Fab Foodie
Legendary Member
Mmmmm....
Oh no!! Brexit not going quite as well as hoped
- Thread starter mudsticks
- Start date
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OP
OP
mudsticks
Squire
If you cleared out the dodgy unregulated financial dealing, and all the Russian oligarchs I wonder if even London would figure on that map ??
newfhouse
pleb
What is the source of that? What's being compared?
icowden
Squire
it's old (c2104) and doesn't measure what it says it does...
https://fullfact.org/economy/does-uk-have-poorest-regions-northern-europe/
OP
OP
mudsticks
Squire
Not quite Brexit, but not unrelated, the possibility of Marine Le Pen getting the French presidency is hardly a delight to be savoured. If she succeeds, financed I am told by Vladimir Putin, she could do no end of damage to both the EU and NATO. A trip right back into the past, in many ways like UKIP. With what is going on in Europe at the moment the last thing we could do with is another populist with simplistic answers to complicated problems.
On the other hand, if Macron as reported here has spent too much time looking after the better off, like all good Conservatives do, then this might backfire in that the traditional left no long feel there is any point voting for him just to keep Le Pen out.
On the other hand, if Macron as reported here has spent too much time looking after the better off, like all good Conservatives do, then this might backfire in that the traditional left no long feel there is any point voting for him just to keep Le Pen out.
deptfordmarmoset
Über Member
I did a quiet guess and thought Macron would win by between 8% and 12%. In the event, he was pretty much scraping the bottom of my range, coming in with 58.2%. As there were 35 million spoiled or blank votes back in 2017, I would expect that figure to be even higher. Mélenchon was only half a million votes behind le Pen so that's a lot of voters with no candidate anywhere near on the political spectrum.
newfhouse
pleb
It’s the better of the two possible outcomes but only in the same dispiriting way that Biden was better than Trump. A small merci.
Mugshot
Über Member
I'm not sure I'd agree, I accept there may be better candidates than Macron, or Biden, but Le Pen, or Trump, are infinitely worse in my opinion.
Un grand hourra!
AuroraSaab
Squire
It's the paucity of decent candidates that opens the door for the likes of Trump though. I find it utterly depressing that in a country of 300 million the best they could offer was 2 clueless blokes in their '70's. Biden is looking increasingly confused and if he sees out his term I'll be surprised. All of it an indictment of their system, I suppose.
newfhouse
pleb
At least France and the US base their choice of government leader on a simple majority, unlike the UK where the PM generally gains power via 30 - 40% of the vote.
OP
OP
mudsticks
Squire
Pretty sure the US system is largely based on amounts of money available.
Agree UK system undemocratic too.
Don't know so much about the French one, don't expect it's perfect, but quite possibly better than UK or US ones.
newfhouse
pleb
None of the systems are perfect but there is at least some clarity in a deciding vote for the head of the executive based on a simple majority. Johnson could be deposed but we would still have a different Tory in charge without any public vote at all.
theclaud
Reading around the chip
Not really. They coulda had Bernie. And the French could still have Melenchon as PM.
I cannot resist saying we have been spared avec le pen de ma tante!
