UK XI: I Want To Ride My Diecycle

[Nu-Eclipse]

Assange absconded from bail on a sexual assault charge in order to hide in a foreign embassy to wait out the statute of limitations Sweden has for such offences. I do not have any positive opinions of the man.

Facts. QFT.

[egparadigm]

What are people's thoughts on Assange?

He's held up by some as a bastion of truth and a warrior against corruption, hounded by the authorities for revealing their crimes against society.

However, I'm also seeing that he's a bit self-serving. He said he was fighting local corruption, but also using what he found to help his child custody case.
He helped the Victoria Police Exploitation Unit to help prosecute individuals sending child pornography, but he did it to help reduce his hacking sentencing.
When WikiLeaks started, they were hacking to reveal their honesty or abuse, but would accept a "Secrecy Tax" to keep their findings quiet.

It was when he started leaking information he'd got from the US military that he had the ultimate hack around and find out lesson.

Should he be lauded for revealing "unvarnished" logs of the Afghan War, or should he be held accountable for releasing state secrets?

The problem with what he did was that it was indiscriminate publication putting people’s lives at risk. A genuine journalist would have had to get approval and gone throughout rigorous public interest test (or at least that’s what would be expected within the profession).

There was a film about wikileaks, He came across as a dick, although that’s a bit beside the point.

[Brad]

On another topic, I had to use a taxi to get to work today, and the driver had some right-wing talk radio station on during the journey. I don't listen to such drivel, but it was utterly depressing to put up with 15 minutes of hearing that poison. No wonder Reform are doing comparatively well in the polls if their worldview is being pumped out unfiltered by these radio stations…

Sounds like this:

https://youtu.be/XkCBhKs4faI?si=uCCK_ZTPMSLE4PAt

[Protocol Penguin]

Sounds like this:

https://youtu.be/XkCBhKs4faI?si=uCCK_ZTPMSLE4PAt

Yes! Barely an exaggeration.

[Protocol Penguin]

Even tradesmen are backing Labour now. The Tories are absolutely doomed!

[QualityChimp]

I was screaming at the radio earlier listening to what this focus group in Whitby think of the election and its candidates:
Check out How high in the Tory party does 'Gamblegate' go? from The News Agents on Amazon Music.

https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/4f8a3bd0-c447-4fa4-8d5a-b1070d2c532f/episodes/b732e21b-22c3-4ce8-8d52-f247370a97dc/the-news-agents-how-high-in-the-tory-party-does-'gamblegate'-go?ref=dm_sh_i7J43fLX06WbC8HgppOjsJbxt

[Neon Ignition]

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[Lebowski]

If betting gate couldn't get even stranger, Our local MP Philip Davies has allegedly placed an £8000 bet on himself to loose his seat???

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cxw2lm2mm14o

what a complete tool,

The local group Facebook warriors are out in force and a lot are saying they're still voting Tory, but who knows hopefully a few idiots on Facebook aren't representative of the wider area, I'm seeing just as much support for reform on these posts which makes me think good the idiot vote is split between Tory and reform so hopefully they cancel each other out.

[QualityChimp]

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Apparently, the Tories have set a limit to GE advert spending (which I agree with), but when they dropped the bombshell of the date, Labour were panicked as the government have the upper hand and know to buy all the prime advert spots online and IRL, but when Labour went to start buying the ad slots, they found the Conservatives had done nothing with the headstart and still managed to buy most of the better ad slots.

I'm guessing the Tory campaign manager was too busy down the bookies.

[Neon Ignition]

Who could replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader if he loses the election? | Conservative leadership | The Guardian
What a depressing bunch of ****'s. Showing how screwed the Tories are even post-election and in effect they can pick who they want as whoever it is seems incredibly unlikely to be the one leading the charge into GE2029

[Protocol Penguin]

Uh, weird to think this is likely the last weekend under a Tory government for a very, very long time. Possibly forever. (Unless a merged Reformative party swoops in and wins big in 2029, of course.)

[egparadigm]

Who could replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader if he loses the election? | Conservative leadership | The Guardian
What a depressing bunch of ****'s. Showing how screwed the Tories are even post-election and in effect they can pick who they want as whoever it is seems incredibly unlikely to be the one leading the charge into GE2029

Its’s going to be very interesting to see who survives as this will have a big impact on their future direction (hopefully into the dustbin of history alongside Farage).

[Nu-Eclipse]

Its’s going to be very interesting to see who survives as this will have a big impact on their future direction.

This pretty much nails it.

For me, it'll clearly either be Braverman or Badenoch (assuming neither of them lose their seats after Thursday).

But I've said it before, I'll say it again and I'll keep on saying it: If they actually do decide to bring Farage back into the Tory fold, then all bets are off - he will inevitably become Tory Leader. That will be serious if it happens.

[QualityChimp]

Would Farage join the Conservatives? I suspect the main question would be which would make him the most money.
He's grifting, but also like the easy life (that sweet MEP salary and pension, but attending minimal meetings).
I suspect his perfect job would be Tory opposition leader - you don't have to do anything, just say you will, but also still the CEO of Reform, so getting the MP wages plus any cut of donations to Reform.

I loathe the man. I know my mother-in-law is going to vote Reform without actually saying it by claiming Farage is a "clever man" and that she wants to vote in "a real opposition" to the new Labour government. FML.

In other Farage news, this was a thing of beauty:

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[Nu-Eclipse]

Would Farage join the Conservatives? I suspect the main question would be which would make him the most money.
He's grifting, but also like the easy life (that sweet MEP salary and pension, but attending minimal meetings).
I suspect his perfect job would be Tory opposition leader - you don't have to do anything, just say you will, but also still the CEO of Reform, so getting the MP wages plus any cut of donations to Reform.

First off, he used to be a Tory.

Secondly, he was openly flirting with returning to the Tories months ago when he was pictured at their main Conference! Priti Patel publicly gave him a shout-out and Sunak openly refused to rule out allowing him back into the Party - another reason I have next-to-no sympathy for the vitriolic dogwhistle racism that Sunak has suffered from Farage publicly, the exact type of racism that Sunak and the Tories openly claimed didn't exist in the UK.

It's not even about continuing to be CEO of Reform for Farage. It would ultimately be about uniting the Right fully and having the Tories fully swallow Reform (the fact that Braverman and Badenoch are frontrunners already for the Tory Leadership - both of them right-wing - shows you that this is the way they're going). Becoming Tory Leader would absolutely allow him the national platform and electoral base that Reform will likely never have to do it.