The End Of UK Democracy

[Sarah]

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... h-pressure

[blythburgh]

Just 30% of voters say they are aware of new law requiring photo ID at polling stations, meaning millions risk being turned away from polls in May.

Only one-in-ten say they've received info from local authorities about the new requirements.

https://bylinetimes.com/2023/01/16/mill ... oll-shows/

I suspect there will be plenty of info on this around the time of the next elections. It will almost certainly be written onto the poll cards that are sent out.

Having said that a retrograde step IMO. Voter impersonation fraud was/is minimal if it exists at all. Perhaps part of the problem (and I do not support it) is that unlike many other countries we are not required to carry ID Cards.

I think much more voting is suspect because of coercion and this is likely to have increased since the widespread introduction of postal votes. I seem to remember a big scandal around this in E London some few years ago.

A consequence of the UK's right wing Conservative party being true to type.

I agree postal voting is where the voting fraud takes place. I would say hardly anyone turns up and votes using a false name.

But a lot of people will still not be aware of the need to take proof to the polling station and far more will forget to take it.

Some years ago I was doing telling in a school and a lady came in with her children. Looked at card to get number and someone realised the polling number was incorrect. Another teller who was always at that polling station worked it out. The lady should have voted in the polling station across the road from another school. This school and polling station was quite a long walk from where we were. The lady only lived "up the road" and was not dragging the children all that way just to vote.

How many will turn up at the pollling station and be turned away and like that lady cannot be bothered to go home and come back. I bet far more Tory voters will be aware and make sure they have the ID than voters of Labour, LibDem and Green parties. But that is why the Govt. want to introduce this unnecessary change to our elections.

[expressman33]

I agree postal voting is where the voting fraud takes place. I would say hardly anyone turns up and votes using a false name.

But a lot of people will still not be aware of the need to take proof to the polling station and far more will forget to take it.

Some years ago I was doing telling in a school and a lady came in with her children. Looked at card to get number and someone realised the polling number was incorrect. Another teller who was always at that polling station worked it out. The lady should have voted in the polling station across the road from another school. This school and polling station was quite a long walk from where we were. The lady only lived "up the road" and was not dragging the children all that way just to vote.

How many will turn up at the pollling station and be turned away and like that lady cannot be bothered to go home and come back. I bet far more Tory voters will be aware and make sure they have the ID than voters of Labour, LibDem and Green parties. But that is why the Govt. want to introduce this unnecessary change to our elections.

The deadline to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate for the local elections in England on 4 May 2023 is 5pm on Tuesday 25 April 2023.

You need to be registered to vote before you apply for a Voter Authority Certificate.

When you register to vote, you’ll be asked whether you have photo ID or if you want to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate.
https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/ ... ertificate

Thankfully I have a postal vote , if not I wouldn't be messing about having to get a photo taken ect "Apply for photo ID to vote
It’s free to apply. You’ll need:

a recent, digital photo of yourself
your National Insurance number
You can still apply if you do not have a National Insurance number. You’ll need to provide other documents to prove your identity, for example a birth certificate, bank statement and utility bill."

[Sarah]

Boris Johnson’s father AND sister could be made life peers in his resignation honours list...

https://twitter.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1 ... 7294609408

[macliam]

Lord Johnson of Hypocrisy and Lady Johnson of Nepotism?

[Sarah]

A thought provoking thread that’s worth a couple of minutes of your time:

Hi @BBC,
As a German I can tell you this: when politicians speak in a language not dissimilar to that used in 1930s Germany, I recognise it. Why? Because I have been taught about it all my life—and that it needs to be called out and rejected. It’s a duty to do so, in fact.

The language we have heard from this Govt, no matter how many times they claim otherwise, is not dissimilar in some ways to that used in 1930s Germany. So while we need to be mindful of the specific contexts of 1930s Germany and should not draw direct parallels with today, when common characteristics, eg in the use of a not dissimilar language, are there, we can—and should—say so. If some don’t like that, the answer is that those who push such rhetoric need to stop, not to threaten those who call out the vile dehumanisation of vulnerable people.

The crimes my country of birth committed in the past were attrocious crimes against humanity. But let me also remind everyone of this: those crimes did not start with concentration camps—that is where they ended. So if we want ‘never again’ to have actual meaning we cannot start at that horrific end point. The roots of what happened lay earlier and they included the othering and dehumanisation of vulnerable and minority groups, using a language we sometimes hear again today. This does *not* mean the same wider goals are also there.

I am not saying that they are. But what it does mean is that we are seeing similar mechanisms of the populist playbook being employed. The politicians who do so already do not control this anymore. The recent far right riots have shown that without doubt.

Yet those same politicians continue with ever more extreme versions of this familiar populism. That is why it is right to call this out and why it is appropriate to make reference to historical developments where not dissimilar techniques eventually fuelled a horrific ideology that led to mass murder. What is history for if not to look back and use the knowledge we have to comment on current events. Doing that does not equal saying the UK is Nazi Germany. @GaryLineker didn’t say that and I didn’t say it here either. It is about similarities in the populism that fuels hate. The problem here is not pointing that out: the problem lies with those who keep drawing on that populism to dehumanise others just so they can distract from their policy failures and pander to a fringe of xenophobes. /end

PS: I’m muting this now because some of the usuals have seen the thread. For me the bottom line will always be this: as a German I cannot just say something once things have escalated to even more extreme forms of hate etc. We cannot treat fellow human beings in these ways.

This is something that does not just apply to refugees and immigrants. Denying some of our communities their very existence based on who they are, for instance, is another example where populism is escalating hate in ways that are entirely unacceptable.

Plus, as a migration historian I also know that all forms of movement are the foundation of our very human existence. Moreover, the climate emergency will make sure numbers of displaced people will increase. For that reason too, populism is never the right solution.

So anyway: thanks for reading and sharing this. Germans are regularly (and rightly) reminded of our horrific history. That history cannot repeat itself, but people can choose to employ the playbook that delivered it. Even very small parts of that would be unacceptable. /endPS

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1633 ... 62721.html

[blythburgh]

I can think of many reasons why we should keep the House of Lords in it present form. I can also think of reasons why it should not be kept in its present form. And "you scratched my back so have a peerage as a thank you" from current and past Prime Ministers is the most overwhelming one for reform of the House of Lords.

[Sarah]

Petronella Wyatt

Writer/ broadcaster. Ex Dep Ed The Spectator. Columnist The Spectator, The Mail, The Telegraph Commentator @GBNEWS @TalkTv @GMB
Pronouns genius/mastermind

[macliam]

Petronella Wyatt

Writer/ broadcaster. Ex Dep Ed The Spectator. Columnist The Spectator, The Mail, The Telegraph Commentator @GBNEWS @TalkTv @GMB
Pronouns genius/mastermind

..... and Braverman, Patel and Raab are really, really nice people

[macliam]