General British politics discussion thread

A Dub in Glasgo

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Oliver is a British nationalist and is an archaeologist whilst masquerading on TV as a Historian

He writes a weekly colunmn for Sunday Times Scotland edition and he opines for the days of the British empire

I liked Coast. Good show. From not reading him I would have thought he was a Scot Nat to be honest.

pixelburp

Larbre34 wrote: »

Its beyond awful. Off the air by Christmas is my bet.

I don't agree: if these first broadcasts are to be believed, they know their audience and the mindset they're flirting with. Presumed high salaries for the presenters aside, I speculate this is a very tight ship being run and given enough of the aforementioned viral controversies, will exist in the discursive strata for a while.

Fox didn't get where it got in America by being shy, or coy, about its methods and targets. GB News saw the gap in the market and they're absolutely aiming to replicate that erosion of press trust in the UK.

How the other outlets react will be as fascinating: we're looking at a situation where in theory, the Daily Mail could be attacked as "not patriotic enough" (ie, not right-wing enough) and the question would be if said outlets try to lurch with GB News, or pivot towards centrism and sanity.

Strazdas

Strazdas wrote: »

An odd aspect to all this is that the English right wing press and their readers hate nearly everyone at the G7 summit ; Biden, Macron, Merkel, Von der Leyen, Trudeau etc.

Island nation. Its fairly clear that the UK, and to a certain extent the US as a child of the British empire, is hostile to the rest of the world. The UK is comfortable, in general, with its colonies and the five eyes intelligence links seem to be the kind of alliance they are more comfortable with. Nato was something from the Cold War. They often saw themselves as hostile to Europe historically.

breezy1985

Larbre34 wrote: »

But it isn't unrestricted, its subject to OFCOM rules like everybody else.

Ok very very limited restrictions

Larbre34

I'm disappointed enough in Colin Brazier joining the clown show, had great respect for him as a presenter and correspondent for Sky.

Strazdas

Larbre34 wrote: »

I'm disappointed enough in Colin Brazier joining the clown show, had great respect for him as a presenter and correspondent for Sky.

I didn't realise that veteran Alistair Stewart guy was a right winger either. I think he's been a newsreader on News at Ten (ITN) for years.

listermint

Larbre34 wrote: »

I'm disappointed enough in Colin Brazier joining the clown show, had great respect for him as a presenter and correspondent for Sky.

Solid case of follow the money I'd say. Pay me. Il say whatever you like.

Sam Russell

listermint wrote: »

Solid case of follow the money I'd say. Pay me. Il say whatever you like.

I think it is more like:

'Pay me, I will say what I think, pay me a lot more, and I will say what you think!'

devnull

Sam Russell wrote: »

I think it is more like:

'Pay me, I will say what I think, pay me a lot more, and I will say what you think!'

Works for RT!

Itssoeasy

I’d say boris Johnson is looking forward to announcing the delay of lifting of COVID restrictions like a hole in the head. He had in hindsight a rocky start to this pandemic but had seemed to be getting the UK back to normalcy and now this speed bump has cropped up. As if he hasn’t gotten enough problems now he has to go back on what he said.

ancapailldorcha

Itssoeasy wrote: »

I’d say boris Johnson is looking forward to announcing the delay of lifting of COVID restrictions like a hole in the head. He had in hindsight a rocky start to this pandemic but had seemed to be getting the UK back to normalcy and now this speed bump has cropped up. As if he hasn’t gotten enough problems now he has to go back on what he said.

This won't be a problem for him. He's well used to reneging on agreements and promises at this stage I'm sure.

Itssoeasy

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

This won't be a problem for him. He's well used to reneging on agreements and promises at this stage I'm sure.

Fair point actually but it’s the voters and how they’ll react is the issue.

devnull

On the subject of the so called 'impartial' GB News, Wootton goes full Fox News here:

Check the comments out also.

ancapailldorcha

Mod: Off topic posts removed.

breezy1985

Itssoeasy wrote: »

I’d say boris Johnson is looking forward to announcing the delay of lifting of COVID restrictions like a hole in the head. He had in hindsight a rocky start to this pandemic but had seemed to be getting the UK back to normalcy and now this speed bump has cropped up. As if he hasn’t gotten enough problems now he has to go back on what he said.

When his 12 week gamble on AZ seemed to pay off there were people warning that variants could catch him out and so they have

BlitzKrieg

breezy1985 wrote: »

When his 12 week gamble on AZ seemed to pay off there were people warning that variants could catch him out and so they have

I've seen I think one article being shared around saying the extended period gave the delta variant a boost in the UK (though many commentators are instead pointing to Boris leaving flights to India open until after he had his trade deal meeting with them) though I'm waiting to see how Spain and other countries where delta variant has been reported fair compared to the UK before passing judgement

breezy1985

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

I've seen I think one article being shared around saying the extended period gave the delta variant a boost in the UK (though many commentators are instead pointing to Boris leaving flights to India open until after he had his trade deal meeting with them) though I'm waiting to see how Spain and other countries where delta variant has been reported fair compared to the UK before passing judgement

The warnings we're more about creating a vaccine resistant strain rather than what happened so they were not completely on the money. But all his boasting about how far ahead with vaccinations(half) has come back to haunt him as well as his general boasting about AZ which has definitely been a problem compared to the rest

BonnieSituation

devnull wrote: »

On the subject of the so called 'impartial' GB News, Wootton goes full Fox News here:

Check the comments out also.

Jesus. I listened to 1:46 of that and it felt like 10.

Tell me how

devnull wrote: »

On the subject of the so called 'impartial' GB News, Wootton goes full Fox News here:

Check the comments out also.

Comments genuinely worrying.

This is them straight out the gate. No ambiguity about where they stand.

breezy1985

The English twisting and co-opting of the word freedom is one of the most shockingly offensive thing I have seen in recent years.

The rump of the biggest empire in the history of the world crying that it is trapped and needs to gain some sort of freedom is scary

devnull

Tell me how wrote: »

Comments genuinely worrying.

This is them straight out the gate. No ambiguity about where they stand.

I have to say I watched another 10 minutes of it tonight to see if that was just an opening night gambit, I thought that perhaps Andrew Neil would have reigned him in this evening but not sign of that whatsoever.

Tonight we've got a former member of The Who (the band) pedalling a load of COVID conspiracy theories about how ventilators kill people, without any challenge whatsoever, an American news roundup with someone who was sacked for blackface, guests smoking whilst being interviewed, Kier Starmer being called an idiot and encouragement of law breaking. Talk that most people are against the lockdown being extended, and when a poll says otherwise, says that polls are nonsense and he is right and they are wrong.

Meanwhile Dan is once again allowing right wingers to say whatever they want and going along with it without challenging them on anything, whilst aggressively shooting down anyone who dares have a different view to him as being incorrect and demanding evidence, but ignoring it when it's provided. So far he's accused people airing a different view of character assassinations and also said that the idea of the protestors believing the vaccines cause 5G is a slur and that people are blind to the facts.

Andrew Neil has also had a rant about how bad the BBC, ITV and Sky are for not reporting on the truth and not letting them have access to their pictures and saying that they are not allowing their staff to give their opinions.

It's obvious why they want Dacre in, with a proper, independent Ofcom free of political pressure and Government appointees, this is nowhere near impartial.

HalloweenJack

I watched that Dan Wootton clip and it is atrocious.

Is it being marketed as opinion or news? Some of it was truly nauseating. Nothing new, nothing insightful. I'm sure it will appeal to its target audience and that's what they'll be hoping for but I can't imagine it'll be converting anyone.

I got a laugh out of the footage of English football fans from the last World Cup 'celebrating freedom' :rolleyes: and the summary of England's game against Croatia.

pixelburp

Could barely watch the video, and certainly did so with a private browsing window, lest YouTube's algorithm decides I should see more of that kind of thing. Some of Wootton's narrative sounds very similar to that chattered about here TBH: this tedious conspiracy loop that our public health officials are "addicted to power" and keeping us locked up so they can lord over us. I'm as frustrated as anyone about how long this has dragged on but the idea Holohan & co. are getting off on their prominence says more about the theorists really. It's especially ironic for someone on GB News to be decrying those who might seek the limelight, talking directly at the audience as he does so.

Sam Russell

Of course using the term 'Freedom Day' to name a non-day recalls the Trump use of 'Freedom Fries' instead of 'French Fries' and as meaningful.

Peregrinus

Sam Russell wrote: »

Of course using the term 'Freedom Day' to name a non-day recalls the Trump use of 'Freedom Fries' instead of 'French Fries' and as meaningful.

To be fair to Johnson, I think "freedom day" was a term coined by the media - probably the headline writers - rather than one coined or used by the government.

Sam Russell

Peregrinus wrote: »

To be fair to Johnson, I think "freedom day" was a term coined by the media - probably the headline writers - rather than one coined or used by the government.

But I would think he relishes such a term. Sounds just like his own work.

devnull

pixelburp wrote: »

Could barely watch the video, and certainly did so with a private browsing window, lest YouTube's algorithm decides I should see more of that kind of thing. Some of Wootton's narrative sounds very similar to that chattered about here TBH: this tedious conspiracy loop that our public health officials are "addicted to power" and keeping us locked up so they can lord over us. I'm as frustrated as anyone about how long this has dragged on but the idea Holohan & co. are getting off on their prominence says more about the theorists really. It's especially ironic for someone on GB News to be decrying those who might seek the limelight, talking directly at the audience as he does so.

The other thing is that Wootton himself has been double jabbed and he's not the first person on that station to mention that they have been double jabbed. As a 38 year old, you have to wonder how they managed to get access to vaccines so quick and if that is the reason that nobody on the channel is socially distancing.

Wootton and facts are extremely unlikely bedfellows in general, event his morning an article has appeared on the GB News website where Wootton states as a matter of fact that everyone who wants two jabs has already got them. He spews out a load of inaccurate stuff that has no basis on reality and the sheep of the right in the UK seem to take it as gospel which is very depressing.

There's no chance much of DW's show complies with Ofcom impartiality rules, however the simple fact is that Ofcom in in it's current and future Tory controlled guises, is never going to come down on such a channel like they should, if they were a proper, independent media regulator without any pressure being exhibited on it from the Government.

Leroy42

Sam Russell wrote: »

Of course using the term 'Freedom Day' to name a non-day recalls the Trump use of 'Freedom Fries' instead of 'French Fries' and as meaningful.

I think Freedom fries was a W Bush thing, nothing to do with Trump.

In terms of Freedom day, yes it might have been the media running with it but the government were more than happy to bask in it.

It gave them cover for pretty much everything. Deaths, corruption? No matter, look at freedom day. And also look at how terrible the EU is.

If it was outside the givernments control then I have little sympathy as they are getting more than an easy ride from the media on almost everything else. Someties the media can be curse as well as a blessing.

I am still surprised by the lack of any outrage in the UK. The decision to push back is, IMO, entirely justified, but it is justified based on events that could, and should, have been avoided.

Johnson has failed to deliver, yet again. And yet again, it is already yesterdays news as everyone is talking about a broad terms agreement on a trade deal, which is reality means nothing much at all.

ancapailldorcha

pixelburp wrote: »

Could barely watch the video, and certainly did so with a private browsing window, lest YouTube's algorithm decides I should see more of that kind of thing. Some of Wootton's narrative sounds very similar to that chattered about here TBH: this tedious conspiracy loop that our public health officials are "addicted to power" and keeping us locked up so they can lord over us. I'm as frustrated as anyone about how long this has dragged on but the idea Holohan & co. are getting off on their prominence says more about the theorists really. It's especially ironic for someone on GB News to be decrying those who might seek the limelight, talking directly at the audience as he does so.

Wish I'd thought of this.

That said, it's nice to see the sort of petty internecine internal warfare appear on the right as it might represent a small step to some semblance of balance in terms of political cohesion.

Strazdas

I've watched a few of the GB News clips on Youtube. Main problem with it is that it seems to be all culture war stuff i.e. trivial nonsense like flags and statues and knees and the like, something that barely impacts on anyone's life at all.

Is this what Brexit UK is reduced to? Focus on total nonsense while ignoring important issues such as housing, healthcare, unemployment, education, food banks, inequality etc.