UK Politics Thread

[Jimbuna]

Boris Johnson has faced a barrage of criticism from MPs over the UK's role in Afghanistan, in an emergency House of Commons debate on the crisis.

His predecessor as PM Theresa May said it was "incomprehensible" the UK was not doing more to maintain a presence, while ex-minister Johnny Mercer demanded more help for veterans.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused Mr Johnson of "staggering complacency".

But Mr Johnson argued Nato's "core mission" in Afghanistan had succeeded.

Addressing a packed Commons, he said the country had been largely cleared of al-Qaeda terrorists, while the population had enjoyed better education, women's rights and free elections since the 2001 invasion.

But Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee and himself served in Afghanistan, said it had been "shameful" of US President Joe Biden to question the willingness of the Afghan army to fight the Taliban.

And, in an emotional speech that was heard in silence, he told of grief and rage felt by veterans at the "abandonment" of Afghanistan.

UK troops ceased combat operations in 2014 and most of those who remained, primarily to help train the Afghan army, left last month.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58254794

[Jimbuna]

SNP-Greens deal pledges indyref2 within five years
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla...itics-58272209

[Jimbuna]

A double Betrayal or Simply the Inevitable?

The government has confirmed a one-year suspension of the "triple lock" formula for annual state pension increases.

The move follows government concern that a big post-pandemic rise in average earnings would have meant pensions increasing by 8%.

Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said the average earnings component would be disregarded in the 2022-23 financial year.

Instead, the rise will be the consumer inflation rate or 2.5%.

The Conservatives promised in their 2019 election manifesto to maintain the triple lock formula.

Ms Coffey's announcement came just hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson breached another manifesto commitment by increasing National Insurance to fund health and social care.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58476547

[Jimbuna]

The former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has claimed Labour is losing members "hand over fist".

In a BBC interview, he suggested that disciplinary action against some members on the Left of the party had made many others feel "unwelcome", and in some cases "intimidated".

He is calling for the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to call a summit with his critics next week, as Labour prepares for its in-person annual conference, to address their 'grievances".

Otherwise, he said, an internal party row could dominate the first day of the Labour conference in Brighton.

And he was critical of the way Labour's disciplinary process is being applied.

In July, Labour's ruling body - the National Executive - declared that membership of four groupings would be incompatible with party membership.

In other words, these groups were banned, or, in the jargon, proscribed.

Three of the groups - Labour Against the Witchhunt, Labour in Exile network, and Resist - had been criticised by party officials for downplaying the toxic anti-Semitism issue.

Labour is duty-bound to follow an action plan agreed with the Equality and Human Rights Commission to tackle anti-Semitism, following a report published in 2020.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58591455

It would appear the opposition party are intent on destroying themselves from within.

[Jimbuna]

Totally senseless

Conservative MP Sir David Amess has died after being stabbed at his constituency surgery in Essex.

Police said a man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the stabbing in Leigh-on-Sea.

They said they recovered a knife and were not looking for anyone else in connection to the incident.

Sir David, 69, had been an MP since 1983 and was married with five children.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58930593

[Onkel Neal]

Good lord, there is no shortage of lunatics in the world today. Sorry to hear.

[mapuc]

The news here said it was a Somalian refugees who did it and something with classify it as terror.

Markus

[Jimbuna]

The man arrested by police following the killing of the MP Sir David Amess has been named as Ali Harbi Ali.

The 25-year-old is being held under the Terrorism Act and officers have until Friday to question him.

The BBC understands Mr Ali was referred to the counter-terrorist Prevent scheme some years ago, but was never a formal subject of interest to MI5.

Whitehall officials told the BBC that the man being held was Ali Harbi Ali, a British man of Somali heritage.

Police said a man, who was held on suspicion of the MP's murder in Essex on Friday, was now being held at London police station after being rearrested under the Terrorism Act.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58943184

[Skybird]

We harvest what we have sown.

The - still underestimated - motivational power of Islam's ideology. Religious fanatism already is bad enough and in principle a dangerous mental desease.

Even worse it is if fanatism is the explicit goal and aim and focus of a religion, its content and claimed duty.

Worst it gets when said religion claims the constitutional guarantee for free religious practicing in order to enforce its most secular political goals and to make them unattainable for criticism: "That is my religion, and you owe me my religious freedom according to your very own laws." Powerpolitics under disguise of claiming to be religion.

Western law systems and constitutions are in no way prepared to defend themselves against this abuse, they are totally helpless and just helplessly stand in awe. And Westerners still do not get it. They do not want to understand it, since this would need them to give up precious naive world views.

And thats why I say just this:

We harvest what we have sown.

Good-naturedness is no excuse to be stupid.

[Jimbuna]

The family of MP Sir David Amess have said their hearts are shattered as they called on people to "set aside hatred and work towards togetherness".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58949153

[Jimbuna]

Experts have criticised plans to subsidise low-carbon heat pumps in place of gas boilers for homeowners in England and Wales from next April.

Households will be offered subsidies of £5,000 from next April to help them make the switch.

Although up to 25 million UK homes have gas boilers, the grants will fund just 90,000 pumps over three years.

The government says this will boost demand for the pumps, but critics say the plan does not go far enough.

Homeowners will be encouraged to switch to a heat pump or other low-carbon technology when their current boiler needs replacing.

An air-source heat pump costs between £6,000 and £18,000, depending on the type installed and the size of a property.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58959045

Sounds good but in reality only scratches the surface.

[Skybird]

Its bollocks for most existing houses.


For Wärmepumpen/Heat Pumps to work well you need to have all tubes and heating being adapted to the technology as well, its not just the heat pump itself that replaces the old heater/oven. You need to also isolate the walls of houses well enough. Estimations for germany say that over 90% of existing houses are unsuited for this technology, nevertehless it gets promoted like crazy over here, too. As if it were a free ticket into paradise. It isn't, like so many other super recipes of the smarties, too.



If environmental and weather circumstances work against you, these things switch to electric heating, you heat with electricity then. In Germany at least electricity is extremely expensive, and not just since recent weeks, but since many years.


Its the unforgiving reality catching up with hysterically overacting human beings.



The technology can work well enough. In the right place and almostz ideal circumstances. And if you build a new house around it.


In my property owner's assembly where I am a part of, we have therefor voted to nill against this switch. We will need to go with gas in the future, therefore. Which is not really encouraging.


If we were clever, wichi Germans aren'T, we would have already reversed the killing of nuclear power long time ago, and would have started to build new nuclear powerplants. Instead our last remaining nukies will be switched off next year.



Well, in coming years there will be many more unpleasant surprises from the ideological hysteria politics nowadays get driven by.



Russia has declared almost economic war on the EU over energy, its not so much Nord Stream 2 they are about, but they want the EU states to kill their climate goals that demand end of fossil fuels by 2030. The goal is unrealistic anyway, it will not be met, but Russia has understood that still it could suffer serious loss of income earlier than it thought. Therefore they have started to shoot hot against this policy. Thats why I am very pessimistic that negotiations cna lead them to deliver more gas than they are demanded by existing treaties. They want new treaties of very long duration, far beyond 2030. To deliver more gas additionally now would be against their interests. I wonder why they are expected to act against their interests. They do, tit for tat, what existing treaties demand them to do, and not one bit more. And I expect them to not do one little thing more over this winter. The worse the winter becomes, the better an ally it is for them.


I forsee this winter becoming very disruptive for European states.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Its bollocks for most existing houses.

Most certainly is

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

The man arrested by police following the killing of the MP Sir David Amess has been named as Ali Harbi Ali.

The 25-year-old is being held under the Terrorism Act and officers have until Friday to question him.

The BBC understands Mr Ali was referred to the counter-terrorist Prevent scheme some years ago, but was never a formal subject of interest to MI5.

Whitehall officials told the BBC that the man being held was Ali Harbi Ali, a British man of Somali heritage.

Police said a man, who was held on suspicion of the MP's murder in Essex on Friday, was now being held at London police station after being rearrested under the Terrorism Act.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58943184

Almost a week after his arrest but he has now been formally charged with murder.

A 25-year-old man has been charged with murder and the preparation of terrorist acts after the fatal stabbing of MP Sir David Amess.

Ali Harbi Ali was arrested following the attack at a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on Friday.

Sir David, a Conservative MP since 1983, suffered multiple stab wounds and died at the scene.

Mr Ali is a British man whose father is a former adviser to Somalia's prime minister.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58997590

[Gorpet]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Almost a week after his arrest but he has now been formally charged with murder.

What i find on the internet, He was stabbed 17 times is this true? If so it's very disturbing. Here in the USA if your stabbed that many times by a person of another culture. They ask what did you do to provoke it. So he must have done something or said something to offend this man. What is the truth?