frankPodmore

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[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 day ago

Exactly. MPs doing their job by listening to voters; government doing its job by listening to MPs.

 

Shout out to everyone who wrote to their MP about this. The pressure is working!

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 3 points 3 weeks ago

It's job? The vacuum guitar schema. Rough!

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 3 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Bonus fun: watching YouTube's auto-generated subtitles try to deal with Klingon.

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Quite enjoyed the Chibnall era. Okay, it wasn't peak Who, but it doesn't deserve all the hate!

Also, to counterbalance my positivity, I was never that keen on Matt Smith as the Doctor. Never quite landed for me, though granted he had a huge act to follow after Tennant.

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 15 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (5 children)

Okay, apologies for the repetition, but I feel this requires it:

This isn't 'Labour'. This is from the Blue Labour campaign group, membership: four MPs.

Actual Labour, the leadership and the government, is currently in the process of strengthening the Equalities Act!

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 8 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

McSweeney is very bad, but he's not part of Blue Labour and this didn't come from him! It came from the four (count 'em!) MPs who call themselves the Blue Labour Campaign Group.

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 month ago

This is irrelevant to the discussion, which was not 'Is it an alternate timeline/who likes it?' but 'does it possess certain qualities?'.

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 35 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yep. I just watched 'Past Tense' this week, where DS9 spends an entire two-parter advocating for the humane treatment of homeless and unemployed people through an economic policy of full employment. The characters succeed in bringing this about by staging an armed uprising largely led by a black man. It's not only 'woke' but explicitly socialist!

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

For me, trek was about people overcoming their differences and trying to work things out despite them, and being kind to each other. Newer shows lack this ideas, in my opinion.

In Discovery, a Vulcan woman gets married to a seven-foot tall walking squid man. In seasons 4-5, Book nearly destroys the galaxy and they forgive him because they understand he was traumatised. These strike me as pretty clear examples (just two, I could add more!) of people 'overcoming their differences and trying to work things out despite them, and being kind to each other'.

This is entirely separate from the question of whether those plots lines and character arcs were well-written - they largely weren't, IMO. But they did happen!

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 month ago

Big Bird on the barricades.

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 10 points 1 month ago

Decided to blame immigrants for all the country's problems.

 

Yeah, me again. I don't know why all the Blairites are posting bangers today, but this time it's Johnny McT's turn to argue for social democracy.

 

Whole article is good, these paragraphs in particular:

People at the heart of the Labour government seem to be more preoccupied about whether or not it is governing within the Labour tradition than whether it is governing well. Because frankly, the only time that Labour has been able to secure two consecutive full terms in power is when, under Tony Blair, it had a clear theory of economic growth: that of economic liberalism, openness to the world and to the EU in particular.

I don’t think it is going to come as a galloping shock to readers to learn that I think Labour should give that approach another go. But even if you disagree, Labour surely needs to commit to something — whether it is properly funding Ed Miliband’s plans for the green transition, or something else entirely. But the one place it surely should not be looking at are failed approaches from its own history, which did not work at the time and are not going to work any better now, with a less loyal electorate far less inclined to let Labour work through its midlife crisis in public.

EDIT: The headline, by the way, is a reference to a great moment in Tony Blair's last speech to Labour conference back in 2006:

They say I hate the Party, and its traditions. I don't. I love this Party. There's only one tradition I hated: losing.

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 24 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You are absolutely right. There's empirical evidence that these kinds of 'accommodationist' policies only increase support for the far right. These polls are further evidence that the Starmer strategy is counter-productive.

 

Astonishingly awful polling for Starmer, who has destroyed his favourability among everyone especially his own voters, while somehow making Farage more popular. If I was Morgan McSweeney, I would quit my job.

Some other 'highlights':

'This is the first time Keir Starmer has recorded a net negative approval rating among Labour voters.'

Labour is now even more unpopular than the lowest point of Corbyn's leadership.

EDIT:

Just so I can say 'I told you so', if:

  • There isn't an all-out war in Europe, and,
  • Starmer's still PM at the next GE

Then he will lose his own seat.

 

This guy used a TfL FOI response to build a tool that shows you which London bus stops are busiest. Enjoy!

 

Not exactly an in-depth study, but some suggestions for further reading.

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