As someone near Southampton, which had to bear the brunt of knuckledraggers fuelled by said "pure cold rage", I would not find that very funny I'm afraid.
Real people have been put in danger by Farage. It's not imo a laughing matter.
I don't agree. Taking the piss out of bullies deflates them, and they don't like it.
Like Jane R says, that is easy to say from a distance. I am all for taking the piss out of bullies but real people's lives were harmed here.
The Guardian has done a particular hatchet job on Farage, with their columnists John Crace and Marina Hyde attacking him savagely. I guess some people think this is pointless or harmful?
The Guardian has done a particular hatchet job on Farage, with their columnists John Crace and Marina Hyde attacking him savagely. I guess some people think this is pointless or harmful?
I don't think anyone has suggested this. I just said that I wouldn't find a "cold hard rage" t-shirt funny.
Have Labour won, though? The result doesn't seem to have been declared yet, after a second count.
At present all we know is that no candidate had 50% of the first votes, and that the Labour and Reform candidates were in the top two spots. Presently they're counting the second votes, which will then give a winner.
Bev Craig was only a few percent from getting in on first votes only, that's very impressive. She also got more second preference votes than Sian Astley for Reform, widening an already significant lead.
I also note that on expected 2nd preferences Bev Craig also did better than Sian Astley - if we assume that Green and LibDem voters are likely to put Labour as their second vote then of the 79670 who voted Green or LibDem first, 58,076 voted Labour second (73%); but for Restore and Conservative there were 87310 first votes but only 45250 second votes (52%). I know that it's probable that some Green/LibDem 1st votes went Reform 2nd, and some Restore/Con 1st votes went Lab 2nd, but that's not obvious (Con 1 Lab 2 wouldn't be very unusual in Scotland, but less likely in England), and there were also the 2969 1st votes for the independent.
The far-right got about 35%(give or take, depending on how many Tory voters were closer to Reform than to Lib or Lab) in the first round. That's pretty much what I'd expect, given my fourth-hand impressions of Manchester and its politics.
I'm very glad Labour won, but very depressed by the comments on various Reform Facebook posts about how they'd rigged the vote. There is a lot to be done to improve political education and to stop bots taking over feeds.
I'm very glad Labour won, but very depressed by the comments on various Reform Facebook posts about how they'd rigged the vote. There is a lot to be done to improve political education and to stop bots taking over feeds.
On the contrary, I would have been astonished had Reform not made all kinds of unverifiable claims.
I'm very glad Labour won, but very depressed by the comments on various Reform Facebook posts about how they'd rigged the vote. There is a lot to be done to improve political education and to stop bots taking over feeds.
There are lots of comments online from Reform voters about the winner's hair style(presumably they mean sexuality) and (Muslim} family voting and about a new rigged system, but pretty much zero that I can see about Reform's policies and how they might have been preferable for Manchester.
@Alan29 Isn’t it a fundamental principle in politics that if you can’t attack your opponent’s policies you attack your opponent? It happens in our Courts too, and is usually a sign of desperation and weakness, IMHO.
I'm very glad Labour won, but very depressed by the comments on various Reform Facebook posts about how they'd rigged the vote. There is a lot to be done to improve political education and to stop bots taking over feeds.
Don't be depressed. Numpties will always do this, and it shows they have no actual ideas.
I'm very glad Labour won, but very depressed by the comments on various Reform Facebook posts about how they'd rigged the vote.
There is a general importing of American political ideas/vocabulary into British politics and a lot of online content reflects/is part of that. I assume at least part of it is people looking at what gets most engagement and replicating it
I'm very glad Labour won, but very depressed by the comments on various Reform Facebook posts about how they'd rigged the vote. There is a lot to be done to improve political education and to stop bots taking over feeds.
History has shown that humans are quite capable of spewing ill-informed bile without robotic assistance. I am encouraged by the result: two-thirds of those who voted rejected Reform!
On the other hand, in a Westminster election it's possible to win an overall majority with about 40% of the vote. High time to scrap FPTP.
My Reform MP is just back from America. One he has invited J. D. Vance to visit our town and two he thinks deporting sex offenders who are not British to El Salvador is a good idea.
I don't think he is much of a threat as such at least not to our town as I'm pretty sure he'd prefer to stand as an MP next time somewhere where he isn't quite as well known. This is a very conservative with a small c town and his defection to Reform hasn't been wildly popular round here.
My Reform MP is just back from America. One he has invited J. D. Vance to visit our town and two he thinks deporting sex offenders who are not British to El Salvador is a good idea.
I don't think he is much of a threat as such at least not to our town as I'm pretty sure he'd prefer to stand as an MP next time somewhere where he isn't quite as well known. This is a very conservative with a small c town and his defection to Reform hasn't been wildly popular round here.
Reform seem to get more repulsive by the day. They appear to be trying to outdo Restore Britain as the Nasty Party...
Yes Restore are having the effect of pushing Reform even further right. Though they are still not crossing the line and supporting Tommy Robinson or whatever his name is today. They are down in the polls and have gone to second place below Labour. The Cons are snapping at their heels.
Not only that but Burnham has toppled Farage off the best political leader slot.
It is early and no chickens are being counted but if it carries on this way Reform could be in real trouble by the next General Election.
I'm hoping they'd be in real trouble by the council elections in May, I'm not fancying having 5 years with any of them on my council - or any other council.
Reform seem to get more repulsive by the day. They appear to be trying to outdo Restore Britain as the Nasty Party...
Yes Restore are having the effect of pushing Reform even further right. Though they are still not crossing the line and supporting Tommy Robinson or whatever his name is today. They are down in the polls and have gone to second place below Labour. The Cons are snapping at their heels.
Not only that but Burnham has toppled Farage off the best political leader slot.
It is early and no chickens are being counted but if it carries on this way Reform could be in real trouble by the next General Election.
My main reservation is that not only are the Conservatives moving to the right to preserve their support and discourage any more of their MPs from jumping ship, but Labour may also be sliding into right wing populism.
That could give reasonable people with an ounce of empathy a choice of the LibDems, the Greens and in Scotland and Wales respectively the SNP and Plaid Cymru. The alternative as ever is to hold one’s nose and vote Labour as the party best able to beat the knuckledraggers of various kinds.
But what's the point of voting for them if they're just going to do what the knuckledraggers want? A question I have asked my MP (I'm still waiting for a reply).
But Labour are the knuckledraggers on several counts where they too indulge in out-group denigration and scapegoating.
What fascists do is displacement - where blame is redirected from the real causes of people's problems onto safer, softer or more vulnerable targets who are then demonised and attacked with the full force and power of the state.
This is what Labour is doing to trans people, disabled people and immigrants.
They are part of the far right and share its targets.
Burnham shows no signs of stopping these displacement strategies that encourage the population to falsely blame innocent others for their problems and to think punishing and depriving those others will make them magically safer or more prosperous.
That makes them shitbirds of the same feather as Reform, Restore and the Conservatives. They differ only in degree but they share the same far-right mindset and its fundamentally immoral approach of attacking and demonising innocent vulnerable people for political gain.
Comments
Like Jane R says, that is easy to say from a distance. I am all for taking the piss out of bullies but real people's lives were harmed here.
I don't think anyone has suggested this. I just said that I wouldn't find a "cold hard rage" t-shirt funny.
Oh, and we know turnout was only about 25%.
O! what a dismally low turnout, though...
Another blow for Reform. I wonder if Farage is beginning to regret his hissy-fit resignation?
I also note that on expected 2nd preferences Bev Craig also did better than Sian Astley - if we assume that Green and LibDem voters are likely to put Labour as their second vote then of the 79670 who voted Green or LibDem first, 58,076 voted Labour second (73%); but for Restore and Conservative there were 87310 first votes but only 45250 second votes (52%). I know that it's probable that some Green/LibDem 1st votes went Reform 2nd, and some Restore/Con 1st votes went Lab 2nd, but that's not obvious (Con 1 Lab 2 wouldn't be very unusual in Scotland, but less likely in England), and there were also the 2969 1st votes for the independent.
Where's the old devil smiley when you need it?
On the contrary, I would have been astonished had Reform not made all kinds of unverifiable claims.
There are lots of comments online from Reform voters about the winner's hair style(presumably they mean sexuality) and (Muslim} family voting and about a new rigged system, but pretty much zero that I can see about Reform's policies and how they might have been preferable for Manchester.
Don't be depressed. Numpties will always do this, and it shows they have no actual ideas.
There is a general importing of American political ideas/vocabulary into British politics and a lot of online content reflects/is part of that. I assume at least part of it is people looking at what gets most engagement and replicating it
History has shown that humans are quite capable of spewing ill-informed bile without robotic assistance. I am encouraged by the result: two-thirds of those who voted rejected Reform!
On the other hand, in a Westminster election it's possible to win an overall majority with about 40% of the vote. High time to scrap FPTP.
A lot less than 40%, on most recent evidence.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/03/standards-watchdog-investigating-reform-richard-tice
I don't think he is much of a threat as such at least not to our town as I'm pretty sure he'd prefer to stand as an MP next time somewhere where he isn't quite as well known. This is a very conservative with a small c town and his defection to Reform hasn't been wildly popular round here.
Have you been able to challenge him on his views?
Yes Restore are having the effect of pushing Reform even further right. Though they are still not crossing the line and supporting Tommy Robinson or whatever his name is today. They are down in the polls and have gone to second place below Labour. The Cons are snapping at their heels.
Not only that but Burnham has toppled Farage off the best political leader slot.
It is early and no chickens are being counted but if it carries on this way Reform could be in real trouble by the next General Election.
My main reservation is that not only are the Conservatives moving to the right to preserve their support and discourage any more of their MPs from jumping ship, but Labour may also be sliding into right wing populism.
That could give reasonable people with an ounce of empathy a choice of the LibDems, the Greens and in Scotland and Wales respectively the SNP and Plaid Cymru. The alternative as ever is to hold one’s nose and vote Labour as the party best able to beat the knuckledraggers of various kinds.
What fascists do is displacement - where blame is redirected from the real causes of people's problems onto safer, softer or more vulnerable targets who are then demonised and attacked with the full force and power of the state.
This is what Labour is doing to trans people, disabled people and immigrants.
They are part of the far right and share its targets.
Burnham shows no signs of stopping these displacement strategies that encourage the population to falsely blame innocent others for their problems and to think punishing and depriving those others will make them magically safer or more prosperous.
That makes them shitbirds of the same feather as Reform, Restore and the Conservatives. They differ only in degree but they share the same far-right mindset and its fundamentally immoral approach of attacking and demonising innocent vulnerable people for political gain.