British Politics Guide

[alice]

Bear in mind that he has to avoid offending the most important people in any election campaign: the owners of the right-wing newspapers.

[Ketsuban]

Since nobody linked the source.

Sunak received his loudest applause from the Tory crowd in Manchester when he [baldly declared]: “A man is a man and a woman is a woman.” Does Starmer [...] agree? “Yes, of course,” he responds crisply and without qualification. “You know, a woman is a female adult.”

Call me crazy, but when Keir Starmer answers the question "do you agree with Rishi Sunak's statements on trans women" with an emphatic yes I'm inclined to think he's telling you what he thinks rather than that he's playing nine-dimensional electoral chess. I only trust politicians to go back on their word when it involves adopting left-wing policies.

[Raphael]

I'm inclined to think he's telling you what he thinks rather than that he's playing nine-dimensional electoral chess.

It's not so much nine-dimensional electoral chess as plain cowardice. But yes, it could be simply what he thinks, too.

[Arkasas]

Part of it is the gradual intellectual and moral decline of the Tory party. Just look at, say, Tory Foreign Secretaries. Johnson and Hunt are no Hammond and Hague; Hammond and Hague are no Rifkind and Hurd. Rifkind and Hurd were arguably no Major and Howe, and certainly Major and Howe were no Carrington and Pym.

Sunak, in his infinite wisdom, seems to have found a solution to this decline, at least as far as Foreign Secretaries go: David Cameron.

[alice]

To quote someone else: "Yesterday's Man for Tomorrow's Future!".

[Raphael]

Not that I'd have any sympathy for either Sunak or Cameron, of course, but I do kind of wonder what's it like to work in a lower position in a place where you used to be the boss, or to have someone working for you who used to do your current job.

[Raphael]

Just started to read the Wikipedia article on the whole Post Office scandal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_P ... ce_scandal

Wow. That's really very fucked up.

(On a minor note, I wish at least one of the news reports or blog posts I read on the matter would have explained the basics of what happened as clearly and concisely as the opening paragraph of the Wikipedia article. For a while, all I understood was that there was something somehow scandalous involving the British Post Office, computers, and miscarriages of justice.)

[Linguoboy]

Just started to read the Wikipedia article on the whole Post Office scandal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_P ... ce_scandal

Wow. That's really very fucked up.

Ian Hislop of Private Eye has made bringing this to light something of a personal crusade and has delivered several blistering screeds on the subject. I'm not sure if it's him who coined the descriptor "the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history" but I've heard him deploy it several times.

Even after I understood the basic scandal, he was instrumental in helping me comprehend one of the most appalling aspects of it: It was essentially the rich plundering the middle-class. The higher-ups new that the software was faulty and that the subpostmaters couldn't possibly have owed that much, but the money for their bonuses had to come from somewhere. Hislop correctly identified the scandal as a direct consequence of running the Post for profit.

[Raphael]

Trivial note: a few days ago, I noticed that the word "laboratory" contains the names of both of the major British parties (yes, I know about the missing "u"), and now I can't unsee that.

[hwhatting]

Trivial note: a few days ago, I noticed that the word "laboratory" contains the names of both of the major British parties (yes, I know about the missing "u"), and now I can't unsee that.

That somehow reminded me of how, when I was a pre-teen and didn't know much English yet, I was wondering about the Leber-Party they were talking about in the news (that was that period in the 70s when Britain seemed to have an election about every year) - did Britain have parties where everybody ate liver, and what did that have to do with politics?

[Raphael]

Why is the collection of built-up areas that serves as the capital of the UK generally called "London" and not "Westminster"?

[Ketsuban]

The name London had greater prestige since it was considered to be Roman in origin; the Anglo-Saxon settlement which eventually became the city of Westminster was originally Lundenwic (now Aldwych, "old village").

[Raphael]

Thank you!

[WeepingElf]

London? Westminster? WTF? Historically, this conurbation should rather be known as Ossulstone

[Ketsuban]

Even that name would arguably be outdated; the creation of Greater London in 1965 subsumed not just Ossulstone but the entirety of the county of Middlesex (the parts of which that were not within the Greater London boundary were transferred to the counties of Hertfordshire and Surrey).

[zompist]

Why is the collection of built-up areas that serves as the capital of the UK generally called "London" and not "Westminster"?

This would be an interesting philological study, though I suspect the answer would be "You have to call it something, and that something has always been London." And that in turn is because London is older: the City of London dates back before Alfred (i.e. 800s), and Westminster to the 1000s. (An abbey existed there earlier, but that's when the kings moved there.)

It's noticeable that 19th century maps call the conurbation "London", but 17th century English maps are labeled "London, Westminster, and Southwark." But even at that time foreigners called it London, as on this German map.

The next step would probably be to look at literature to see what people who lived there called it. You can search Shakespeare here; there are 8 references to Westminster (almost all referring to the abbey, where kings were crowned), 2 to Southwark, and 65 to London. So far as I can see, he refers to London exactly as we would, as the capital of England. For instance, a line from Henry VI is telling:

For, as I hear, the king is fled to London,
To call a present court of parliament.

Both king and parliament lived in Westminster, so it's significant that "London" is used here. Once you're out of town, the local distinctions didn't matter.

[Raphael]

Wow, thank you for the work that went into that!

[Raphael]

And the election has been set for July 4th. (IMO it's one of the more questionable features of the British system that the Prime Minister gets to make a campaign speech in the same announcement in which he says when the election is.)

Serious question: When do the summer vacations, err, I mean, holidays start in the UK?

[Ketsuban]

Depends on the council (and public schools keep their own timetable) but I checked the website for my local council and their summer term ends on the 24th of July. (Half-term is on the 27th of this month and goes through to the 3rd.)

[Raphael]

Depends on the council (and public schools keep their own timetable) but I checked the website for my local council and their summer term ends on the 24th of July. (Half-term is on the 27th of this month and goes through to the 3rd.)

Thank you. I had been wondering if people might be kept from voting by being away from home on election day.