Anyway, my point in dredging this up is: look at all these fuckheads now tutting and pronouncing how ridiculous and unacceptable the deranged conduct of the Tories it is, and then look back at the shit they were only too happy to put up with and, in many cases, to actively prop up against opposition
I recall the Times repeatedly saying in editorials 2018-19 that they could not do their job of holding the Tory government to account* because doing so might damage them and benefit the left wing opposition party. You might think this was a wild thing to be saying out loud, but it was a wild time.
The press lads didn’t turn on the Tories as one in late 2021 because they had recently become embarrassing. They turned on them overnight because they had been this embarrassing *for years*, and the lads now felt safe letting them collapse, because the Labour right were finally secure as a fallback.
The utterly idiotic shenanigans of Johnson’s first six months make this shit look like steady statesmanship, and the less said about behaviour of the British press during that period, the better.
All the chat this week about how the Tories are “no longer a serious party” reminds me of this, which I put together just to show how wacky and disastrous Theresa May’s first few months in office were. Not all of this was their fault, but the summary is worth reviewing.
I see people noticing these same things being broadcast on the same show, on the same day, and concluding that it’s hypocrisy. But it isn’t: it is *effluent*, devoid of politics or meaning, content to fill space.
Further, it’s clearly part of a media reset in its relations with the government - a bit of mutually agreed detente until next year’s election, because all of that noticing how crooked McSweeney and Mandelson are was getting a bit too hairy for their liking.
Again, this is active collaboration between government and media to go back to stoking and fear hate against members of the public protesting the annihilation of the Gaza Strip. It is scum behaviour and it should be viewed with total withering contempt by everyone.
20 years of royally fucking up by the whole political establishment has left most of the UK impoverished and stagnant, while the super-rich take an ever-bigger rake-off.
And the bastards are STILL telling you it's some random foreigners' fault.
“Sorry we all collaborated on an obviously fraudulent national panic about a fictional clandestine cabal of sinister Muslims plotting to jihadify the schools of Britain, the key figures responsible will now quietly commit seppuku” feels like it would be a good start, but it’d only be a start.
Yes, it’s a playground for rich swine to run wild, pay no tax and never have to worry about the servant class voicing their insolent opinions and greedy demands. The way it should be, as far as these people are concerned.
I agree but sadly for those of us who said things like “these people are reactionary authoritarians and they have repeatedly proven they are untrustworthy” are all going to have to eat shit for at least another four years, through no fault of our own.
Sure, but none of this is possible without hundreds of MPs and almost the entire national press screaming at the public that protestors are scum who must be stomped upon.
Hard not to see this stuff as basically revelling in your total impunity: doing donuts on your little motorbike, giving the finger with both hands. LOL Fuck. You.
What’s worse: If they understand very well and are pretending they don’t, or if they are 4 Real too stupid to work it out? I don’t know, but the effect is the same.
“Why haven’t the protests against successive governments’ complicity in genocide stopped”, a mystery that is apparently beyond our finest political minds to fathom
It was a broad history of Scotland, not a specialised thing. But like I say, I assumed the summary was insanely partisan because it made it sound very silly indeed. Nope, pretty much on the money.
Genuinely could not believe what I was reading, when I encountered it again as an adult. I had to check that I wasn’t reading an extremely hostile account. And if this is the type of shenanigans we’re founding a modern state upon, then it really is no wonder that (gestures at everything in general).
One of the most hilarious episodes in British history to learn about, particularly the decades and indeed centuries of “definitely nothing fishy was going on here, everything was legit and above-board” that followed.
![Aubrey Allegretti @breeallegretti
X.com
New: Keir Starmer promises a crackdown on offensive "chants" following a wave of pro-Palestine protests on the second anniversary of Hamas's invasion of Israel.
The prime minister vows to review current public order powers for police, and promises a
"conversation" with forces about "the way these [protests] are being policed"
Protests at campuses across the UK took place yesterday, in defiance of ministers' pleas for people to show restraint out of respect for the 1,200 killed and hostages still held by Hamas.
Starmer tells hacks on a trade trip to Mumbai:
"I've asked the home secretary to look more broadly at what other powers are available, how they're being used, and whether they should be changed in any way.
"I think we need to go further than that in relation to some of the chants that are going on at some of these protests."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5hyjbx4hnlxe5il24ydnn4sr/bafkreibh5lrxnewpk5pacmiyuvo4ftdgigvcplrzqabodld5ui3whsk5ju@jpeg)
