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Rishi Sunak will be next UK prime minister
- rayiner 4y ago
- Veen 4y agoHardly surprising. The NYT's UK coverage is consistently atrocious.
- SanjayMehta 4y agoI strongly recommend everyone read "The Gray Lady Winked" by Ashley Rindsberg. Eye opening stuff about the NYT. https://www.thegrayladywinked.com/free-excerpt/ https://www.thegrayladywinked.com/free-excerpt/
- forgingahead 4y agoPer Gell-Man's Amnesia, doesn't that mean all their coverage is consistently atrocious?
- mberh7 4y ago
- kmeisthax 4y agoThe average American uses "Britain" as a synonym for both the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and the sovereign state called the United Kingdom. Yes, it's "incorrect" to you, but the NYT's audience is Americans, so it's fine.
- yakubin 4y agoUsing the correct name wouldn’t cause any confusion. A newspaper should be held to a higher standard than an average whatever.
- gausswho 4y agoThere are colloquialisms that err on factual basis (i.e. Third World). That doesn't mean it's fine for news headlines to use them over more accurate descriptions. You wouldn't excuse this from a health care provider.
- eldaisfish 4y agoThe point of literally any news item is communication. To the majority of people, Britain and the UK are synonyms despite one being geographical and the other being political. Pedantry at the expense of clarity is a tradeoff no sane person would make when writing news articles and headlines.
- SpicyLemonZest 4y agoSure I would. My doctor told me she was setting up an appointment for the "tetanus booster" a few weeks ago, and I wasn't super concerned when I discovered that the proper name for the booster is "Tdap" because it immunizes against diptheria and whooping cough as well.
- gausswho 4y agoUsing the layman term of 'tetanus booster' is acceptable to me in this case, even though it comes with additional benefit. But this simplification is not equivalent with the err of claiming a Prime Minister has charge over only a subset of their domain.
- mtalantikite 4y agoMaybe it's just because I'm a person of Irish descent in the US, but I've rarely, if ever, heard someone here refer to Ireland as Britain.
- anamexis 4y agoWe don't refer to just Ireland as Britain, but we do refer to the UK as a whole as Britain.
- mtalantikite 4y agoWell I guess I'm not a part of that "we", and I suspect quite a lot of people of Irish descent wouldn't be a part of it either. As another comment has pointed out, Great Britain does exclude Northern Ireland, and official language refers to it as "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" [1]. People will generally specify Northern Ireland, and I've pretty much never heard anyone say, I don't know, "I'm going to Belfast, it'll be nice to hang out in Britain". Do British people normalize referring to the entire thing as just Britain? Yeah, probably. But the colonizer will always try to normalize erasing you and replacing your language with their own. [1] https://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/united-kingdom https://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/united-king...
- anamexis 4y agoYes, I'm well aware that Ireland is not in Great Britain. That does not change the point that many people in the US (who are of course not Ireland's colonizers) use Britain to refer to the UK as a whole. No one in the US would say "I'm going to Belfast, it'll be nice to hang out in Britain." It's shorthand for referring to the state. As in, "Britain has a new PM."
- implements 4y agoI’m British but also of Irish descent (and also an Irish citizen) - might I suggest that you’re being a bit unnecessarily sensitive to find fault with people from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland abbreviating that to “Britain” in day to day usage. Also, “coloniser” from an American, America being literally a far more recent European colonial enterprise built on resource appropriation and African slavery … ? Somewhat ironic that the injustices of Anglo-Irish history seems to resonate more with you than perhaps injustices closer to home.
- closewith 4y agoI'm Irish and lived in the States for years and never once heard this use of the term British. It would not have been received well.
- jgwil2 4y agoIs it "race baiting" to note a simple and perhaps interesting fact? Would it have been "race baiting" to note upon Obama's election that he would be the first black US president? Edit: also your pedantry is extremely obnoxious; no one expects a headline to include the phrase "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."
- daveoc64 4y ago>Edit: also your pedantry is extremely obnoxious; no one expects a headline to include the phrase "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." Well no, that's why people say "United Kingdom" or "UK".
- rayiner 4y agoIt’s race baiting (and demeaning) to reduce someone to their skin color in a headline like this. It would have been fine to note the fact somewhere. The term “person of color” is race baiting. It’s a recently created term that erases people’s real identities and replaces them with an identity that serves simply to stand in juxtaposition to white people. Sunak isnt a “person of color.” He’s a British national of Indian ethnicity.
- switch007 4y agoBritain is synonymous with both the UK /and/ Great Britain, in the UK at least They should have been more specific I agree
- triceratops 4y ago> the uneducated rube who made the headline forgot that Northern Ireland exists. What's Northern Ireland got to do with it? The Republic of Ireland has had a person of color as PM. Northern Ireland doesn't even have a PM - it has a "First Minister" (I had to look it up, I had no idea). EDIT: Apparently the objection was about the use of "Britain" vs "the UK", not "person of color". To which I'll just quote Wikipedia: "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain,"[1] 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom
- daveoc64 4y agoSome people consider that Britain refers only to Great Britain, therefore excluding Northern Ireland.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- triceratops 4y agoNot Wikipedia though: "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain"[1] 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom
- daveoc64 4y agoYou've missed the footnote next to the word "Britain": >Usage is mixed. The Guardian and Telegraph use Britain as a synonym for the United Kingdom. Some prefer to use Britain as shorthand for Great Britain. The British Cabinet Office's Government Digital Service style guide for use on gov.uk recommends: "Use UK and United Kingdom in preference to Britain and British (UK business, UK foreign policy, ambassador and high commissioner). But British embassy, not UK embassy."
- triceratops 4y ago
- dghf 4y ago"Britain" is a commonly used synonym for the UK within the UK itself. See the styles guides of the Guardian and Daily Telegraph: - https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-u https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-u - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/style-book/places-and-people/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/style-book/places-and-people/
- that_guy_iain 4y agoIt’s pretty historic.
- chrisseaton 4y ago> the uneducated rube It's a widely-accpetable abbreviation of 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' amongst many well-respected and intelligent institutions, whether you agree with it or not - ironically you're the ignorant one for not knowing that. And there's no need for personal abuse in any case.
- nathanaldensr 4y ago
- james-redwood 4y agoCould you provide a source? There's nothing I can find about Sunak being connected to the WEF in any way. Although the hashtag #wefpuppet has exploded on Twitter by what looks like a bot network.
- throwaway97345 4y agohttps://www.weforum.org/people/rishi-sunak https://www.weforum.org/people/rishi-sunak
- auggierose 4y agohttps://www.weforum.org/people/rishi-sunak https://www.weforum.org/people/rishi-sunak
- oifjsidjf 4y agoIf you literaly just write "WEF rishi sunak" in the google you get this: https://www.weforum.org/people/rishi-sunak https://www.weforum.org/people/rishi-sunak
- skippyboxedhero 4y agohttps://www.weforum.org/people/boris-johnson https://www.weforum.org/people/boris-johnson - they have profiles for everyone who attends an event (which most previous chancellors have - https://www.weforum.org/people/sajid-javid https://www.weforum.org/people/sajid-javid - https://www.weforum.org/people/philip-hammond https://www.weforum.org/people/philip-hammond - https://www.weforum.org/people/george-osborne https://www.weforum.org/people/george-osborne), he wasn't a WEF Young Leader though, his views are totally abhorrent to the WEF crowd. Strange how electing someone wealthy has caused the right to shit itself as hard as the left.
- james-redwood 4y agoSunak, an Oxford and Stanford educated billionaire, is perhaps the best candidate the Conservative party can unsurprisingly put forward at the current moment. Given his background as a successful investment banker at Goldman Sachs, one can only wonder about what his economic policies would look like.
- ARandomerDude 4y ago
- feintruled 4y agoSeeing this a lot. What is the coup? What is 'globalism' for that matter?
- contravariant 4y agoAlso what's recent about it?
- sambeau 4y agoGlobalism is a right-wing code word for Jewish
- Veen 4y agoNot in this case it isn't. Globalism has a widely accepted definition in political science.
- Arnt 4y agoDo you think ARandomerDude uses the wird in that widely accepted sense?
- acdha 4y agoGlobalism has a history, yes, but it’s unclear what reason we have to believe that has any connection to recent events. She wasn’t exactly ousted for going against some Tory ideal of being part of an internationally-integrated economy - those people voted to stay in the EU! - and given the heated “coup” miscategorization the right-winger explanation seems more likely.
- Proven 4y ago
- rob74 4y agoLet's see how long this one will last... maybe 2022 will go down in history as "the year of the 4 PMs"?
- mirekrusin 4y agoThey changed to continous deployment of micro-PMs.
- checkyoursudo 4y agoSeem to have forgotten to write unit tests.
- GameOfFrowns 4y agoMVPMs = minimum viable prime ministers
- hnbear 4y agoPMaaS with PMs supplied on demand by the lobbying group/think tank of your choice.
- flowerbreeze 4y agoAligns with fail fast and fail often policy.
- saos 4y agoThe man that inflated the housing market during pandemic? The man who came up with "eat out to help out" before the peak of covid? Nice. Oh did you know he is also a millionaire* who is so out of touch with normal working close people? The sooner we can have a general election the better. Been a complete and utter mess. Edit: Wrong about net worth but we all know about Infosys?
- zimpenfish 4y ago> he is also a billionaire Current estimates seem to put him and his wife combined at about £730M[1] (and most of that is his wife, I think.) [1] https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/23073397.rich-rishi-sunak-net-worth-valued-730-million/ https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/23073397...
- trynewideas 4y agoah. so he was a billionaire in USD a year ago, just not now. thanks, exchange rate!
- zimpenfish 4y ago> ah. so he was a billionaire No, not even in USD; he and his wife[1] combined would have been a billionaire in better exchange days but he's got a long way, even at $2:£1 before he's any kind of billionaire. [1] who has ~£500M, largely from the family business, I believe.
- DrBazza 4y agoIn 2022, the 'working class', are in offices, working. Which I suspect the PM, and government ministers all do. And often for longer hours, and over weekends. > Sunak was born on 12 May 1980 in Southampton[10][11] to African-born Hindu parents of Punjabi Indian descent,[12][13] Yashvir and Usha Sunak. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishi_Sunak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishi_Sunak Apparently coming from an immigrant family, modest background, becoming wealthy though hard work, and becoming PM is something to be despised? As much as I despise this current bunch of MPs, I don't see anything wrong there. I doubt he would have achieved so much had his family stayed in Kenya.
- diimdeep 4y agoIn April 2022, Sunak ordered the Royal Mint to create a UK government-backed non-fungible token (NFT) to be issued by summer 2022[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishi_Sunak#Cryptocurrencies_and_NFTs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishi_Sunak#Cryptocurrencies_a...
- ColinHayhurst 4y agoFT columnist take: https://twitter.com/jemimajoanna/status/1584535305322827777 https://twitter.com/jemimajoanna/status/1584535305322827777 and government website: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-sets-out-plan-to-make-uk-a-global-cryptoasset-technology-hub https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-sets-out-plan-...
- _xnmw 4y agoWill be interesting to see if this PM's financial savviness will affect the war in Ukraine, i.e. by reversing or slowing the stupidest financial decision ever made by Europe, that is the decision to sanction Russia before winter. A softer take on Russia sanctions and warmer Moscow-London ties may mean peace, sooner, with less damage to Ukraine and to Europe.
- eppp 4y agoIt seems like the most trivial answer would be for Russia to simply leave Ukraine.
- dotancohen 4y agoIt's always easy to say "The world would be a better place if those who disagree with me would just...". I'll raise your "Russia should just..." with "NATO should just not expand into Ukraine". Sure I'll lose some internet points but I'm illustrating that your simplification does not reflect that the other side has what they perceive as a valid point of view as well.
- Veen 4y ago> NATO should just not expand into Ukraine It did not. Nor did it plan to do so.
- dotancohen 4y agoFrom the NATO's 2021 Brussels summit [0]: > We reiterate the decision made at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Ukraine will become > a member of the Alliance with the Membership Action Plan (MAP) as an integral part > of the process; we reaffirm all elements of that decision, as well as subsequent > decisions, including that each partner will be judged on its own merits. We stand firm > in our support for Ukraine’s right to decide its own future and foreign policy course > free from outside interference. > The Annual National Programmes under the NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC) remain the > mechanism by which Ukraine takes forward the reforms pertaining to its aspiration for > NATO membership. Ukraine should make full use of all instruments available under the > NUC to reach its objective of implementing NATO principles and standards. The success > of wide-ranging, sustainable, and irreversible reforms, including combating > corruption, promoting an inclusive political process, and decentralisation reform, > based on democratic values, respect for human rights, minorities, and the rule of law, > will be crucial in laying the groundwork for a prosperous and peaceful Ukraine. > Further reforms in the security sector, including the reform of the Security Services > of Ukraine, are particularly important. We welcome significant reforms already made by > Ukraine and strongly encourage further progress in line with Ukraine’s international > obligations and commitments. > We will continue to provide practical support to reform in the security and defence > sector, including through the Comprehensive Assistance Package. We will also continue > to support Ukraine’s efforts to strengthen its resilience against hybrid threats, > including through intensifying activities under the NATO-Ukraine Platform on > Countering Hybrid Warfare. > We welcome the cooperation between NATO and Ukraine with regard to security in the > Black Sea region. The Enhanced Opportunities Partner status granted last year provides > further impetus to our already ambitious cooperation and will promote greater > interoperability, with the option of more joint exercises, training, and enhanced > situational awareness. > Military cooperation and capacity building initiatives between Allies and Ukraine, > including the Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian Brigade, further reinforce this effort. We > highly value Ukraine’s significant contributions to Allied operations, the NATO > Response Force, and NATO exercises. [0] https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_185000.htm?selectedLocale=en https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_185000.htm?selectedL...
- dev_0 4y ago
- dang 4y agoYou can't post like this to HN. I've banned the account. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.
- gizajob 4y agoThe man whose wife was non-domiciled for tax purposes while they lived at 11 Downing Street.
- Veen 4y agoAnd who is now going to raise taxes for everyone else.
- lettergram 4y agoI have some concerns -- https://twitter.com/tpostmillennial/status/1584532220584525826 https://twitter.com/tpostmillennial/status/15845322205845258...
- lordleft 4y agoThis doesn't obviate his economic policies, which I'm inclined to dislike, but a part of me does feel gratified at the historical twists of fortune that landed an Indian the role of PM (as a fellow Indian).
- booleandilemma 4y agoYou guys really showed them.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- factcheckdec 4y agoHe is British.
- stillbourne 4y agoQuestion for an American that doesn't know bollocks about British politics. Why wasn't he put into the Prime Minister position last time instead of Truss?
- erehweb 4y agoBecause the party membership voted for Truss instead of him - they get to choose between the top two candidates the MPs select. Party membership is a lot smaller group than primary voters in the U.S. Why did the party pick Truss? Maybe they were uncomfortable with having someone non-white. Maybe they thought Truss could connect better to the electorate. Maybe they preferred her policy ideas.
- Veen 4y agoI suspect a lot of members voted against Sunak because they believe he shafted Boris Johnson, who remains popular with members. Plus, Truss did the whole Thatcher 2.0 thing, which appeals to many Tories. I don't think race played a significant role. In my experience, the people most opposed to Sunak adore Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman.
- daveoc64 4y agoIn the previous contest, there were many viable candidates, of which two went through to the final stage. This resulted in a ballot of all registered members of the Conservative party. This process took weeks and was criticised as a waste of time by many, leaving a power vacuum during the recent cost of living crisis. What the members of the party want does not always align with what elected MPs think is best, nor what the public as a whole believes. This time around, the requirements to be eligible to proceed in the contest were tightened - candidates needed 100 MPs supporting them. This was designed to speed up the process considerably. At the deadline, Rishi was the only candidate that met the requirements, so he won by default, and there was no need to have a ballot of the members.
- r_hoods_ghost 4y agoBecause last time the Conservative party members had a vote and Liz Truss stood on a platform intended to appeal primarily to them. The reason she had to depart was because it tuens out she actually believed what she was saying and attempted to implement policies that were widely regarded by the markets and everyone else as, well, utterly batshit.
- drpossum 4y agoI guess Sunak's father-in-law is the founder of Infosys, truly one of the most difficult-to-work-with and inept software consultancies I've ever run into
- Nextgrid 4y agoAre there any large software consultancies that aren't inept?
- Overtonwindow 4y agoI’m sure this has been said, but I think the Tories are headed for an election loss. Boris has stepped aside rather brilliantly, recognizing that the Tories are going to lose power, so that he can then assume the leadership and reclaim power later
- popilewiz 4y ago
- _emacsomancer_ 4y agoAppros of the currently top post on HN (never tell anyone you're good at Excel), apparently Sunak "thinks in Excel": https://www.efinancialcareers.co.uk/news/2022/04/rishi-sunak-pay-banking-hedge-funds https://www.efinancialcareers.co.uk/news/2022/04/rishi-sunak...
- perfecthjrjth 4y agoIn what way will Rishi Sunak change the course of UK? After Brexit, it is a big mess.
- lamontcg 4y agoGoing to be a bit fascinating to see how much racism he gets hit with.