[davidjay]

It doesn't matter what anyone has actually said or done, the narrative is that Labour/Starmer help peedos.

[Killer Whale]

Farage also claimed that Jay didn't mention grooming gangs. Had that been true, I think it might have been noticed in 2022, not least by Farage himself. Not that I particularly rate The Independent, but it says

In an earlier damning report, the inquiry found there were “extensive failures” in the way child sexual exploitation by criminal gangs was tackled, with police and authorities potentially downplaying the scale of abuse over concerns about negative publicity.

According to the February 2022 findings, which looked specifically at grooming gangs, child victims – some of whom reported being raped, abused, and in one case forced to perform sex acts on a group of 23 men while held at gunpoint – were often blamed by authorities for the ordeals they suffered while some were even slapped with criminal records for offences closely linked to their sexual exploitation.

Going very slightly off topic here, but this is the point that keeps getting lost in the frankly racist wish to blame the whole thing on 'the Pakis'.

What we have is vulnerable young working class girls and women being attracted by the grimy 'glamour' of the night time economy, being exploited and abused in the most disgusting and degrading ways, and their experiences being dismissed and disregarded by the authorities when they come to light.

We should not be surprised by this - It's been going on since Victorian times and maybe earlier. Go back, for example, to the 'fifties and 'sixties, and you'll hear tales of working class 'tarts' and 'floozies' being sucked into depravity by Maltese gangsters in London's West End. And it only ever really became a Sunday Papers scandal when the odd heiress got dragged into the mess. The working class girls were just doing what the lower orders do, and in many ways were only getting what they deserved with their loose morals and easy ways.

And this prejudice was (still is?) institutional. The police, nor any other authority took victims seriously, reasoning in many cases that their behaviour was 'asking for it'.

And this is what I was getting at on the other thread with my comment about Badenoch not really caring about the victims. No one really does, except, of course, their families and friends. And now they're having their unthinkable experiences compounded by being made collateral damage in a race (cold?) war.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I don't know if you've heard of this documentary from the seventies. It's almost uncanny how well what you've just written there is reflected in it.

It actually stumbled upon an enormous and specific scandal- an individual called Roger Gleaves, masquerading as a campaigner against homelessness, had been sexually abusing boys and even charged local authorities for housing them (in some appalling conditions). You know, I don't think the local authorities cared all that much about the vulnerable kids.

But even if it hadn't stumbled on what Gleaves was doing- Gleaves was confident enough to welcome the cameras- the general theme would have been heartbreaking enough.

[Youngian]

Parliamentary procedure, how hard can that be? Not very but its beyond the wit and wisdom of the self appointed voices of common sense

[Bones McCoy]

Since we're talking grooming gangs here, I through I'd reflect on the missing piece.

Known: Kier Starmer = portrayed as "groomers friend" - in fact spearheaded the crackdown.

Known: Tory Government - pretends to be on point with this issue - twiddled it's collective thumbs when in power.

Getting a pass (again): South Yorkshire Police. Maggie's stormtroopers, protected over Hillsborough, not even called to account here.

[Oboogie]

Parliamentary procedure, how hard can that be? Not very but its beyond the wit and wisdom of the self appointed voices of common sense

Just came here to post that, it's a farce. We have the expression "Couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery" to describe incompetence but that's really hard compared to reading 6 names from a piece of paper, one of which is your own, one of which is your boss and the other four are your close colleagues. Fuck me it's embarrassing.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

And then to be unable to find two tellers...

[Oboogie]

And then to be unable to find two tellers...

Be reasonable, you can't expect them to know what a Teller is, they've only been in post for six months*.

*30p Lee has actually been an MP for five years, but you might as well ask the cat.

[Youngian]

Not sure I'd bank on business wizard Lowe.

[Oboogie]

One born every minute.

[The Weeping Angel]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... leadership

Nevertheless, the potential departure of the 12 councillors – who between them hold two district council seats, nine town council seats and five parish council seats – would mark the loss of a significant chunk of the party’s existing local authority representatives. All are from Derbyshire, a target area for Reform, and include Alex Stephenson, who came second in Amber Valley during the general election with 28% of the vote.

In a statement seen by the Guardian, they said they could not continue “in good conscience” under the leadership of Farage, adding: “We believe that the current party management is either incompetent or malevolent, and we have lost all confidence in the leadership and its structures.”

They cited a lack of internal democracy, claiming that a new constitution adopted by the party at its annual conference was flawed and that there had been no progress towards a promise by Farage to democratise Reform, which was set up as a company in which he holds a controlling stake.

The councillors backed the Farage critic and former joint deputy leader Ben Habib, whom they said had been “unceremoniously dumped” and was the man who “truly represents the vision and values that drew us to Reform UK”.

Musk called for Farage to be replaced as the Reform leader less than three weeks after the pair held seemingly warm talks at Donald Trump’s Florida home.

[Youngian]

While the crazies and the Tories are trying to muscle in on far right la land, wily tactician Farage could well reinvent himself as a more moderate figure now he's reached critical mass.

[satnav]

I live in Derbyshire and in the last few years Amber Valley has gained a bit of a reputation as a hotspot for Right Wing extremism which is quite strange because generally speaking it is a fairly non-script area made up of three small towns and lots of small villages. I know that the Patriotic Alliance have been very active in towns like Ilkeston and I think they organised so kind of get together in the area in the Sumer,

May be these councillors think that Farage is not extreme enough.

[Youngian]

Reformers get very uptight but don’t provide an answer if you suggest we already had a Farage government under Bozo and Truss. Some on the far right maybe thinking the same and have a proper patriotic agenda.

[The Weeping Angel]

While the crazies and the Tories are trying to muscle in on far right la land, wily tactician Farage could well reinvent himself as a more moderate figure now he's reached critical mass.

Bugger.

[Abernathy]

I really don’t think so. All this bollocks about Farage becoming Prime Minister in 2029 is utter claptrap.

[davidjay]

While the crazies and the Tories are trying to muscle in on far right la land, wily tactician Farage could well reinvent himself as a more moderate figure now he's reached critical mass.

He's got far too much baggage to ever appear moderate.

[Watchman]

Plus a proven ability to be a lazy cunt

[satnav]

One major problem Farage has got is that he has a history of calling for the NHS to be privatised. At the last election he avoided answering too many questions on the NHS because he became leader of the party very late in the day but he is going to struggle to avoid talking about the NHS for the next 4 years.

[Youngian]

Remember Farage the liberal wanting to be more generous in accepting asylum seekers as a bonus for ending free movement? Probably not, he's very capable of being a chameleon to a public with very short political memories. Of course he knows he's not going to be PM in 2029 but he can see opposition leader with the largest popular vote that deprives the Tories of power, within his grasp. Farage's problem is that any move to widen his appeal will prompt a challenge from a dickhead like Habib or Lowe that he's selling out. That's happening already as Musk stirs the shit and Nigel disses Tommeh. So there's reason to be optimistic the Reform will descend into farce this year.