[Mr Mercury]

Goku, on 18 April 2025 - 10:39 PM, said:

I’m not laughing at them only having 4 MPs, I’m laughing at their inability to go 2 minutes without public disputes whilst only having 4 MPs. This is a microcosm of what’ll happen when they inevitably win more seats.

And yep, certainly don’t doubt that people will turn elsewhere when they don’t feel listened to. Even if it is to parties who do not hold their best interests at heart. And if people think an ultra-capitalist populist anti-NHS party who want to funnel money to the richest in society have their best interests at heart, I’ve got a bridge to sell them etc



Oh absolutely, no doubt in my mind. And as I’ve said many a time on here, this country is teeming with absolute thickos, so I’ve no doubt we’ll see plenty of gimps elected in the future.

(You’re not thick, just heavily radicalised hence why you hand money over to Farage’s little plaything where he’s made it so it’s nigh on impossible to remove him as leader)

I was actually referring to that Johnny chap, anyhow I’m sure you know me well enough by now to know that I take not one jot of offence, or indeed notice, to what anyone thinks of me for my political views, its all about opinions, I just wish I’d still be about in around 30 years time, when I’d be pushing 90, and you’d still be fit as a fiddle to hear you say “you know what that Mercury bloke was right, this country has changed beyond all recognition from when I was a young un”. I fear for our kids and grand kids future mate, I really do!

[Mr Mercury]

Goku, on 18 April 2025 - 10:51 PM, said:

Yep, hard to argue with that. We just find ourselves constantly trying to vote for the least worst set of people, it’s crap.

So may I ask where your X is going on May 1st? Bearing in mind I won’t judge you like you judge me for exercising your democratic right.

[The Earl of Chesterfield]

Last summer people voted for change.

They were crying out for it.

After fourteen years of arrogant, entitled austerity and corruption that left the nation broke and broken.

Yet signs of that change have been few and far between. And whilst it's an undeniable fact Labour inherited a criminally neglected junkyard, they've been little more than an imitation of what went before. A pale imitation, but an imitation nonetheless. In fact they've shit on the very sections of society relying on them most for help.

That party - my party - will quite rightly receive a rinsing as a result.

The electorate haven't forgotten and certainly not forgiven the Tories, either. Lie after lie after lie. Self serving scandal after self serving scandal. Johnson, Truss, Rees-Mogg, Braverman, Cummins and a party prepared to endorse everything they did. The inept and amateur Badenoch is a desperate throw of the dice. A self awareness absent gift to an unpopular government yet on which she's failed to land a single punch.

Their extinction will extend in May.

The Lib' Dem's, Greens and numerous independents offer an alternative but lack genuine gravitas, leaving a disaffected electorate looking at Farage's latest vanity vehicle.

The names change yet the underlying aim remains the same - self promotion. Based on short term fixes for long term challenges. Alongside, of course, the squeal of dog whistle prejudice. There is a political agenda - the Trumpian trashing of regulations protecting workers, consumers and the environment in the mindless pursuit of private wealth - but Reform remains a one man, essentially one issue party.

I don't blame folk for turning to them, though. Yes there'll be a percentage who embrace those dog whistles, to whom they echo like klaxons. There'll be percentage of UK style 'MAGA's' who simply can't grasp or even celebrate the threat to the NHS, public spending and social infrastructure in a cut-off-nose-to-spite-face kinda way. However there'll be a sizable percentage sick to the back of the ballot box of everyone else. Who just wanna send a message to the mainstream parties who continue to let them down.

Again I don't blame them. In fact I blame all those - including my own party leader - to whom the word change is merely another empty promise...

This post has been edited by The Earl of Chesterfield: 19 April 2025 - 07:06 AM

[Burgerman]

The Earl of Chesterfield, on 19 April 2025 - 06:19 AM, said:

Last summer people voted for change.

They were crying out for it.

After fourteen years of arrogant, entitled austerity and corruption that left the nation broke and broken.

Yet signs of that change have been few and far between. And whilst it's an undeniable fact Labour inherited a criminally neglected junkyard, they've been little more than an imitation of what went before. A pale imitation, but an imitation nonetheless. In fact they've shit on the very sections of society relying on them most for help.

That party - my party - will quite rightly receive a rinsing as a result.

The electorate haven't forgotten and certainly not forgiven the Tories, either. Lie after lie after lie. Self serving scandal after self serving scandal. Johnson, Truss, Rees-Mogg, Braverman, Cummins and a party prepared to endorse everything they did. The inept and amateur Badenoch is a desperate throw of the dice. A self awareness absent gift to an unpopular government yet on which she's failed to land a single punch.

Their extinction will extend in May.

The Lib' Dem's, Greens and numerous independents offer an alternative but lack genuine gravitas, leaving a disaffected electorate looking at Farage's latest vanity vehicle.

The names change yet the underlying aim remains the same - self promotion. Based on short term fixes for long term challenges. Alongside, of course, the squeal of dog whistle prejudice. There is a political agenda - the Trumpian trashing of regulations protecting workers, consumers and the environment in pursuit of the mindless pursuit of private wealth - but Reform remains a one man, essentially one issue party.

I don't blame folk for turning to them, though. Yes there'll be a percentage who embrace those dog whistles, to whom they echo like klaxons. There'll be percentage of UK style 'MAGA's' who simply can't grasp or even celebrate the threat to the NHS, public spending and social infrastructure in a cut-off-nose-to-spite-face kinda way. However there'll be a sizable percentage sick to the back of the ballot box of everyone else. Who just wanna send a message to the mainstream parties who continue to let them down.

Again I don't blame them. In fact I blame all those - including my own party leader - to whom the word change is merely another empty promise...

Excellent post and I agree with every word. People have no credible alternatives anymore. Reform have hooked people with their rhetoric and I can understand why. They will do well. I disagree with their policies and I am uncomfortable with the championing of Trump. My vote will either be spoiled or if the manifesto of any other candidate is in line with my own views, they will get it.

[Wooden Spoon]

The Earl of Chesterfield, on 19 April 2025 - 06:19 AM, said:

Last summer people voted for change.

They were crying out for it.

After fourteen years of arrogant, entitled austerity and corruption that left the nation broke and broken.

Yet signs of that change have been few and far between. And whilst it's an undeniable fact Labour inherited a criminally neglected junkyard, they've been little more than an imitation of what went before. A pale imitation, but an imitation nonetheless. In fact they've shit on the very sections of society relying on them most for help.

That party - my party - will quite rightly receive a rinsing as a result.

The electorate haven't forgotten and certainly not forgiven the Tories, either. Lie after lie after lie. Self serving scandal after self serving scandal. Johnson, Truss, Rees-Mogg, Braverman, Cummins and a party prepared to endorse everything they did. The inept and amateur Badenoch is a desperate throw of the dice. A self awareness absent gift to an unpopular government yet on which she's failed to land a single punch.

Their extinction will extend in May.

The Lib' Dem's, Greens and numerous independents offer an alternative but lack genuine gravitas, leaving a disaffected electorate looking at Farage's latest vanity vehicle.

The names change yet the underlying aim remains the same - self promotion. Based on short term fixes for long term challenges. Alongside, of course, the squeal of dog whistle prejudice. There is a political agenda - the Trumpian trashing of regulations protecting workers, consumers and the environment in the mindless pursuit of private wealth - but Reform remains a one man, essentially one issue party.

I don't blame folk for turning to them, though. Yes there'll be a percentage who embrace those dog whistles, to whom they echo like klaxons. There'll be percentage of UK style 'MAGA's' who simply can't grasp or even celebrate the threat to the NHS, public spending and social infrastructure in a cut-off-nose-to-spite-face kinda way. However there'll be a sizable percentage sick to the back of the ballot box of everyone else. Who just wanna send a message to the mainstream parties who continue to let them down.

Again I don't blame them. In fact I blame all those - including my own party leader - to whom the word change is merely another empty promise...

Spot on, 100% correct. There isn’t just folk sick of it though, there’s genuine anger with Westminster

Does Perkins come to your party meetings? What’s his take on the direction Starmer is taking?

This post has been edited by Wooden Spoon: 19 April 2025 - 07:10 AM

[calvin plummers socks]

Farage was on the wireless (again) last night ranting about the bins in Birmingham and how he would make the council profitable etc etc.
He or his other parties in all his years in politics have only ever run one local council (……..it went bankrupt)

This post has been edited by calvin plummers socks: 19 April 2025 - 07:26 AM

[Burgerman]

calvin plummers socks, on 19 April 2025 - 07:26 AM, said:

Farage was on the wireless (again) last night ranting about the bins in Birmingham and how he would make the council profitable etc etc.
He or his other parties in all his years in politics have only ever run one local council (……..it went bankrupt)

Was it Staveley? They went bankrupt.

[Wooden Spoon]

calvin plummers socks, on 19 April 2025 - 07:26 AM, said:

Farage was on the wireless (again) last night ranting about the bins in Birmingham and how he would make the council profitable etc etc.
He or his other parties in all his years in politics have only ever run one local council (……..it went bankrupt)

Have they ever had a majority on any council?

[Mr Mercury]

Some decent points but missing the target.
Reform arnt just a one man party, they’ll be hundreds of decent, everyday working class folk standing in a cpl of weeks time, they’re the party. They want people to stand up and be counted to get the country back on track.
A one policy party? It was due in no small part to both Trice and Farage standing up for British steel and visiting Scunthorpe on the Tuesday that a Starmer panicked and recalled Parliament on the Saturday to pass through some hasty and haphazard laws to keep Scunthorpes steel industry open in the short term. Then the policy that is supposedly their one goal, it’s a policy that bothers millions of normal everyday Brits, and an issue that this government now seemingly ignores. Also Reform would have a full independent inquiry into the Rape gang scandal, another issue, an issue that’s arguably the biggest stain in this countries history, whereas our current government just want to ignore it and brush it under the carpet.
Will there be people who vote Reform, or even get elected for Reform who are less than desirable, of course they will, that happens in every party, just look at some of the revelations around Labour politicians and councillors.
And an agenda that trashes over workers rights and makes the rich richer? almost insinuating that millions of decent law abiding hard working Brits are deaf, dumb and blind and are like Turkeys voting for Christmas when they vote Reform. That theyre seemingly led by some political pied piper and again don’t really understand what they’re voting for? That’s why Reform support is surging as well, people no longer feel pigeon hold into voting for the two main parties, they know they can make a choice and to hell with anyone who thinks they just puppets. I still think there’s that underlying dog whistle in the post, and it’s my opinion so I may well be wrong, that if you vote Reform you don’t know what you’re doing.
Reform is Farages vanity vehicle? He was in Brussels for 17 years campaigning to get Britain out of the EU, hardly a vanity project.
And the issue that others on here post regularly about that people will vote Reform as some sort of protest against the other two parties, it’s no longer a protest vote it’s a vote for real change. The position Reform now find themselves in in the polls after just a few short years as a political party is absolutely astoundingly, and I must admit I wonder if it’s reached a ceiling, yet it slowly keeps creeping up.
Yes in some part it’s due to the distrust with the Tories and Labour but because everyday folk wants a party that stands up for them, and they’ve prepared to give Reform the chance.
May the 1st can’t come soon enough.

This post has been edited by Mr Mercury: 19 April 2025 - 07:50 AM

[Burgerman]

Wooden Spoon, on 19 April 2025 - 07:35 AM, said:

Have they ever had a majority on any council?

They have never run a single council. (CPS IN UNTRUTH SHOCKER😂)

[Wooden Spoon]

Some decent adult debate here.


I know a few of our union members at work who’ve joined reform, one’s talking about standing in Ely as a councillor- don’t know if he has yet I’ve not seen him for a week or two. That would have been unthinkable in the really not so distant past.


Yet here we are.


Reform might well have been Farages party but I think the sheer numbers of people like Mr M that have joined suggest it’s a people’s movement driven by their anger that was STARTED by Farage….what direction it goes in and how these new members like Mr M get get to influence that direction is unknown.


It could just fall apart due to infighting due to not having a clear political ideology as such, it could become something different. It’s a total unknown if the truth be told but it has support and it has momentum and it has a forthright non politician way of speaking that people relate to.


I’m not sure it’s people wanting to give reform a chance as such, I’d suggest it’s more a case that many many people just no longer identify with or are prepared to stomach the absolute rot that the the three main parties continue to serve up. One thing I can tell you is lazily branding both reform and/or their voters as racists won’t do anything to diminish the support they are getting.


Drill down into the NHS policy, and the cost of medications, the policy on pensions and welfare to see what they are really about IMO. You know the stuff ordinary people really care about.


It’s certainly going to be an interesting couple of months.

[Wooden Spoon]

Burgerman, on 19 April 2025 - 08:36 AM, said:

They have never run a single council. (CPS IN UNTRUTH SHOCKER😂)

You can always rely on CPS!!!


I wonder if he meant UKIP and Thanet Council?


Which didn’t go bust either when UKIP had their two brief spells as the majority, according to Mr Google

[calvin plummers socks]

Burgerman, on 19 April 2025 - 08:36 AM, said:

They have never run a single council. (CPS IN UNTRUTH SHOCKER😂)

??
UKIP ran one -Reform haven’t (yet)

[The Jolly Friar]

Burgerman, on 19 April 2025 - 07:06 AM, said:

Excellent post and I agree with every word. People have no credible alternatives anymore. Reform have hooked people with their rhetoric and I can understand why. They will do well. I disagree with their policies and I am uncomfortable with the championing of Trump. My vote will either be spoiled or if the manifesto of any other candidate is in line with my own views, they will get it.

Reform have indeed hooked people with their rhetoric, common sense. It's not Farage rallying the people, its the people rallying Reform. Still, no doubt, with the local elections coming we await the Reform slurs from all the usual suspects.

Britain is broken and the culture that binds its people is slowly being stripped and eradicated. The main poltical parties are responsible and have done nothing to halt the decline but lie and deceive the voters. Reform is the last hope. I shall be voting locally and nationally for Reform with pride and for my country's way of life.

[The Jolly Friar]

Mr Mercury, on 19 April 2025 - 07:36 AM, said:

Some decent points but missing the target.
Reform arnt just a one man party, they’ll be hundreds of decent, everyday working class folk standing in a cpl of weeks time, they’re the party. They want people to stand up and be counted to get the country back on track.
A one policy party? It was due in no small part to both Trice and Farage standing up for British steel and visiting Scunthorpe on the Tuesday that a Starmer panicked and recalled Parliament on the Saturday to pass through some hasty and haphazard laws to keep Scunthorpes steel industry open in the short term. Then the policy that is supposedly their one goal, it’s a policy that bothers millions of normal everyday Brits, and an issue that this government now seemingly ignores. Also Reform would have a full independent inquiry into the Rape gang scandal, another issue, an issue that’s arguably the biggest stain in this countries history, whereas our current government just want to ignore it and brush it under the carpet.
Will there be people who vote Reform, or even get elected for Reform who are less than desirable, of course they will, that happens in every party, just look at some of the revelations around Labour politicians and councillors.
And an agenda that trashes over workers rights and makes the rich richer? almost insinuating that millions of decent law abiding hard working Brits are deaf, dumb and blind and are like Turkeys voting for Christmas when they vote Reform. That theyre seemingly led by some political pied piper and again don’t really understand what they’re voting for? That’s why Reform support is surging as well, people no longer feel pigeon hold into voting for the two main parties, they know they can make a choice and to hell with anyone who thinks they just puppets. I still think there’s that underlying dog whistle in the post, and it’s my opinion so I may well be wrong, that if you vote Reform you don’t know what you’re doing.
Reform is Farages vanity vehicle? He was in Brussels for 17 years campaigning to get Britain out of the EU, hardly a vanity project.
And the issue that others on here post regularly about that people will vote Reform as some sort of protest against the other two parties, it’s no longer a protest vote it’s a vote for real change. The position Reform now find themselves in in the polls after just a few short years as a political party is absolutely astoundingly, and I must admit I wonder if it’s reached a ceiling, yet it slowly keeps creeping up.
Yes in some part it’s due to the distrust with the Tories and Labour but because everyday folk wants a party that stands up for them, and they’ve prepared to give Reform the chance.
May the 1st can’t come soon enough.

Perhaps the most honest and accuarate assessment post of the year.

[Goku]

Mr Mercury, on 18 April 2025 - 11:03 PM, said:

So may I ask where your X is going on May 1st? Bearing in mind I won’t judge you like you judge me for exercising your democratic right.

You know what, I’ve genuinely not given it a moments thought, I shall have to ponder and research.

[Misnomer]

The Jolly Friar, on 19 April 2025 - 09:29 AM, said:

Reform have indeed hooked people with their rhetoric, common sense. It's not Farage rallying the people, its the people rallying Reform. Still, no doubt, with the local elections coming we await the Reform slurs from all the usual suspects.

Britain is broken and the culture that binds its people is slowly being stripped and eradicated. The main poltical parties are responsible and have done nothing to halt the decline but lie and deceive the voters. Reform is the last hope. I shall be voting locally and nationally for Reform with pride and for my country's way of life.

Well said. Second sentence is spot on.

It amazes me that folk can't understand the anger that's simmering away. It's not just about immigration, it's also about the utter nonsense that ordinary folk are sick to the back teeth of.

[Spire-ite]

Mr Mercury, on 19 April 2025 - 07:36 AM, said:

Some decent points but missing the target.
Reform arnt just a one man party, they’ll be hundreds of decent, everyday working class folk standing in a cpl of weeks time, they’re the party. They want people to stand up and be counted to get the country back on track.
A one policy party? It was due in no small part to both Trice and Farage standing up for British steel and visiting Scunthorpe on the Tuesday that a Starmer panicked and recalled Parliament on the Saturday to pass through some hasty and haphazard laws to keep Scunthorpes steel industry open in the short term. Then the policy that is supposedly their one goal, it’s a policy that bothers millions of normal everyday Brits, and an issue that this government now seemingly ignores. Also Reform would have a full independent inquiry into the Rape gang scandal, another issue, an issue that’s arguably the biggest stain in this countries history, whereas our current government just want to ignore it and brush it under the carpet.
Will there be people who vote Reform, or even get elected for Reform who are less than desirable, of course they will, that happens in every party, just look at some of the revelations around Labour politicians and councillors.
And an agenda that trashes over workers rights and makes the rich richer? almost insinuating that millions of decent law abiding hard working Brits are deaf, dumb and blind and are like Turkeys voting for Christmas when they vote Reform. That theyre seemingly led by some political pied piper and again don’t really understand what they’re voting for? That’s why Reform support is surging as well, people no longer feel pigeon hold into voting for the two main parties, they know they can make a choice and to hell with anyone who thinks they just puppets. I still think there’s that underlying dog whistle in the post, and it’s my opinion so I may well be wrong, that if you vote Reform you don’t know what you’re doing.
Reform is Farages vanity vehicle? He was in Brussels for 17 years campaigning to get Britain out of the EU, hardly a vanity project.
And the issue that others on here post regularly about that people will vote Reform as some sort of protest against the other two parties, it’s no longer a protest vote it’s a vote for real change. The position Reform now find themselves in in the polls after just a few short years as a political party is absolutely astoundingly, and I must admit I wonder if it’s reached a ceiling, yet it slowly keeps creeping up.
Yes in some part it’s due to the distrust with the Tories and Labour but because everyday folk wants a party that stands up for them, and they’ve prepared to give Reform the chance.
May the 1st can’t come soon enough.

Nail squarely on head. Well put.

[Mr Mercury]

The Jolly Friar, on 19 April 2025 - 09:29 AM, said:

Reform have indeed hooked people with their rhetoric, common sense. It's not Farage rallying the people, its the people rallying Reform. Still, no doubt, with the local elections coming we await the Reform slurs from all the usual suspects.

Britain is broken and the culture that binds its people is slowly being stripped and eradicated. The main poltical parties are responsible and have done nothing to halt the decline but lie and deceive the voters. Reform is the last hope. I shall be voting locally and nationally for Reform with pride and for my country's way of life.

Tbh I missed this earlier, but like I think Misnomer alluded to, the point you made “it’s not Farage rallying the people, it’s the people rallying Reform” is bang on the money. At the start it probably was Farage leading the way but now it’s very much the people getting involved in huge numbers at grass roots level that’s becoming the driving force. Don’t get me wrong I’d still better amazed if we got enough seats to actually win a general election, and in the medium to long term it might all implode but one things for sure at this moment in time there’s a definite air of change in British politics.

This post has been edited by Mr Mercury: 19 April 2025 - 03:37 PM

[Mr Mercury]

Wooden Spoon, on 19 April 2025 - 08:38 AM, said:

Some decent adult debate here.


I know a few of our union members at work who’ve joined reform, one’s talking about standing in Ely as a councillor- don’t know if he has yet I’ve not seen him for a week or two. That would have been unthinkable in the really not so distant past.


Yet here we are.


Reform might well have been Farages party but I think the sheer numbers of people like Mr M that have joined suggest it’s a people’s movement driven by their anger that was STARTED by Farage….what direction it goes in and how these new members like Mr M get get to influence that direction is unknown.


It could just fall apart due to infighting due to not having a clear political ideology as such, it could become something different. It’s a total unknown if the truth be told but it has support and it has momentum and it has a forthright non politician way of speaking that people relate to.


I’m not sure it’s people wanting to give reform a chance as such, I’d suggest it’s more a case that many many people just no longer identify with or are prepared to stomach the absolute rot that the the three main parties continue to serve up. One thing I can tell you is lazily branding both reform and/or their voters as racists won’t do anything to diminish the support they are getting.


Drill down into the NHS policy, and the cost of medications, the policy on pensions and welfare to see what they are really about IMO. You know the stuff ordinary people really care about.


It’s certainly going to be an interesting couple of months.

Missed the bit we’re you also said that although the momentum was garnered by Farage it’s now the sheer number of people on the ground both joining and seemingly willing to vote Reform that is now the driving force. Decent points as well regarding how the party develops policy the more votes it gets in the locals and if the polls situation remains similar towards the next election.

This post has been edited by Mr Mercury: 19 April 2025 - 03:56 PM