Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Tonitrus]

I suppose with a 4-way FPTP election, the Lib Dems could come out on top after all. 

[Valmy]

I suppose with a 4-way FPTP election, the Lib Dems could come out on top after all. 

It is what 1904-1924 Winston Churchill would have wanted

[Sheilbh]

I think you'll find he was mainly focused on winning the Battle of Verdun

[Zanza]

[Maladict]

I guess that's why Corbyn isn't opposed to Brexit

[Josquius]

The sad thing is those towards the top of the deprivation scale usually have lower education levels so will believe it when somebody gives them a scapegoat and the actual solutions to their problems are dangerous and evil.
Whilst those at the top of the wealth scale laugh.

[Syt]

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/01/tech/facebook-false-ads-uk/index.html

Facebook will allow UK election candidates to run false ads

London and New York (CNN Business)A controversial policy allowing politicians to run false ads on Facebook will extend to the United Kingdom as the country prepares to vote in a historic December election, Facebook confirmed to CNN Business.

The policy is being championed by Facebook executive Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom who himself once complained about "lies" spread during the 2016 Brexit referendum.

The company will not fact-check ads run by British political parties and the thousands of candidates running for election to the House of Commons. Ads from other political groups, like the pro-Brexit group Leave.EU, will be subjected to fact-checking, the company confirmed.

The same policy in the United States has led to a backlash from Democratic presidential candidates, Congress, and even some Facebook employees. The scrutiny has prompted its Silicon Valley rival Twitter to announce that it would stop accepting political ads next month. Google-owned YouTube, however, allowed the Trump campaign to run a false ad. Google did not respond to a request for comment on Friday about its policy for the British election

Damian Collins, a Conservative member of Parliament who has been spearheading parliamentary hearings on Facebook, told CNN Business Friday: "People shouldn't be able to spread disinformation during election campaigns just because they are paying Facebook to do so."

After the 2016 referendum, Clegg, who wanted Britain to remain in the European Union, lamented to The Yorkshire Post about "the colossal scale of the lies spread by the Leave campaign."
However, Clegg, who joined Facebook in 2018, does not believe Facebook should be responsible for fact-checking politicians.

The policy has been in place for about a year. But Clegg reignited the issue in a speech in Washington, DC, in September.

"Would it be acceptable to society at large to have a private company in effect become a self-appointed referee for everything that politicians say? I don't believe it would be," Clegg said. "In open democracies, voters rightly believe that, as a general rule, they should be able to judge what politicians say themselves."

Clegg said Facebook will "draw the line at any speech which can lead to real world violence and harm."

Collins has pressed Clegg to have Facebook hold politicians' advertisements to the same standards as others.

"You have to question whether Nick Clegg has made any positive difference at Facebook. He certainly hasn't from our perspective," Collins told CNN Business.

The company will stop politicians from running ads that directly link to content that has already been debunked by its fact-checkers. However, if a politician were to repeat the same false information themselves, it would be allowed, the company confirmed.

The December 12 UK election will be one of the first times the controversial Facebook policy will be tested in a major contest in an English-speaking country, one that's being described as among the most important in UK history.

The country continues to find itself stumbling as it attempts to leave the European Union, with two successive Conservative Prime Ministers -- Theresa May and now Boris Johnson -- failing to get a Brexit deal through a severely fractured parliament.

Who gets elected to Parliament will shape what Brexit looks like — and possibly determine whether it happens at all.

There are strict rules around campaigning in the UK -- campaigns only last six weeks and there are no paid campaign ads on television or radio. Instead, political parties and candidates get equal time from broadcasters.

This election in particular is unusual in that it is the first December election since 1923. Despite the Christmas lights and cheer, much of the country is cold and shrouded in darkness, only getting eight or fewer hours of light per day.

That has led to fears there may be less door-to-door campaigning — placing an even greater importance on social media.

Though Facebook is getting the brunt of the criticism regarding the political ads, experts say outdated political campaign laws are also to blame.

Though plenty of parliamentary committee time and ink has been spent investigating social media's impact on elections and campaigns in the UK, the law has not changed, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, head of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University told CNN Business.

"I think it's important to recognize that Facebook has a lot to answer for and it's important we look critically at what they do and what they enable," he said. "But it's also really, really important we recognize that British politicians have done nothing to change the rules of the game despite all the shortcomings we have documented on how those rules have worked in recent elections."

[Valmy]

I think you'll find he was mainly focused on winning the Battle of Verdun

In fact he gave this speech at Verdun in 1916: "We will fight on to the end. We shall fight in Fort Douaumont, we shall fight in Fort Vaux, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in Fort Souville, we shall defend our Verdun, whatever the cost may be. If we stand at Verdun, all Europe may be freed the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands to vote Liberal in 2019."

So really if you don't vote Liberal Democrat in 2019 you are dishonoring all the men of the British Empire who gave their lives to defend Verdun.

[Tonitrus]

The locals have been setting off fireworks every night the last few nights.

With the reputation Parliament has these days, I hope they're keeping an eye on the basements. 

[Tamas]

The locals have been setting off fireworks every night the last few nights.

With the reputation Parliament has these days, I hope they're keeping an eye on the basements. 

It happens every year before (and a bit after) Guy Fawkes day.

[Sheilbh]

Which also is around the time of Diwali so in certain areas you'll get even more fireworks

[Josquius]

Out walking yesterday some bright sparks were putting on a front yard fireworks display at 2pm.
It really is weird how things are done here. All piecemeal and over the course of weeks.
Quite a contrast to September 1st in Switzerland where there's a one day war zone where people go to a public display then set off their own fireworks after it, maybe a Saturday just after to use the remnants, and that's it.

[Tonitrus]

Out walking yesterday some bright sparks were putting on a front yard fire display at 2pm.
It really is weird how things are done here. All piecemeal and over the course of weeks.
Quite a contrast to September 1st in Switzerland where there's a one day war zone where people go to a public display then set off their own fireworks after it, maybe a Saturday just after to use the remnants, and that's it.

The latter is how the 4th of July usually works too.

[Admiral Yi]

I always hear people blowing off practice ammo on July 3rd.

I think people see it as opening one present on Christmas Eve.

[Legbiter]

According to this the Conservatives will get a fairly comfy majority.

The Conservatives hold a 16-point lead over Labour ahead of the 12 December general election, according to the latest Opinium/Observer poll.

With Boris Johnson set to launch his party's campaign on Wednesday, the Tories are up 2pts on 42% compared with a week ago, with Labour, also up 2pts, on 26%.

If the lead endured until polling day, it would be enough to give the Tories a comfortable overall majority and allow the prime minister to push his Brexit deal through parliament and take the UK out of the EU.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/02/tories-hold-16-point-lead-over-labour-according-to-poll

At least there won't be a hung parliament.