Reform, and the death of the Tory Party

[Psamathe]

Shows how thick Farage is, Paracetamol has been widely used since the 1960s so we have over 60 years of evidence. Thalidomide was a new drug and it was withdrawn within 3 years of coming into use after the problems had become obvious. I don't see how anyone applying thinking can say that something that has been used regularly for 60 years is leading to an increase in autism in recent years.

I wonder if an aspect to the anti-vaccination/anti-medicine growing feeling is because it's complex and too many people are not prepared to make the effort to understand it thus allowing politicians to present an unbalanced picture.

I suspect that being vaccinated against <x> has side effects in some people; yet catching disease <x> has far more widespread more serious effects. It's that balance that takes a bit of understanding. Easy and probably true for a politician to declare that vaccination against <x> can cause some side effect but they don't present the balanced picture where 1 in 1m might get a mild fever from the vaccination vs 1 in 10000 die from the disease.

 

[Stevo 666]

£41,700 salary requirements for sponsored workers, reduced accepted skills shortage list, end to exemptions for employing care workers, reduced graduate Visa length. Net migration peaked in 2023 at 906,000 as we softened rules post Brexit which drove non-EU immigration up significantly. This halved again in 2024 to around 400,000 as rules became tightened. I would suggest that would suggest otherwise if your claim is that rules have not become more stringent.

So 400,000 isn't a large number in your view?

 

[matticus]

One of the big pull factors for the refugees I know is the English language.

If you have to leave your country in a hurry, it's understandable if you choose to go to a place where you have at least a rudimentary understanding of the language.

This is why the solution is staring us in the face; get rid of English as our official language.

Shall we go with Welsh? We *could* go with French Francais, but I think there'd be more votes for Welsh. Or celtic/gaelic/oirish/scotch/whatever

 

[briantrumpet]

This is why the solution is staring us in the face; get rid of English as our official language.

Shall we go with Welsh? We *could* go with French Francais, but I think there'd be more votes for Welsh. Or celtic/gaelic/oirish/scotch/whatever

Old English. Obvs. Would suit the "Everything in the past was soooo much better" loons.

Here's the old English for 'Mind the gap'.

Gēme þæt dæl.

https://oldenglishtranslators.com/

 

[Rusty Nails]

This is why the solution is staring us in the face; get rid of English as our official language.

Shall we go with Welsh? We *could* go with French Francais, but I think there'd be more votes for Welsh. Or celtic/gaelic/oirish/scotch/whatever

Some immigrants must speak Welsh because I am starting to see the Red Dragon flag on bridges around here put up by those who want less immigrants.

I blame Gavin and Stacey for showing them a nice beach to land on at Barry Island.

Presumably the immigrants here didn’t find England a safe country.

 

[Ian H]

Old English. Obvs. Would suit the "Everything in the past was soooo much better" loons.

Here's the old English for 'Mind the gap'.

Gēme þæt dæl.

https://oldenglishtranslators.com/

Eshtree's pretty close. We could repurpose an obsolete Old English letter to represent the glottal stop.

 

[icowden]

So 400,000 isn't a large number in your view?

@midlandsgrimpeur didn't say that. Also most of that 400,000 is completely legitimate, legal migration approved by the Government. The ones that Farage gets excited about are less than 10% of that.

 

[Pross]

Glad you agree with me.

You've finally given up on the Tories? Does that mean you are voting for Reform next time or are you going to stick with a Party you believe will be a coalition partner at best?

 

[Pross]

So 400,000 isn't a large number in your view?

Are you familiar with the concept of relativity? 400,000 is significantly less than the record 960,000 that your team invited in. Yes, it's a massive number compared to 1 but it's a small number in comparison to 960,000. 400,000 is also a large number when compared to the 37,000 that arived in the same period by 'small boat' and yet that's where the right-wingers keep focussing their attention even when they were waving in nearly a million through legitimate channels.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

So 400,000 isn't a large number in your view?

That was not your point though, you asked on what basis were visa rules not stringent and I answered highlighting how they had become more stringent.

 

[Psamathe]

Just listening to The News Agents podcast covering Faragę and they played the except when he said he wouldn't "follow what Mr Kennedy's department does" ... but to avoid being seen as being critical of Trump/US he goes on "but frankly nor would I follow the WHO". I find that he wouldn't follow WHO advice really worrying.

 

[First Aspect]

I'm sure you could find outspoken "stupid" supporters of any political party. I agree but a sample of 1 isn't that representative.

I really do think that if you assessed the demographics as a whole you would find that on average more stupid people support parties with simple answers.

It was the same with Brexit and they really did find that leave was skewed to lower earnings and lower educational levels. Sure there are other factors behind both of those metrics, but basic knowledge and understanding of the issues will strongly correlate.

You will see the same thing with strongly held religious views, vaccine hesitancy, conspiracy theorists, belief in homeopathy, aliens, Santa and ghosts.

 

[All uphill]

Good point.

I really do think that if you assessed the demographics as a whole you would find that on average more stupid people support parties with simple answers.

It was the same with Brexit and they really did find that leave was skewed to lower earnings and lower educational levels. Sure there are other factors behind both of those metrics, but basic knowledge and understanding of the issues will strongly correlate.

You will see the same thing with strongly held religious views, vaccine hesitancy, conspiracy theorists, belief in homeopathy, aliens, Santa and ghosts.

That sounds, to me, dangerously close to saying some people (who we disapprove of) are less worthy of a vote than us paragons of virtue.

I see it the other way round; it is incumbent on politicians to find a way of communicating that works for the electorate.

Arguments were made for Brexit that resulted in more votes than did the poor arguments to remain.

 

[CXRAndy]

Remain didn't promote the EU, they instead tried to rubbish the leave campaign points for leaving.

That's not how to win over a voter

 

[First Aspect]

That sounds, to me, dangerously close to saying some people (who we disapprove of) are less worthy of a vote than us paragons of virtue.

I see it the other way round; it is incumbent on politicians to find a way of communicating that works for the electorate.

Arguments were made for Brexit that resulted in more votes than did the poor arguments to remain.

You are overthinking it. I'm merely pointing out that people who support Reform and believe in fairies are, on average, a bit thick. I don't think this is controversial.