7 ms·

Liz Truss Wants a Pony: A Magic Internet Where No One Ever Says Any Bad Things

30 points by iamben 4y ago

simonblack 4y ago
Is it just me or is Liz Truss the stereotypical "Dumb Blonde"? Let's just say that if Liz Truss gets to be elected Prime Minister of Britain, that the British have learned nothing from the Johnson debacle.
- detaro 4y ago
  Not like the British public gets to vote here.
afandian 4y ago
Context: Liz Truss being the favourite for next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. I'm not comparing her to Donald Trump, but there's the same sense of incredulity that the political system would install someone so populist and devoid of substance in such a position of power. The office of Prime Minister is decided by the ruling party. Due to the timing of party politics and General Elections, she'll have been elected by the Conservative party, not by the actual UK electorate.
- yrgulation 4y ago
  Well its either her or rishi sunak. Unfortunately she’s the only option.
  - dijit 4y ago
    Evidently she’s not the only option as there is another option, like you said. Unless you’re espousing an opinion?
    - yrgulation 4y ago
      The other is a non option.
      - dijit 4y ago
        Rishi was favourite to win at the beginning and has made it to the final voting. So, not really. Until the cards are drawn, both are quite literally options. The entire Conservative party are "non-options" from my perspective, but they're the government, so they were someones choice.
        yrgulation 4y ago
        He may have been among certain circles but no he wasnt popular at any stage. Hes infamously corrupt and incompetent. The daily mail promotes him giving the impression he is popular but thats far from the truth.
        dijit 4y ago
        You could be speaking about Boris Johnson. He managed to be prime minister.
        yrgulation 4y ago
        Boris is horrible as are most tories. Out of curiosity, what are the reasons to support risi? No need to answer if you feel it is too personal a question, but I am open to hearing arguments in his favor. I am pretty sick of polarization and cultist following of "leaders". I think polarization is the cancer that erodes western democracies. So my question is, what has he done OK and what will he do OK.
        dijit 4y ago
        I don’t support either of them. I consider them to be equivalently bad. But Wetherspoons used to have a “Rishi’s Dishes” deal thing, and that’s quite a lot of brand recognition from a very conservative voter base.
  - yabatopia 4y ago
    Well, you still have the option to get up, march the streets and demand for better representation. Democracy is an active, ongoing process, it doesn't stop at the election booth. You deserve better than unelected leaders (unelected as by the people, not by a few selected Tory party members).
    - yrgulation 4y ago
      Agreed, but i cant march every time someone has a different opinion than mine. People chose tories last election and now they are enjoying a shitshow of their own making. In the uk people dont vote directly for a prime minister, and now the democratically elected party is sorting (i hope demising) themselves internally. Nothing wrong with it. The issue tho is the candidates are rubbish. But sunak is a total no go. I am shocked he even made it this far.
- zimpenfish 4y ago
  > the political system would install someone so populist and devoid of substance in such a position of power Unfortunately, the upper echelons of the Tory Party - and thus every candidate putting themselves forward to be PM - is filled with these vacuous puppets largely guided by the ERG[1] because they've somehow managed to capture the party, much like the Tea Party took over the GOP. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Research_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Research_Group
- Jaruzel 4y ago
  > Due to the timing of party politics and General Elections, she'll have been elected by the Conservative party, not by the actual UK electorate. The UK electorate does not elect a Leader, it elects a Party. Currently, the elected party is the Conservatives, and that does not change even if the party leader (and as they are the party in power, the de facto Prime Minister) of the Conservatives change. There is no requirement for a General Election, as the elected party isn't changing. I DO have issue with the process to whittle the clutch of candidates for the role down to two, as that process is restricted to tory MPs only who as we always observe, do endless back room deals to secure their own places in the new regime. I feel that this should have been a standard popularity election with all hopefuls listed on the ballot and the entire tory party membership voting.
  - Macha 4y ago
    The UK electorate does not elect a party either, it elects a bunch of local MPs, and the MPs in term elect a leader. While many voters of course vote for the MP who represents the party who is headed by their desired leader, MPs defecting could just as easily flip the government to another party without consulting the electorate, as they can replace the PM with another from the same party.
    - vmilner 4y ago
      They almost certainly won’t vote for a single party next time - Minority Labour supported by SNP seems almost inevitable now.
      - Jaruzel 4y ago
        Without going down a political rabbit hole on this, I'm afraid I concurr here, a Labour led coalition is the most likely outcome.
    - Jaruzel 4y ago
      You are of course correct. I was simply trying to highlight clumsily that we don't have a presidential type leadership here in the UK.
SilverBirch 4y ago
It's worth noting that whilst Liz Truss wants to do this, the other contender this week has come out and said that he'll use the counter-terrorism task force on people he disagrees with politically.
- Mindwipe 4y ago
  Yeah, there's not much difference between them on this sadly. Sunak might not have said something as transparently daft as two internets, but he still wants two thirds of the websites in the world to age verify their British visitors, and that's not a million miles off the same thing.
  - MonkeyClub 4y ago
    > but he still wants two thirds of the websites in the world to age verify their British visitors Ok so on this point - and please, if you must, wear a tin foil hat for what's coming. I'm sort of convinced that Sunak isn't daft, nor is he surrounded by daft pipe-smoking unicorn-chasers. So I'm sort of convinced that when such a wide and sort of untenable request is made, it is expected that: 1. It will be pushed as morally necessary ("what about the children? we must protect them!") 2. There will be more pushback, because it's too stupidly hard to enforce national mandates on a global level ("the UK demands, but we don't care") 3. Voices of reason harmonising (1) and (2) will say, the necessity isn't questioned, but perhaps the onus of IDing the users should be on the nation that imposes the (morally acceptable, technically unfeasible) requirement 4. The compromise is reached with a UK national ID card (blockchained, if you want to add garnish), which Brits then must use to access anything and everything online and offline. Perfect security [state], if you ask me. Apologies, it's hot and I just couldn't resist -- I'll run and hide from the toh-mah-toh-s now :-)
    - Mindwipe 4y ago
      > I'm sort of convinced that Sunak isn't daft, nor is he surrounded by daft pipe-smoking unicorn-chasers. Honestly, I think he is daft, or just underbriefed about this. There is a lot of lobbying money going into suggesting this scenario is a positive. The NSPCC are spending literally almost their entire lobbying budget on it due to the personal obsession of key staff, and the Age Verification Providers Association is telling MPs that the UK has a chance to build loads of successful businesses selling age verification to the world as they'll have first mover advantage, so it will be a net plus to the economy rather than a massive fiscal drag. These arguments are self interested nonsense from a delusional group that does not want to lose it's terrible investment, but they are absolutely been taken seriously by the current government. Useful lobbying by UK businesses needs to focus on this being a pipe dream - if age verification worked, the money would not be made by UK businesses (if it genuinely takes off do you really not think Google and Facebook would eat that market? Really???), and in the meantime it is rent seeking that will cripple UK start-ups.
FerretFred 4y ago
Liz Truss is a disaster waiting to happen, but I believe she'll be our next PM. > A mandatory age verification layer Probably only achievable by introducing a National ID card and the issuing of free card readers to every citizen. I hope she's not reading this: it might just happen. > this very much creates a “splinternet” It's a pity she's dissed China so publicly: I'm sure the CCP would have been only too pleased to rent her a copy of their Internet system with all the dystopian controls that it comes with as standard.
- dane-pgp 4y ago
  > only achievable by introducing a National ID card That's about to be required for elections, and it's already a requirement for resident non-citizens[0]. The system might be a little more complicated for people just visiting the UK on a holiday/business trip, but I wouldn't be surprised if they had to enrol their devices as part of the "pre-screening" process that will tie into the new facial recognition database.[1] [0] https://www.gov.uk/biometric-residence-permits https://www.gov.uk/biometric-residence-permits [1] https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/07/21/uk-to-trial-contactless-borders-using-facial-recognition-technology/ https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/07/21/uk-...

30 points by iamben 4y ago

Is it just me or is Liz Truss the stereotypical "Dumb Blonde"? Let's just say that if Liz Truss gets to be elected Prime Minister of Britain, that the British have learned nothing from the Johnson debacle.

detaro 4y ago
Not like the British public gets to vote here.

afandian 4y ago

Context: Liz Truss being the favourite for next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. I'm not comparing her to Donald Trump, but there's the same sense of incredulity that the political system would install someone so populist and devoid of substance in such a position of power. The office of Prime Minister is decided by the ruling party. Due to the timing of party politics and General Elections, she'll have been elected by the Conservative party, not by the actual UK electorate.

yrgulation 4y ago
Well its either her or rishi sunak. Unfortunately she’s the only option.
- dijit 4y ago
  Evidently she’s not the only option as there is another option, like you said. Unless you’re espousing an opinion?
  - yrgulation 4y ago
    The other is a non option.
    - dijit 4y ago
      Rishi was favourite to win at the beginning and has made it to the final voting. So, not really. Until the cards are drawn, both are quite literally options. The entire Conservative party are "non-options" from my perspective, but they're the government, so they were someones choice.
      - yrgulation 4y ago
        He may have been among certain circles but no he wasnt popular at any stage. Hes infamously corrupt and incompetent. The daily mail promotes him giving the impression he is popular but thats far from the truth.
        dijit 4y ago
        You could be speaking about Boris Johnson. He managed to be prime minister.
        yrgulation 4y ago
        Boris is horrible as are most tories. Out of curiosity, what are the reasons to support risi? No need to answer if you feel it is too personal a question, but I am open to hearing arguments in his favor. I am pretty sick of polarization and cultist following of "leaders". I think polarization is the cancer that erodes western democracies. So my question is, what has he done OK and what will he do OK.
        dijit 4y ago
        I don’t support either of them. I consider them to be equivalently bad. But Wetherspoons used to have a “Rishi’s Dishes” deal thing, and that’s quite a lot of brand recognition from a very conservative voter base.
- yabatopia 4y ago
  Well, you still have the option to get up, march the streets and demand for better representation. Democracy is an active, ongoing process, it doesn't stop at the election booth. You deserve better than unelected leaders (unelected as by the people, not by a few selected Tory party members).
  - yrgulation 4y ago
    Agreed, but i cant march every time someone has a different opinion than mine. People chose tories last election and now they are enjoying a shitshow of their own making. In the uk people dont vote directly for a prime minister, and now the democratically elected party is sorting (i hope demising) themselves internally. Nothing wrong with it. The issue tho is the candidates are rubbish. But sunak is a total no go. I am shocked he even made it this far.
zimpenfish 4y ago
> the political system would install someone so populist and devoid of substance in such a position of power Unfortunately, the upper echelons of the Tory Party - and thus every candidate putting themselves forward to be PM - is filled with these vacuous puppets largely guided by the ERG[1] because they've somehow managed to capture the party, much like the Tea Party took over the GOP. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Research_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Research_Group
Jaruzel 4y ago
> Due to the timing of party politics and General Elections, she'll have been elected by the Conservative party, not by the actual UK electorate. The UK electorate does not elect a Leader, it elects a Party. Currently, the elected party is the Conservatives, and that does not change even if the party leader (and as they are the party in power, the de facto Prime Minister) of the Conservatives change. There is no requirement for a General Election, as the elected party isn't changing. I DO have issue with the process to whittle the clutch of candidates for the role down to two, as that process is restricted to tory MPs only who as we always observe, do endless back room deals to secure their own places in the new regime. I feel that this should have been a standard popularity election with all hopefuls listed on the ballot and the entire tory party membership voting.
- Macha 4y ago
  The UK electorate does not elect a party either, it elects a bunch of local MPs, and the MPs in term elect a leader. While many voters of course vote for the MP who represents the party who is headed by their desired leader, MPs defecting could just as easily flip the government to another party without consulting the electorate, as they can replace the PM with another from the same party.
  - vmilner 4y ago
    They almost certainly won’t vote for a single party next time - Minority Labour supported by SNP seems almost inevitable now.
    - Jaruzel 4y ago
      Without going down a political rabbit hole on this, I'm afraid I concurr here, a Labour led coalition is the most likely outcome.
  - Jaruzel 4y ago
    You are of course correct. I was simply trying to highlight clumsily that we don't have a presidential type leadership here in the UK.

SilverBirch 4y ago

It's worth noting that whilst Liz Truss wants to do this, the other contender this week has come out and said that he'll use the counter-terrorism task force on people he disagrees with politically.

Mindwipe 4y ago
Yeah, there's not much difference between them on this sadly. Sunak might not have said something as transparently daft as two internets, but he still wants two thirds of the websites in the world to age verify their British visitors, and that's not a million miles off the same thing.
- MonkeyClub 4y ago
  > but he still wants two thirds of the websites in the world to age verify their British visitors Ok so on this point - and please, if you must, wear a tin foil hat for what's coming. I'm sort of convinced that Sunak isn't daft, nor is he surrounded by daft pipe-smoking unicorn-chasers. So I'm sort of convinced that when such a wide and sort of untenable request is made, it is expected that: 1. It will be pushed as morally necessary ("what about the children? we must protect them!") 2. There will be more pushback, because it's too stupidly hard to enforce national mandates on a global level ("the UK demands, but we don't care") 3. Voices of reason harmonising (1) and (2) will say, the necessity isn't questioned, but perhaps the onus of IDing the users should be on the nation that imposes the (morally acceptable, technically unfeasible) requirement 4. The compromise is reached with a UK national ID card (blockchained, if you want to add garnish), which Brits then must use to access anything and everything online and offline. Perfect security [state], if you ask me. Apologies, it's hot and I just couldn't resist -- I'll run and hide from the toh-mah-toh-s now :-)
  - Mindwipe 4y ago
    > I'm sort of convinced that Sunak isn't daft, nor is he surrounded by daft pipe-smoking unicorn-chasers. Honestly, I think he is daft, or just underbriefed about this. There is a lot of lobbying money going into suggesting this scenario is a positive. The NSPCC are spending literally almost their entire lobbying budget on it due to the personal obsession of key staff, and the Age Verification Providers Association is telling MPs that the UK has a chance to build loads of successful businesses selling age verification to the world as they'll have first mover advantage, so it will be a net plus to the economy rather than a massive fiscal drag. These arguments are self interested nonsense from a delusional group that does not want to lose it's terrible investment, but they are absolutely been taken seriously by the current government. Useful lobbying by UK businesses needs to focus on this being a pipe dream - if age verification worked, the money would not be made by UK businesses (if it genuinely takes off do you really not think Google and Facebook would eat that market? Really???), and in the meantime it is rent seeking that will cripple UK start-ups.

FerretFred 4y ago

Liz Truss is a disaster waiting to happen, but I believe she'll be our next PM. > A mandatory age verification layer Probably only achievable by introducing a National ID card and the issuing of free card readers to every citizen. I hope she's not reading this: it might just happen. > this very much creates a “splinternet” It's a pity she's dissed China so publicly: I'm sure the CCP would have been only too pleased to rent her a copy of their Internet system with all the dystopian controls that it comes with as standard.

dane-pgp 4y ago
> only achievable by introducing a National ID card That's about to be required for elections, and it's already a requirement for resident non-citizens[0]. The system might be a little more complicated for people just visiting the UK on a holiday/business trip, but I wouldn't be surprised if they had to enrol their devices as part of the "pre-screening" process that will tie into the new facial recognition database.[1] [0] https://www.gov.uk/biometric-residence-permits https://www.gov.uk/biometric-residence-permits [1] https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/07/21/uk-to-trial-contactless-borders-using-facial-recognition-technology/ https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/07/21/uk-...