Name me a party in the UK that is serious. From riding around on hobby horses, legalising heroin, Labour acting like sulky and over-emotional teenagers, Reform acting like complete arseholes only able to speak in 3 word slogans, Your Party, the nationalist parties, Restore living in 2017 shitpost land....Who brings any seriousness into British politics? Well, there is one but people won't like who it is.
The call is to "unite the Right" but I don't think they're capable of coming together and that's largely down to the intransigence of Reform who are petulantly demanding that everyone on the right must join them or else. Their current statements sound almost identical to Remainers in 2016 peddling Project Fear. Oh the irony. I had Arron Banks tell me that I had to "fall into line" with Reform. No, Arron, your party doesn't own my vote. Reform have continually tried the tactic of insulting anyone on the Right who isn't enamoured with them as if that's going to win them over.
So I thought how could you unite the Right? On the morning after the Gorton and Denton by election I saw statements pointing out the dangers of sectarianism and family voting from Restore, the Conservatives and Reform and noticed they all see the issue as a problem that needs dealing with. So why don't the 3 of them get together to see if they can work together to draft a policy or even a plan of action. Show right wing voters they can work together on single issues and then maybe on a broader policy platform. But Reform won't work with others. If they can't work on a clear cut issue as the Rape Gang Enquiry, as Restore and the Conservatives have been able to do, they won't work on anything. They're not intelligent enough or practical enough to work with others, their primary goal is the destruction of all other right wing parties so they'll never unite the Right and thus be condemned to always finishing second....but then maybe that's what Nigel wants? To be the eternal runner up so he can avoid responsibility and play the "I was robbed!" victim card.
Good writing as ever Pete - but I think the problem here is the age of political parties itself may be on its arse. What's really not being addressed by any of them (and won't be by a party due to their inherent structures) is the more general trend of what's being done in the Uk and indeed the western world. It's being made increasingly difficult to do anything positive in life and increasingly easy for people to get themselves in trouble, whether that's planning violations, hate crimes or anything else.
Restore have made it quite clear that as part of their plans they will spend enormous amounts of public money (coming from where?) to build the infrastructure to detain and deport hundreds of thousands of people a year. Even at that rate (and with a high strike rate) you're looking at a decade for them to hit the target. Then there are all the new laws, police powers etc that would be necessary to give large-scale deportations a chance of working. If people think those new laws and powers will only ever be used on illegal immigrants, they should remember how anti-terrorism legislation was twisted and distorted into all sorts of nonsense over time.
I think we're all in agreement on here that too many people were allowed to come here who shouldn't have been - and that the Boriswave was an 'eyes wide open' moment for a lot of us. But as concerning as it is the real threat comes from the alliance of Big State and Big Business, You have two things that should really matter most - the stuff you have (and the value of it) plus your individual rights. Reform we now know would just be custodians of the post-Blair orthodoxy - Restore might just pave the way for whoever came after them to impose real tyranny.
Well it strikes me the Right are not alone with the absence of detailed policies as the Left are just as bad.
Our political class prefers to strut their stuff rather than sit down to the hard graft of policy formation.
I know the problem having helped set up The Harrogate Agenda, with your father in 2012, with its six demands to reform our governance and democracy. Despite keeping the flame alive since its conception the take up by any prominent individual or group has been lacking.
I'm more and more convinced that nothing will change without addressing the structure and mechanisms of our governance. Our democracy needs a large shot of adrenaline.
Well, if the country goes the way of Gorton and Denton we're going to have bucket loads of problems coming our way and soon.
When an MP the calibre of which the new one for G&D is elected it's time for tin hats and " the men in white coats".
Makes me think that Society , as we've known it, has a suicide wish and we're in for a period of semi managed chaos. The monkeys really have taken over the asylum - ergo it's not apparent whose job it is to stop or can stop the monkeys from wreaking more damage.
Tragically, " right and wrong" have no more meaning in today's environment - we've succumbed to human rights ( especially in the west) and lost sight of the obligations or responsibilities that come with those rights.
What a feckin' mess -it feels a bit like Charlton Heston in the closing scene's of " Planet of the Apes" when he realises that, as an astronaut, he's gone forward in time only to find that humankind blew itself up - centuries earlier - his primordial cry of " we did it"....( to ourselves) is ringing in my ears.
Pete, post after post is negative and depressing. If you can't find anything hopeful or optimistic to say, why should I keep reading? I can feel depressed on my own, I don't need your repetitive rants adding to it. Thanks.
If you're looking for hopium, you're in the wrong place. But you're exactly the problem with the British right. You're one of many to say this to me over the last couple of weeks, totally ignoring all my advice and analysis, just to complain to me that I'm pointing out the fundamental issues that these parties should be taking seriously. If you want your own opinions spoonfed back to you, go watch Lotus Eaters or something. This obviously isn't the place for you.
Yes. I used to be a card-carrying LibDem, but fell out with them when they started their lurch to the left. At least in the 90s they had policies and published them free (+ p&p) to members, it was one of the main benefits of membership.
I don't think *any* party since then has been serious about policy since then. From my view, very much on the outside, it seems to have started as an obfuscation technique to prevent other parties stealing your policies (mainly between labour and libdems), but has morphed into the toxic "play it by ear" attitude of today. I'm sure the rise, and rise, of the 'professional politician' who has a PPE or HSPS degree (and no subject matter interest) is a pure coincidence . . .
I have been thinking about the planning system. The Torygraph carries a report saying that John Lewis have abandoned plans to build 10,000 homes, partly because the planning regulations have become more onerous, despite promises by the current government to make it simpler to encourage the building of 1.5 million new houses.
"The new framework has led to huge delays. Inquiries by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), established to regulate buildings of seven or more storeys, have added between 12 and 18 months to project timescales."
It's become an inevitability that every attempt to improve a public-sector organisation results in a worse performance. I am inclined to suggest that "slash and burn" has become the only option. Abolish all building regulations and encourage estate agents and insurance companies to audit new buildings and let people know if they are a fire hazard or likely to fall down in a gale.
Abolish all zoning regulations and let people buy land and build houses without consulting the government. At the very least, we we get more houses.
See that is exactly what Pete is criticising, absolutely no idea of second level consequences. Have you ever flown over LA for an example of a trash lack of building zones?
This does rather illustrate what Pete is writing about. The population, bar immigration is ageing and reducing. Second home owners are selling up. There are vast tracts of real estate ripe for refurbishment and re-zoning. The housing market is blocked by tax and simple inefficiencies in the conveyancing process, which takes longer and longer. Older people can’t downsize preventing younger people from upsizing. Simple to blame NIMBYs or whatever than finding workable solutions.
We looked at that back in the day. The insurance model doesn't work (any more). Insurance companies don't police risk. They simply price failure into their insurance premiums.
That seems rather drastic. All the government has to do is ensure than any application is decided within a couple of months, or the authority will face penalties. The reality is that, despite any rhetoric, it is a low priority issue for the government.
I can just see Kirsty and Phil on channel 4 extolling the virtues of investing quarter of a million sheets in a "fixer-upper" tin shack on the edge of a shanty-town within commuting distance of the capital.
Name me a party in the UK that is serious. From riding around on hobby horses, legalising heroin, Labour acting like sulky and over-emotional teenagers, Reform acting like complete arseholes only able to speak in 3 word slogans, Your Party, the nationalist parties, Restore living in 2017 shitpost land....Who brings any seriousness into British politics? Well, there is one but people won't like who it is.
The call is to "unite the Right" but I don't think they're capable of coming together and that's largely down to the intransigence of Reform who are petulantly demanding that everyone on the right must join them or else. Their current statements sound almost identical to Remainers in 2016 peddling Project Fear. Oh the irony. I had Arron Banks tell me that I had to "fall into line" with Reform. No, Arron, your party doesn't own my vote. Reform have continually tried the tactic of insulting anyone on the Right who isn't enamoured with them as if that's going to win them over.
So I thought how could you unite the Right? On the morning after the Gorton and Denton by election I saw statements pointing out the dangers of sectarianism and family voting from Restore, the Conservatives and Reform and noticed they all see the issue as a problem that needs dealing with. So why don't the 3 of them get together to see if they can work together to draft a policy or even a plan of action. Show right wing voters they can work together on single issues and then maybe on a broader policy platform. But Reform won't work with others. If they can't work on a clear cut issue as the Rape Gang Enquiry, as Restore and the Conservatives have been able to do, they won't work on anything. They're not intelligent enough or practical enough to work with others, their primary goal is the destruction of all other right wing parties so they'll never unite the Right and thus be condemned to always finishing second....but then maybe that's what Nigel wants? To be the eternal runner up so he can avoid responsibility and play the "I was robbed!" victim card.
Good writing as ever Pete - but I think the problem here is the age of political parties itself may be on its arse. What's really not being addressed by any of them (and won't be by a party due to their inherent structures) is the more general trend of what's being done in the Uk and indeed the western world. It's being made increasingly difficult to do anything positive in life and increasingly easy for people to get themselves in trouble, whether that's planning violations, hate crimes or anything else.
Restore have made it quite clear that as part of their plans they will spend enormous amounts of public money (coming from where?) to build the infrastructure to detain and deport hundreds of thousands of people a year. Even at that rate (and with a high strike rate) you're looking at a decade for them to hit the target. Then there are all the new laws, police powers etc that would be necessary to give large-scale deportations a chance of working. If people think those new laws and powers will only ever be used on illegal immigrants, they should remember how anti-terrorism legislation was twisted and distorted into all sorts of nonsense over time.
I think we're all in agreement on here that too many people were allowed to come here who shouldn't have been - and that the Boriswave was an 'eyes wide open' moment for a lot of us. But as concerning as it is the real threat comes from the alliance of Big State and Big Business, You have two things that should really matter most - the stuff you have (and the value of it) plus your individual rights. Reform we now know would just be custodians of the post-Blair orthodoxy - Restore might just pave the way for whoever came after them to impose real tyranny.
Well it strikes me the Right are not alone with the absence of detailed policies as the Left are just as bad.
Our political class prefers to strut their stuff rather than sit down to the hard graft of policy formation.
I know the problem having helped set up The Harrogate Agenda, with your father in 2012, with its six demands to reform our governance and democracy. Despite keeping the flame alive since its conception the take up by any prominent individual or group has been lacking.
I'm more and more convinced that nothing will change without addressing the structure and mechanisms of our governance. Our democracy needs a large shot of adrenaline.
https://harrogateagenda.org.uk/
It may be that anyone who *wants* political power thereby shows their unfitness to have it.
Well, if the country goes the way of Gorton and Denton we're going to have bucket loads of problems coming our way and soon.
When an MP the calibre of which the new one for G&D is elected it's time for tin hats and " the men in white coats".
Makes me think that Society , as we've known it, has a suicide wish and we're in for a period of semi managed chaos. The monkeys really have taken over the asylum - ergo it's not apparent whose job it is to stop or can stop the monkeys from wreaking more damage.
Tragically, " right and wrong" have no more meaning in today's environment - we've succumbed to human rights ( especially in the west) and lost sight of the obligations or responsibilities that come with those rights.
What a feckin' mess -it feels a bit like Charlton Heston in the closing scene's of " Planet of the Apes" when he realises that, as an astronaut, he's gone forward in time only to find that humankind blew itself up - centuries earlier - his primordial cry of " we did it"....( to ourselves) is ringing in my ears.
Pete, post after post is negative and depressing. If you can't find anything hopeful or optimistic to say, why should I keep reading? I can feel depressed on my own, I don't need your repetitive rants adding to it. Thanks.
If you're looking for hopium, you're in the wrong place. But you're exactly the problem with the British right. You're one of many to say this to me over the last couple of weeks, totally ignoring all my advice and analysis, just to complain to me that I'm pointing out the fundamental issues that these parties should be taking seriously. If you want your own opinions spoonfed back to you, go watch Lotus Eaters or something. This obviously isn't the place for you.
Yes. I used to be a card-carrying LibDem, but fell out with them when they started their lurch to the left. At least in the 90s they had policies and published them free (+ p&p) to members, it was one of the main benefits of membership.
I don't think *any* party since then has been serious about policy since then. From my view, very much on the outside, it seems to have started as an obfuscation technique to prevent other parties stealing your policies (mainly between labour and libdems), but has morphed into the toxic "play it by ear" attitude of today. I'm sure the rise, and rise, of the 'professional politician' who has a PPE or HSPS degree (and no subject matter interest) is a pure coincidence . . .
I have been thinking about the planning system. The Torygraph carries a report saying that John Lewis have abandoned plans to build 10,000 homes, partly because the planning regulations have become more onerous, despite promises by the current government to make it simpler to encourage the building of 1.5 million new houses.
"The new framework has led to huge delays. Inquiries by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), established to regulate buildings of seven or more storeys, have added between 12 and 18 months to project timescales."
It's become an inevitability that every attempt to improve a public-sector organisation results in a worse performance. I am inclined to suggest that "slash and burn" has become the only option. Abolish all building regulations and encourage estate agents and insurance companies to audit new buildings and let people know if they are a fire hazard or likely to fall down in a gale.
Abolish all zoning regulations and let people buy land and build houses without consulting the government. At the very least, we we get more houses.
See that is exactly what Pete is criticising, absolutely no idea of second level consequences. Have you ever flown over LA for an example of a trash lack of building zones?
This does rather illustrate what Pete is writing about. The population, bar immigration is ageing and reducing. Second home owners are selling up. There are vast tracts of real estate ripe for refurbishment and re-zoning. The housing market is blocked by tax and simple inefficiencies in the conveyancing process, which takes longer and longer. Older people can’t downsize preventing younger people from upsizing. Simple to blame NIMBYs or whatever than finding workable solutions.
We looked at that back in the day. The insurance model doesn't work (any more). Insurance companies don't police risk. They simply price failure into their insurance premiums.
That seems rather drastic. All the government has to do is ensure than any application is decided within a couple of months, or the authority will face penalties. The reality is that, despite any rhetoric, it is a low priority issue for the government.
I can just see Kirsty and Phil on channel 4 extolling the virtues of investing quarter of a million sheets in a "fixer-upper" tin shack on the edge of a shanty-town within commuting distance of the capital.