4 ms·

> I don't see that (I live here). I also live here. Brexit is evidence of a failure of democracy to contain populism. It is absolutely not in our national in

> I don't see that (I live here). I also live here. Brexit is evidence of a failure of democracy to contain populism. It is absolutely not in our national interest, is already harming us, was almost certainly bankrolled by dark money and foreign influence campaigns, used unlawful tactics and above all was driven by systematic populist xenophobia. As you live here you will also have received the leaflet that tried to show the threat of Turkey joining the EU (with a map that didn't mark out Turkey but did mark out Iraq and Syria) even though Turkey is no closer to achieving membership now than it ever was -- this was vile populist manipulation. Boris runs Number 10 as if it is unaccountable to parliament. He flings out bread-and-circuses distractions when his mendacious lying is exposed. He deliberately deployed a populist smear in parliament for which he won't apologise in parliament, and people around him rallied to support it as he doubled down. We are heading into a criminalisation of dissent and protest that even Maggie wouldn't have tried. We have a government implementing serious voter suppression based on untruths. And we have a populist leader of a government that is increasingly corrupt, who rode into power on a Brexit wave who does not believe the rules apply to him (and who has evidence to support it, given how many last-last-last-chances he's been given to "shape up") and a ruling party that appears to be swimming in Russian influence money in a manner so severe that our "special relationship" partner has openly rebuked us for it, and so damaging that our prime minister buried a report into it. Boris is engaging in Trumpian tactics and his party seem unable to do a thing about it; the frog is being boiled just the same way as it (still) is in the USA. We're in enormous trouble. (And what is really striking to me is that the bulk of the criticism I have typed above is apolitical; members of his own party have levelled essentially all of these criticisms).

zozbot234 5y ago
> was almost certainly bankrolled by dark money Look at the bright side of it, now we can spend some of that money on the NHS!
denton-scratch 5y ago
> Brexit is evidence of a failure of democracy to contain populism. There seems to be a tendency here to contrast "populism" with "democracy". I don't think either term is well-defined. "Democracy" is usually taken to mean electoral democracy, whether PR of FPTP; "populism" is a vaguer term, commonly used as an insult to hurl at your adversaries. But I take it to refer to the espousing of policies that appeal to ignorant people, but don't make sense. Those two things are orthogonal; if populists win the most votes in a democratic election, the winner is both democratic and populist. I completely agree that the PM is a populist, and that his government is corrupt. For what it's worth, I think it's a good thing that his party has so far been unable to unseat him. He is the Labour Party's greatest asset (especially so, given that Keir Starmer's main spiel is attacking Johnson and his antics and lies). I'm no admirer of either the Tories or Starmer's centrist Labour. I'm just saying that while I don't think Labour can win under Starmer, I think the Tories can lose, if they don't dump Boris soon. Regrettably, I don't think there's any prospect of Labour dumping Starmer.
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  > For what it's worth, I think it's a good thing that his party has so far been unable to unseat him. He is the Labour Party's greatest asset (especially so, given that Keir Starmer's main spiel is attacking Johnson and his antics and lies). I hear this from people a lot, and if you'll allow me to be blunt, I think this position is insane, when the country is heading into exactly the kind of omnicrisis that birthed people like Orbán. The longer we have a prime minister and a cabinet of loyalists who are happy to serve up bigoted, lunatic "red meat" strategies to "Save Big Dog", the less recoverable our situation is. And the longer he stays around, the greater the chance of the kind of staff turnover that leads to kakistocracy. Why would anyone who is actually good at their job and keen to carry out a public service stay around to take the blame and get even more dirty with scandals not of their making? It's like Trump didn't happen.
  - denton-scratch 5y ago
    > I think this position is insane So who do you think is most likely to replace Boris as PM, if he is kicked out? Truss? Sunak? Frankly, I prefer incompentent corrupt Tory leaders to competent corrupt Tory leaders. Boris is an albatross around the Tories' neck, and if they do remove him, it'll be because they can see that he's a liability. It's good if the Tories are encumbered by a clown.
    - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
      Sunak is the likely winner isn't he; it's in the ordinary progression of things. But there are competent, non-corrupt people in the party who are in the running, like Tom Tugendhat, who is obviously the stalking horse but has more of a chance if the contest becomes truly divisive. I'd sleep much better if either of them were in the job, but I am more comfortable with the idea of a Tugendhat Cabinet. It's important to internalise that Boris is not a clown. That is the wrong way to look at him, not least because clowning requires empathy.
      - denton-scratch 5y ago

zozbot234 5y ago

> was almost certainly bankrolled by dark money Look at the bright side of it, now we can spend some of that money on the NHS!

denton-scratch 5y ago

> Brexit is evidence of a failure of democracy to contain populism. There seems to be a tendency here to contrast "populism" with "democracy". I don't think either term is well-defined. "Democracy" is usually taken to mean electoral democracy, whether PR of FPTP; "populism" is a vaguer term, commonly used as an insult to hurl at your adversaries. But I take it to refer to the espousing of policies that appeal to ignorant people, but don't make sense. Those two things are orthogonal; if populists win the most votes in a democratic election, the winner is both democratic and populist. I completely agree that the PM is a populist, and that his government is corrupt. For what it's worth, I think it's a good thing that his party has so far been unable to unseat him. He is the Labour Party's greatest asset (especially so, given that Keir Starmer's main spiel is attacking Johnson and his antics and lies). I'm no admirer of either the Tories or Starmer's centrist Labour. I'm just saying that while I don't think Labour can win under Starmer, I think the Tories can lose, if they don't dump Boris soon. Regrettably, I don't think there's any prospect of Labour dumping Starmer.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago
> For what it's worth, I think it's a good thing that his party has so far been unable to unseat him. He is the Labour Party's greatest asset (especially so, given that Keir Starmer's main spiel is attacking Johnson and his antics and lies). I hear this from people a lot, and if you'll allow me to be blunt, I think this position is insane, when the country is heading into exactly the kind of omnicrisis that birthed people like Orbán. The longer we have a prime minister and a cabinet of loyalists who are happy to serve up bigoted, lunatic "red meat" strategies to "Save Big Dog", the less recoverable our situation is. And the longer he stays around, the greater the chance of the kind of staff turnover that leads to kakistocracy. Why would anyone who is actually good at their job and keen to carry out a public service stay around to take the blame and get even more dirty with scandals not of their making? It's like Trump didn't happen.
- denton-scratch 5y ago
  > I think this position is insane So who do you think is most likely to replace Boris as PM, if he is kicked out? Truss? Sunak? Frankly, I prefer incompentent corrupt Tory leaders to competent corrupt Tory leaders. Boris is an albatross around the Tories' neck, and if they do remove him, it'll be because they can see that he's a liability. It's good if the Tories are encumbered by a clown.
  - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
    Sunak is the likely winner isn't he; it's in the ordinary progression of things. But there are competent, non-corrupt people in the party who are in the running, like Tom Tugendhat, who is obviously the stalking horse but has more of a chance if the contest becomes truly divisive. I'd sleep much better if either of them were in the job, but I am more comfortable with the idea of a Tugendhat Cabinet. It's important to internalise that Boris is not a clown. That is the wrong way to look at him, not least because clowning requires empathy.
    - denton-scratch 5y ago