Rolling Brexit Links/UK politics in the neo-Weimar era

grebt repeal bill

"Hey everyone! It's Workie, the workplace pensions mascot!"
"Workers are disposable cogs in our glorious neo-liberal economy!"
"YAY WORKIE!"

the words "great repeal bill" contain the essence of everything horrendous and terrifying about theresa may.

OTM. What's Disraeli saying about it?

workie the workplace pensions mascot says: 'lol you'll never be able to retire you fucking peon, you'll die alone in the poorhouse and be fed to the dogs'

retiring makes workie sad!

I think the fact that it sounds like Great Reform Bill is one of the things I hate about it.

I very much agree with the hatred for the name Great Repeal Bill, expressed here.

And probably its content and effect, too.

Question: people were talking recently about a blog about 'Jolyons' -- I did not see the link -- can someone post it?

Holy hell at Workie.

Millwall Britain sounds like a keeper.

internal govt report into public's reaction to Workie:

On whether people liked Workie, the report said "perceptions of Workie are polarising".

Only 34 per cent of those surveyed liked Workie while 35 per cent disliked him. The remaining 27 per cent were "neither".

The report noted 25 per cent of those spoken to were in the "strongly dislike" category.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/furry-workie-monster-85m-year-9420645

pf- maybe this one? https://anomiegeographie.wordpress.com/2017/03/27/the-jolyoncene/

"Workie creates a sense of empathy among viewers by being non-threatening and an odd ball that is being ignored.

"Many respondents said they feel sorry for Workie."

One business, however, suggested Workie should "get stroppy" if workers ignored him in advertising.

strongly agree that they should go with this "Workie's mad as hell and he's not going to take this anymore" angle

Workie's been around what 18 months and some people are only just noticing. Questions will be asked on whether the big lad is really up to the task.

i did see him when he launched but just came to mind itt

I've been quietly thinking "what a terrible campaign" since it started but the big lad's too affable to really want to get the boot into him

Workie's been around what 18 months and some people are only just noticing

next phase of the workie rollout is higher-profile: you awake to find workie at the end of your bed in the middle of the night. as you scramble to understand what's going on, workie yells 'WHEN YOU PAY IN, YOUR BOSS PAYS IN TOO' then leaps through your bedroom window and vanishes into the darkness

you open the boot of your car to find workie squashed inside. as you reel back in shock, workie shrieks '7.5 MILLION EMPLOYEES HAVE NOW BEEN AUTOMATICALLY ENROLLED AND ARE SAVING INTO A WORKPLACE PENSION' before disappearing over the garden wall with a sleek, catlike grace

you raise the lid of the toilet to find workie's wide-eyed face staring up at you from the bowl. 'DON'T IGNORE THE WORKPLACE PENSION, GET TO KNOW THE BENEFITS' he bellows, before reaching up to the handle and flushing himself away

Thanks Bananaman.

I understand that the name is unusual but not sure it's fair to tar people's politics with it. This was probably said above.

tbh I ultimately think if these people are getting involved and doing what they can, it's all to the good.

I think it came out of Corbyn bros on twitter getting annoyed at 'Corbyn only appeals to posh Islingtonites' talk coming from, well, barristers called Jolyon.

I think people who want the Labour party to abandon socialism and ignore the working class would be better off not getting involved or doing what they can.

I thought they wanted Labour to ignore socialism and pander to the working class by sounding really racist?

Or is that a different lot? I get all these knobs mixed up these days.

iirc Joylon G advocates a "pander to the working class by sounding really racist" policy, Joylon M is more of a "Corbyn has betrayed the left by not standing up for liberal values" type.

Ken Livingstone has claimed there was at one point “real collaboration” between the Nazis and Jews, ahead of a hearing on whether he has brought the Labour party into disrepute.

at this point I can't see how Labour expelling Livingstone would be anything other than a boon to Corbyn, if they don't get rid of him this time it's surely only a matter of time until he says something else objectionable and this whole mess starts all over again?

though if they expell him I guess he might step up the offensive comments, and Corbyn would still be damaged by association, especially if Corbyn is unwilling to clearly distance himself from Livingstone (which I imagine he almost certainly would be)?

I am pretty sure that Jolyon M, whatever else he does, has not said anything racist or appealed to racism.

He is hostile to Corbyn, but I can't tell if that is for 'policy reasons' or just 'electability / effectiveness reasons'. I think the latter is understandable but don't really agree with the former.

I am a bit dubious about people who are not politicians (eg: JM) saying 'politician X is pathetically ineffective' as we don't really know how hard it is or what one should really do to be more effective. And JM has not been elected to anything.

He is anti-Brexit, anti-May, anti-BJ, anti-Gove, anti-UKIP, anti-Farage, and I agree with these positions and think it is good to make as much common cause as possible with people who hold them.

Literally the only reason we are talking about this guy is because he's called Jolyon.

why does UK hate corbyn so much?
https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/847024855321063424

https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/inlineimage/2017-03-27/Best%20Prime%20Minister%2026-27%20Mar-01.png

DC: true, but he was a speaker at the rally the other day - it's true that he has moved into the political sphere somewhat and is trying to have influence.

Mordy - other than a group of particularly vociferous Labour partisans most people probably don't hate him, it's just that hardly anyone thinks he's particularly competent, and being able to project a veneer of competence, even when you're leading the country off a cliff, is basically the only thing that matters any more.

surprising number of people seem to buy into the moronic soap opera narrative that the media pretends is politics

The divide is between people who base so much of their politics over Brexit and people who do not.

He is anti-Brexit, anti-May, anti-BJ, anti-Gove, anti-UKIP, anti-Farage, and I agree with these positions and think it is good to make as much common cause as possible with people who hold them.

― the pinefox, Thursday, 30 March 2017 13:37 (one hour ago) Permalink

If you stop this at Anti-Brexit that is actually enough for Jo Maugham (all of the other in the anti- list above are either pro-Brexit or carrying it out) (and his name is NOT the sole reason why we are talking about him, its just something to colour the picture). That Joylon tweeted (yesterday iirc) urging people to register to vote in the local elections and to vote for candidates that are anti-Brexit - so you could end up voting with a pro-austerity Tory (or who held other awful views) who was friendly to Europe!

I don't think that, in practice, someone who wants to vote against Brexit is likely to vote for a Con candidate. Very few Cons are openly friendly to Europe now.

I can see that if applied, this idea could produce a surge of Lib Dem votes.

Possibly part of the idea, then, would be for this to put pressure on Labour to be more anti-Brexit, like the Lib Dems.

It's true that it's a pity that Brexit distorts and occludes so many other political issues now. In fact this is one of the many bad things about it. It's a massive distraction.

But it's not surprising that it is influencing people's political thinking a lot, because it conditions so many other issues.

I only said Tory as an example (no doubt Joylon loves Kenneth Clarke even though he "closed hospitals for breakfast").

Lib Dems supported austerity in a coalition government but you know that's ok they are making the right noises on Europe.

I wouldn't want to vote for them. But if it was a practical choice between voting Con and voting LD, I might vote LD.

That's normal for any 'progressive coalition' perspective, as in Jeremy Gilbert. I agree with Gilbert's ideas on that issue.

I should revisit what Gilbert says on it. Have a lot of time for him.

we've had 20 years of no choice but Con or LD

SMDH at the idea that electing anti-Brexit local councillors is going to change anything at the moment.

It's the new craze that's taking the nation by storm

No, it's not going to change much. But it's still good to vote in local elections.

The bigger problem is that local councils' job has been made almost impossible by 'austerity' policy, as far as I can tell. Which makes you wonder who would want to be a councillor.

people with a long-standing need to be photographed pointing at street furniture

town halls up and down the country full of people who spent their adolescence practicing their 'grave disapproval' face in the mirror in preparation for photo duty on pg 17 of their local newspaper

likes to wear outsized gold chains, hates rap music

deep-seated desire to serve the community thru the medium of corrupt property development

people with no real friends

people researching an upcoming Ben Elton sitcom

people who really enjoy closing nurseries, old people's homes

Which makes you wonder who would want to be a councillor.

This estimable thread illustrates, if not fully explains: Local councillors