing in Europe.

I brought my family up in this country because I want them to share the values he listed. It’s a wonderful country, not perfect, but many admirable accomplishments.

I thought his passion and positivity in wonderful contrast to the lack of substance and reliance on hatred of the conservatives that has turned me off Labour, the panicky fibs of the Tories and whatever the others have said that has clearly made no impression on me at all 😂

Where is this 'uncontrolled' immigration? Are you aware of the law and procedures at all? Have you any clue that the birth rate is now 1.5 children per woman, and that our social security system is not based on past contributions but current taxes paid by working people? Have you campaigned for improved housing and capacity in public services to enable better quality of life for all?

Brown faces and black passports, eh?

Isn't that the same line that the BNP used back in the early noughties that lead to to race riots?

It was a good speech. Not particularly great or impressive - I guess the big selling point of Reform is Nigel Farage instead of a coherent set of policies.

But it is refreshing to have someone speak positively about Britain and its contributions / accomplishments.

The political elites, both left and right, have zero patriotism and desire to see the UK succeed or work in the interests of British people.
So many industries have been neglected and closed down. So much of our public assets stripped and sold off to fill the purses of private and foreign entities. Constant denigration of British culture, values and history.
They are addicted to a constant stream of cheap labour from abroad and no desire to improve the skills of the British workforce and focus on technological innovations and job creation. Everything is done for short-term gain and no political vision for long-term solutions.

Yes. I work in the immigration law sector. And I’m very aware of how open to abuse the procedures are. I also have concerns about illegal immigration too.

But it was the

I’m not sure what your last sentence means.

The near-abandonment of apprenticeship schemes, decline in vocational training and shocking fall in educational standards reflect what you say.

Employers want a cheap fix with no real investment in training or careers in some sectors. The resultant apathy towards work is endemic.

Zia’s belief in the country’s potential was in stark contrast.

I agree with him that uncontrolled immigration is resulting in overstretched resources and a lack of assimilation. I think he was brave to address it; denying the issue is going to lead to more swings to the actual far right as we are seeing in Europe.

The thing I don't understand is why a party on the far right would warn that there are going to be more swings towards them? Isn't that what they want? Or are they acknowledging that they are, in fact, dangerous and undesirable?

I personally don’t think they’re far right. I didn’t hear anything yesterday that made me believe that. Centre right.

Stunned that reform have an immigrant as a speaker. How very dare they! 🤣

Fantastic speech.

Reform for me on Thursday.

I missed this earlier.

This dismissive, pejorative and closed minded invectivesums up the level of ‘debate’ we’ve sunk to.

Reform do have some grim policies.

They have a big banner ad along MailOnline (or perhaps On-lie?)

5 reasons to vote for Reform 🙄

4 is "Stop Schools Teaching Children to Hate Britain" (I must have missed the homework on that subject.....)

5 is "End the bonkers Net Zero rules"- I think I would rather have clean air and try and reduce the impact of climate change to leave a better world for my kids and grandkids frankly. Developing sustainable renewable sources also improves energy security and reduces the impact of energy price shocks. Though perhaps Reform think that Putin is not so bad really, and its all a big misunderstanding.........