European Politics discussion
I have been saying this for a while, but the antipathy of the global south to the West is not irrational. It comes from both historical and continuing abuses.
I mean, Ireland didn't unpeg from Sterling until 1979. And was a basket case until we got access in 1973 thanks for the monopsony the UK had over us. Of course we faced crippling interest rates through the 80s' and early 90's until we joined the ERM which didn't really allivate until 1993 when ERM was reformed.
Small, poor countries as it stands in the current system do not usually have a choice of good or bad. It's just which bad do you want to live with. Ireland only succeeded thanks to German guilt and a famine then sent half the country to America, to put it plainly.
Economic and trading reality finally dawning on the Tories today. Expect a lot of the British press to claim that this was a massive climb down from the EU which some politicans will tout and most are prepared to let them at it. Keir Starmer on the other hand can box clever here by helping Sunak pass the bill but not before making him swirm a little.
I mean, Ireland didn't unpeg from Sterling until 1979. And was a basket case until we got access in 1973 thanks for the monopsony the UK had over us. Of course we faced crippling interest rates through the 80s' and early 90's until we joined the ERM which didn't really allivate until 1993 when ERM was reformed.
Small, poor countries as it stands in the current system do not usually have a choice of good or bad. It's just which bad do you want to live with. Ireland only succeeded thanks to German guilt and a famine then sent half the country to America, to put it plainly.
Agreed on the bad choices. It just seems like the French system is deliberately exploitative in a manner the ERM is not.
So, early days but the Gary Lineker saga is going to be interesting. Tim Davie is talking complete undlitued horse manure on this issue and I really don't think this is going to wash. Either way, they fire Lineker, make him a martyr (with a huge following) or the let him stay and he ridicules the frankly corrupt policy of impartialty even further.
Yeah, I've been seeing some of the updates and goodness gracious has this gone poorly for the Beeb.
An own goal Chris Brass would call humiliating.
Sunak refused to back Richard Sharp. The significance here for those that don't know is the BBC is being turned into a mouth piece for the Tory Party after some questionable appointment by Johnson. Removing these appointment is the first step to getting back the BBC that held Ministers and/or government policy to account.
How the "the French are weak-wristed cowards" thing ever got started is beyond me when you see them protest. Because they go HARD.
Government being able to bypass parliament on something like this that isnt an emergency seems weird tbh.
It's legal. But in the current political climate, it feels like it's right out of the authoritarian's handbook. It's sparked a political crisis which is compounding the social crisis. Several votes of no confidence have been triggered, and although they have little chance of going through, the current government is now essentially a lame duck. Next days will be interesting.
I'm just tired of seeing a lot of news outlets overseas reporting that "France's reform plan seems pretty trivial" (I'm looking at you, BBC), because they're barely skimming the surface. I've said it in this thread before, but it's not just raising the minimum age of retirement from 62 to 64. It's almost removing a bunch of other protections for more vulnerable workers. It's penalizing women for having children (when we're already getting the short end of the stick). It's asking doctors specialized in worker heath to do extra work when they're already few and far between and stretched thin.
The government's tactics since they announced the reform have been nothing short of hypocritical. They keep saying that the reform is necessary from a financial point of view (even though the COR report says otherwise) and then they'll concede certain points to their Républicains allies, concessions which are quite costly and pander to the more well to do.
With any luck, the votes of no confidence will pass, but it's not looking good because the opposition is so fractured.
Emmanuel Macron survives no-confidence votes amid protests
The French government has survived two votes of no confidence but Emmanuel Macron continues to face protests and strikes over his decision to use executive powers to push through an unpopular rise in the pension age.
Although the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, avoided having to instantly resign, the president remains under pressure to break his silence and shore up the government amid growing anger in the streets. Opposition politicians in parliament accused him of arrogance, denying democracy and failing to learn from the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) anti-government protest movement four years ago.
Government insiders, opposition politicians and observers have raised fears that France could experience another round of spontaneous, anti-government revolt in cities and small towns – not just over raising the pension age to 64, but also because of distrust in the political system, only a few years after the gilets jaunes movement shook Macron’s first term in office.
Like I said. There was little chance of it going through. Unfortunate.
And again, it’s frustrating to see news outlet focusing on raising the retirement age, there’s a lot more with that reform which is massively wrong.
Met Police report: Rape cases ruined, officer's beard cut.... five findings from Casey review
A damning report into the culture and standards of the Metropolitan Police has laid bare deep and widespread failings in the force.
Discrimination is baked into it; it is failing women and children; it is unable to police itself; and public confidence has been shattered, Baroness Louise Casey concluded.
Here are five striking findings from the 363-page report:
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