General Discussion for politics in the UK.
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Completely unacceptable!!!! What's that? Farage accepted £5m just before running as MP? No problems there, I'm sure it was all above board...
Both can be wrong at the same time.
But that's still a huge difference between a bureaucratic bungle and open, blatant corruption.
If you look at the facts, it's not as clear-cut as one might think. Polansky and his husband have the boat and also rented a flat nearby. The rent on the flat included council tax. So it was really a matter of confusion as to whether council tax were payable on the boat, and what would make the boat a primary residence. And both the boat and the flat were in the same council, so the allegations of voter fraud are bollocks.
I've dealt with similar situations (though not involving a boat, just two residences) and, even if you ask the council, it's rare that you'll get the same answer twice.
But of course the left has to be 100% perfect, whereas Farage? Well, that's just Nige being Nige, innit?
What you described is exactly what I meant by bureaucratic bungle. I agree today we shouldn't make a mountain out of a molehill and of course we should hold all politicians to the same high standards.
Morality is judged on a spectrum, except when the point is to pardon the unpardonable.
I never said otherwise. Just sick of the double/triple standards and of our media failing us.
In Rayner's case, big sums of money were at play. The outline was similar, but the magnitude was different. And the media coverage was disproportionate in her case, too.
The establishment is absolutely shitting themselves about the greens getting anywhere near power. They would absolutely rather push it to the point of the guillotine rather than just pay their fair share and properly fund society.
Yeah... Obviously not great that Polanski bungled up (no pun intended) what counts as his "main" residence for council tax purposes. But honestly, it happens. I know people to have accidentally failed to register to pay utilities, or forgot to register that they moved and this failed to vote in the election. He's admitting it and paying. That's more than most politicians do when accused of something.
Polanski is definitely taking a lot of flak and every mistake seems like it'll get reported on. Can't wait for a "tan suit" or "Dijon mustard" moment. He's had some questionable things turn up about his past for sure though, sadly.
Either way, it shows the Greens are getting popular and I'll take that. If it turns out Polanski is unfit to lead then hopefully someone else can take his place.
Honestly my biggest takeaway from this is I'm surprised that narrowboats pay council tax at all. (If anyone's interested, it's because it's moored and using the marina bungalow as a contract address. Otherwise there would be no tax to pay).
As for Polanski, from what I can tell, he's not trying to spin it, deny it or avoid it. The amount of money he should have paid is relatively small (literally the lowest band), and he's agreed to pay it plus the penalty.
Yes he's human, and everyone makes mistakes, etc, but he needs to realise he simply cannot make mistakes any more. He has to be superhuman.
Otherwise we'll continue getting a headline per week about the latest stupid thing he's done – and then because he's basically a decent person, he hands them a free "Polanski: 'It was wrong of me to…'" headline every week as well. 🙄
He needs to realise he simply cannot make mistakes any more.
Everyone makes mistakes and it never stops. That's an impossible standard. At some point you need to look at what kind of actions are drawing hostile media scrutiny, and which ones the media turns a blind eye to.
Yeah, the fact it's bullshit and impossible was kind of my point. But that doesn't change the fact that he'll be held to a higher standard by the media than any of the other leaders.
Maybe you have more faith in people's media literacy than I do. 😃
I'm less sure. Where have the Greens made social change elsewhere (in Europe)? At best the Greens are a broad political alliance that will splinter the closer they get to any power.
Every country's Green party is independent of the others. So it's irrelevant what they've done in Europe. Some, like the German Greens, have become establishment centrists like the LibDems here. Others remain radical.
By "radical" what do you mean? Changed the ownership of the means of production? Or enabled policies to ban plastic straws?
tory media lying and smearing zack just like they did nicola sturgeon because the one thing billionaires fear most is a successful left.
They're not lying, but they are digging up dirt whilst willfully ignoring that of their favourites.
Nicola gets grilled over her husband's dealings, Boris gets a free pass
How great! A politician admitting to something!
Sounds like someone with some moral awareness. Let's get him elected.
Meanwhile, billionaries are paying less taxes percentually than 99% of the population. Tax the fucking rich.
Maybe Zack could say he thought he was working for the RNLI as a spokesperson on his house boat?