Gorton and Denton, what have you done?

[Imdunfer]

You have elected as an MP to stand in the UK&NI parliament a person who said in a panel interview with Annabel Tiffin from BBC Northwest Tonight that the Manchester Arena bombing was caused by people sewing division by questioning immigration.

That statement is so outrageous I don't even know where to start.

This is me too.
I used to be a green voter till “non-men”.

But yes green over reform. Reform are divisive and purposely so.

i like the U.K. I wouldn’t live anywhere else. And I acknowledge its history. My dad came here in the 60s, recruited for his job. And he loved England too. Because of / despite the history, the U.K. is well regarded globally. I’ve seen it when I travel elsewhere. Of course you see people trying to knock it. But I like it 🤷🏽‍♀️

Roll on the May locals, I say.

Gorton and Denton gave 2 fingers to the government and 2 fingers to Reform. Its only for a couple of years. The new MP won't have much influence.

I’m sorry, but that’s patently absurd. Starmer’s ‘country before party’ (read self-interest) is nonsense.

As to your assertion that one MP less is irrelevant, for Labour to throw away a long-held seat with a prior 13,000 majority is a damning indictment on Starmer.
But you know this, of course.

AAAAGH. It's a geographic term*!

Great Britain is the island. So named because it's bigger than "little" Britain, which is Brittany.

Can people please go and read a child's geography textbook. They are actually pretty interesting. Thank you.

Anyway as I said on the other thread by-elections throw up weird results, often because of low turnout (like here) and the media get all frenzied over a non-story.

I am delighted that the Greens won and that Reform lost.

It is sad though that Starmer us unable to grasp that people really want alternatives to the far right and continues to believe he can continue to just be the Tories 2.0.

I truly hope that after Labour gets hammered at the local elections Starmer is replaced by an actual Labour leader with real Labour policies and that Labour and the Greens keep the fascists at bay.

No gotcha, just wondering how you feel about her response to the elction result. Fwiw I don't think Starmer's response was great either.

Who do you see as Starmer’s best replacement?

Yvette Cooper

Thanks - why?

Your point about ‘Great’ being a geographical term is irrelevant in the context of this conversation. Stop being pedantic.

She's good.
Sir Keir Starmer is great but he's not popular. He's not a 'leader' (bloke voters want to have a pint with)

Going against YC is that she's a woman. (see footnote)

Wes Streeting wants the job, and I think he'd be OK.

** 2026 or not, society is still patriarchal and misogyny is rife.

I saw that @igelkott2026 . I think 100% that the poster thought 'Great' meant 'Brilliant' rather than larger island (Great Britain ). How are the electorate so flippin thick??

I really hope that as a country we become less extreme (left or right) as if either the Greens or Reform get a foothold then we are all doomed.

What have they done? They’ve showed up and voted to make it clear that it’s unacceptable for Reform to win the seat. Good for them. It’s the best political news this country has had for a long time.

Throw away? It’s a by election. It’s not forever.
Plus until very close to the election the polls had Labour and Green neck and neck. It switched when tactical voting websites said the best bet was Green. Do you know why? Because their research indicated that Labour voters were more likely to vote tactically than Greens who were more dogmatic. Unless you have a crystal ball you can’t know Burnham would have won. And you definitely can’t know who would then have taken the Mayoralty. Throwing that away would really have been foolish.

Leaving NATO and getting rid of nuclear bombs at a time when the world is so volatile? Ukraine got rid of its nukes and that has all worked out really well, hasn't it? Didn't the head of the British Army say that our army would last a few weeks against another army in conventional war? It is all sixth form politics.

I'm sorry but this is just wrong and rather racist as it denies Muslims agency, as if they are just NPCs in white guilt narratives.

Islamism is a world wide phenomena that has arisen out of political Islamic thought. Its been developing over a long time, has its history in the origins of Islam and is happening in Muslim countries too, where presumably the Muslims have not been suffering widespread Islamophobia. Perhaps you have heard of countries called Afghanistan and Iran?

Stop thinking that people, just because they are Muslim, are too thick to develop their own religious-social or political systems of thought. They aren't.

Or maybe you think is racist to accept a group of people, just because they are muslim, have developed a harmful system of thought that murders people, in the way Jews have been murdered in Manchester by Islamists, and a second racist attack by Islamists on Jews in Manchester, that would have been the worst terrorist attack in UK history (they have imported military grade weapons that fired 180 shots before needing reloaded and had done reconnaisance on Jewish shops, schools and NURSERIES). Perhaps the new Green MP could have reminded people that Jews are human in her acceptance speech, rather than reminding them of the humanity of Muslims who are not being murdered in Manchester for being Muslim in the way Jews have been, and may well be in the near future if the next Islamist attack is successful. But then there are not as many Jewish voters as Muslim are there? What a disgusting example of cynical, immoral voter pandering her acceptance speech was. A party who cares about minorities the Greens are not. Her acceptance speech could not have made that clearer.

And complain that they’re being done out of their jobs when they’re all on universal credit or petty criminals. If someone can come over to the uk with not a penny to their name, speak no English and still take their job then good luck to them.

Agree but it's not just a populist factor, it's an ability to play a certain game. Mandleson was really good at it, so is Farage, so is Trump. Mandy always came across as slimy but he had a natural instinct that made him good at politics. The same as Farage. The problem is it seems to co-exist with being absolutely in thrall to wealth and power for the sake of power and a complete lack of morals.
I think it's partly that the media likes these people/finds them interesting TBH. If anything it's having the qualities most ordinary people say they hate about politics/politicians that makes those types so appealing to journalists and so good at playing the game.

What do you think life was like for average citizen, whilst Britannia ruled the waves? Whilst the top 0.1% became vastly wealthy, what do you think life was like for the average person? That's right, life was awful.
Britain's global might ran out years ago as the wealth gap decreased - it could only work with the majority being paid peanuts, but we are lucky to be sitting on very long coat tails that lay the foundations the welfare state and universal free education and healthcare.
But don't go thinking Britain was ever "great" for those putting in the grunt work.

👏 underrated post, 80smonster

It's definitely a geographic term, relating to England, Wales and Scotland. A cursory look at a British passport wil tell you that! As a translator, I have seen GB, and England, be wrongly used synonymously with the UK and have had to change it to the UK, unless I am absolutely certain that the term is deliberately and correctly being used geographically!

If the Greens include land confiscation without compensation into their manifesto, that might be a step too far for the British public.

@persephonia , I don't think you can put Mandy in the same category as Trump and Farage.
I'd put Bojo in the same category as Trump and Farage.