[News] Nigel Farage and Reform

The Clamp said:

Reform’s manifesto includes a commitment to scrap the £170 a year television licence and to reform the “institutionally biased” and “out-of-touch” BBC.


The party would also introduce a new free speech bill to “stop Left-wing bias and politically correct ideology that threatens personal freedom and democracy”.

The manifesto adds: “No more de-banking, cancel culture, left wing hate mobs or political bias in public institutions. Stop Sharia law being used in the UK.”

Elsewhere it would make St George’s Day a bank holiday and would reform both the Lords, to make it more democratic, and postal votingto tackle fraud.

Reform says it would reject the World Health Organisation’s pandemic treaty and quit the organisation itself “unless there is fundamental reform to its structure and funding”

From The Telegraph.

It’s like ppf wrote it

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Nicks said:

Election has been over for a week now and over 3K posts on Reform.
Lots of name calling and arrogance in this thread .
Obviously Nigel is doing a good job.

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Nicks said:

Election has been over for a week now and over 3K posts on Reform.
Lots of name calling and arrogance in this thread .
Obviously Nigel is doing a good job.

Click to expand...

Eric the meek said:

**** Gets in from a walk in Friston Forest and a cream tea at Litlington Tea Gardens ****
**** Opens up Farage thread *****

**** Let's see now. Ah yes, I've been called an arrogant prick and a deranged geriatric by a Reform voter ****
**** Good to see the British way of life remains assured ****

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Thunder Bolt said:

I think the former insult belongs to you and the latter to me. It’s a badge of honour on NSC.

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The Clamp said:

Reform’s manifesto includes a commitment to scrap the £170 a year television licence and to reform the “institutionally biased” and “out-of-touch” BBC.


The party would also introduce a new free speech bill to “stop Left-wing bias and politically correct ideology that threatens personal freedom and democracy”.

The manifesto adds: “No more de-banking, cancel culture, left wing hate mobs or political bias in public institutions. Stop Sharia law being used in the UK.”

Elsewhere it would make St George’s Day a bank holiday and would reform both the Lords, to make it more democratic, and postal votingto tackle fraud.

Reform says it would reject the World Health Organisation’s pandemic treaty and quit the organisation itself “unless there is fundamental reform to its structure and funding”

From The Telegraph.

It’s like ppf wrote it

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Harry Wilson's tackle said:

Excellent post.

It is weird how people try to prove a hypothesis is wrong (which is good - the scientific method) by raising four other hypotheses (which is whataboutery).

It is true that some hypotheses are not worth testing. For example, Kier Starmer is a space alien. And just because they hypothesis isn't disproven (because nobody gives it credence) does not make it likely it is correct.

On the other hand, some hypotheses that are under test are important and plausible and the way to test them is, er, to test them. For example, the "Reform mode of operation is dodgy". Raising other hypotheses won't make it more likely that this one is wrong.

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Nicks said:

Election has been over for a week now and over 3K posts on Reform.
Lots of name calling and arrogance in this thread .
Obviously Nigel is doing a good job.

Click to expand...

Nicks said:

Election has been over for a week now and over 3K posts on Reform.
Lots of name calling and arrogance in this thread .
Obviously Nigel is doing a good job.

Click to expand...

Pavilionaire said:

So it turns out that many of the Reform UK candidates on the ballot paper up and down the land were people who had volunteered to have their name entered as a "paper candidate". These people had not set foot or done a day's campaigning inside the constituencies they were (nominally) standing for.

As a result Reform UK then comes across as a national party. Picking up a couple of thousand votes per seat was a money making exercise to get centralised funding simply by appearing to be a bigger animal than you actually are.

In essence, the government of the day - and now Opposition - has been wrecked to a large extent by two charlatans.

If you are a charismatic neo-Nazi waiting to be bought by the highest bidder then all you need is to find 100 like-minded racists, each with 6 or 7 like-minded friends who are prepared for their name to go on a piece of paper and - hey presto - you have a National Party capable of a higher vote count that even the resurgent Lib Dems.

I maintain that Reform UK was a wild night out in a wine bar that got out of hand. It turns out it is more tinpot than anyone imagined.

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BadFish said:

Removing left wing bias (with the omission of a suggestion to remove right wing bias) from the press would result in an even more heavily biased press.

This is Orwellian in its reach.

I am fascinated by the thought process of someone placing an x next to reform. Do they read the manifesto with a brain awash with culture wars bullshit and Murdoch (et al) propaganda and think, yeah that'll sort it all out?

Or do they not read it and rely on the tic to grifts of the Rizz Frog King and populist lies?

I am pretty sure Harry Wilson's cat has the brainpower to see through these Charlatans yet many people with an actual working human brain have fallen for it.

I guess the most likely outcome is that their voter base is highly disillusioned (about time) Tory voters who are too far to the right to conceive of placing their protest vote in the labour or Lib Dem box (surely the most effective?).

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bazbha said:

I don't think its the press that this refers to. Besides the fact that hardly anyone reads a newspaper these days I think there is little doubt what the political views of a newspaper are before you CHOOSE to buy it. Similarly I CHOOSE whether or not to watch Channel 4 or GB News knowing their political leanings. What bugs a lot of people is being forced to pay for the BBC. Imagine being forced to pay for the Daily Mail every day whether you choose to read it or not. That's how those of us to the right of centre feel about being forced to pay for the BBC.

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GE24 and BBC bias: What does the real silent majority think?

During the UK election campaign, there will be right-wing populist claims that the BBC’s coverage is biased to the left. But the real silent majority don’t agree with that, explains London Business…

blogs.lse.ac.uk

bazbha said:

I don't think its the press that this refers to. Besides the fact that hardly anyone reads a newspaper these days I think there is little doubt what the political views of a newspaper are before you CHOOSE to buy it. Similarly I CHOOSE whether or not to watch Channel 4 or GB News knowing their political leanings. What bugs a lot of people is being forced to pay for the BBC. Imagine being forced to pay for the Daily Mail every day whether you choose to read it or not. That's how those of us to the right of centre feel about being forced to pay for the BBC.

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Bodian said:

Perception of bias does not necessarily mean there is real bias.

This is also interesting, in that as many people thing the BBC has a right-wing bias as those who think it has a left-wing bias.

GE24 and BBC bias: What does the real silent majority think?

During the UK election campaign, there will be right-wing populist claims that the BBC’s coverage is biased to the left. But the real silent majority don’t agree with that, explains London Business…

blogs.lse.ac.uk

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bazbha said:

I read your article by Patrick Barwise. Would that be the same Patrick Barwise who is currently trying to flog his book "The War Against the BBC"?

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Is the BBC more favourable towards Labour/the left or the Conservatives/the right?

Thinking about the following newspapers and media sources, do you think they are generally more favourable towards Labour and the left, to the Conservatives and the right, or are they neutral? BBC

yougov.co.uk

BadFish said:

Surely if you suspect bias, you go to the primary source information behind the article and comment on that?

Is the BBC more favourable towards Labour/the left or the Conservatives/the right?

Thinking about the following newspapers and media sources, do you think they are generally more favourable towards Labour and the left, to the Conservatives and the right, or are they neutral? BBC

yougov.co.uk

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BadFish said:

Two questions

Are you qualified to speak on behalf of 'those of us to the right of centre'?

If the BBC funding model is the target of the aforementioned part of Reform's manifesto then why do the two parts have their own separate paragraphs and headings?

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bazbha said:

That's a fair point. I worded that badly. I can only speak for the people I know. However all my family are right of centre, I live in a town that always votes Conservative (even this time!), the majority of my friends are right of centre and almost everyone I work with is right of centre (Army) so i guess i'm just basing it on my own discussions.

Not sure about the Reform manifesto. I haven't studied it.

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Eric the meek said:

Thank you @Thunder Bolt. I shall henceforth wear my badge of honour with pride. I might work it into a strap line.

Congratulations on your own badge as well. There is a clear need to continue to call out Reform's more dubious tactics, as well as their abuse. None of it is acceptable. That said, we are a democracy, and we should listen to well founded and well presented arguments, including those from Reform supporters, should they exist.

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