moderatecentrist

This article is basically about right-wingers getting angry about The Odyssey while the film has done very well at the box office.

Maybe some right-wing people just like getting angry when there's really not much reason to get angry.

Should the UK abolish the triple-lock?

Interestingly, Andy Burnham took part in an "Ask Me Anything" thread on Reddit the other day, and the most common topic raised by Redditors was the triple-lock. The thread is here and the top-voted comment, which Burnham didn't reply to, was this:

Why is the Triple Lock a defensible position when 1/4 Pensioners are millionaires, many are significantly well off, children are in poverty at far higher rates, and we are running a substantial deficit in a low growth economy?

Why, in your view, is this fair on younger workers who will not benefit from this unsustainable policy due to its long run negative impact on national debt and fiscal headroom?

"This is a coalition of warmongers," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, accusing the group of wanting to "continue the war"

Is it right for the Kremlin to describe Ukraine's European supporters as "warmongers" given that it is Russia which made its own choice to start a war with Ukraine?

This is a poll of the UK public in general, not the people of Clacton, so it doesn't show that Binface is leading in Clacton. But it's interesting that the British public prefer Binface to Farage.

This article is from France's state-owned radio news network. It says:

As human-induced climate change continues to push temperatures higher, Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent

What do you think about this? And why do you think a lot of members of the public still deny the existence of man-made climate change?

TLDR: Nigel Farage, the UK's equivalent of Donald Trump, is facing an election against a novelty candidate called Count Binface.

Article about this: UK Farage's election gamble could see him face one challenger... Count Binface

To explain: Farage has recently been facing scrutiny, because he has received a lot of money from controversial people.

Farage seemingly didn't like parliament's investigation into the money he received (to see if he broke any rules), so he decided to quit as the member of parliament for Clacton in south-east England. By quitting, a new election is triggered, in which he plans to stand. He thinks that the people of Clacton should judge whether they still support him, after the revelations regarding the money he has received.

Farage does have a lot of genuine support in Clacton, so he thought he could beat the mainstream parties (Labour, Conservatives, etc) in a new election, to show everyone that he is still popular, regardless of his finances.

The mainstream parties are refusing to enter candidates for this election though. They think Farage is just organising a stunt, in order to distract from legitimate questions about his finances.

The only person so far to announce that they will stand against Farage for his seat in Clacton is Count Binface, a novelty candidate who has stood in a few elections, usually against high profile politicians.

What do you think about this?

The article is behind a paywall but you can see the first two paragraphs. The headline alone is something I agree with, regardless of the article. This quote is good:

Nigel Farage has called a referendum on whether he should be allowed to accept millions of pounds from a secretive donor based in Thailand without declaring it properly, and it looks as if the only person who is prepared to have this argument with him is a man with a bin on his head.

The risk... is that Farage comes across as self-indulgent, entitled and petulant. And given he seems set to face a parade of novelty or fringe candidates and no one else, he may appear mainly foolish.

Thoughts on this?

Thoughts on this?

John Healey has resigned because he thinks the government isn't going to allocate enough money for defence.

Should the UK spend more on defence?

I read this article this morning, about the Makerfield by-election.

Who do you want to win? It's obviously a significant by-election. If Burnham wins, he might become the new prime minister, and perhaps he would revive Labour's fortunes. But if Reform win, it would give them a lot of momentum, and it would be a big blow to Labour.

Nick Clegg was Deputy Prime Minister of the UK between 2010 and 2015. He then worked for Meta between 2018 and 2025, in a high-ranking position.

Of course it's obvious that Silicon Valley has become more friendly with MAGA. An example was when Tim Cook gifted a gold trophy to Trump.

I think it's interesting to hear this perspective from someone who worked high up at Meta, though.

If Burnham becomes PM, should he call a new election with electoral reform in his manifesto?

Labour's current options are limited due to the limited manifesto they ran on in 2024.

Of course the risk with a general election is that it could put Farage into number 10 with a Reform/Tory coalition government.

What do you think?