MetaFilter posts tagged with tories

The first time as farce, the second time as panto

MartinWisse — Sun, 19 May 2013 03:42:27 -0800

As Hegel presumably remarks somewhere, all great Tory crises appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as farce, the second as farce. -- Chris Brooke presents a history of "swivel eyed loon" as an insult used against a certain kind of rightwing Tory. The term has become relevant again when one of David Cameron's closest allies described Conservative Party activists as swivel-eyed loons:

The mystery Tory made the remarks at a party dinner event – allegedly in earshot of journalists – after being asked about the decision of 116 party MPs to defy the prime minister and vote in favour of an amendment regretting the absence of an EU referendum in the Queen's speech. The unnamed figure is reported as saying: "It's fine. There's really no problem. The MPs just have to do it because the associations tell them to, and the associations are all mad, swivel-eyed loons."

The British Parliament are debating same-sex marriage

Lemurrhea — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 06:25:41 -0800

The Guardian is liveblogging the debate. The Tories are split on the issue.

And there I was, Laughing at the Mormons

marienbad — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 08:52:49 -0800

Gay marriage: Religious 'opt-in' offered, but not to CofE - "The Church of England and Church in Wales will be banned in law from offering same-sex marriages, the government has announced. Other religious organisations will be able to "opt in" to holding ceremonies, Culture Secretary Maria Miller said. But she added that the Church of England and Church in Wales had "explicitly" stated strong opposition and would not be included." Included in the legisation is "Amending the 2010 Equality Act to ensure no discrimination claim can be brought against religious organisations or individual ministers for refusing to marry a same-sex couple."

The Wrong Right

TheophileEscargot — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 02:29:04 -0800

5-part series from Conservative Home about weaknesses in how the UK conservative movement thinks and operates. 1: Polling not punditry. 2: The working class has different concerns in 2012. 3: Conservatives need a new attitude to government. 4: Thatcher and Reagan didn't tame the state. 5: Why does the right treat spending cuts as light entertainment?

How do you baffle a vegetable?

Artw — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 08:11:10 -0800

Hellblazer, the DC/Vertigo comic starring Alan Moore created occult investigator John Constantine, is being cancelled at issue #300 to make way for a new comic set in DC's New 52 universe. Hellblazer was DC's longest running continuously numbered comic and it's cancelation marks the last of the DC Comics characters with Vertigo titles being taken back into the mainstream DC universe (previously). Vertigo was originally an imprint for mature readers occult themed titles and creator owned work, though it has changed over the years with an adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo becoming the first Vertigo to receive TV advertising.

The Great Train Snobbery

Grangousier — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:49:37 -0800

This afternoon, the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne got on a train from Cheshire to London. Despite only having a Standard Class ticket, he headed straight to First Class, because (obviously) he couldn't sit with the Standard Class herd. So he sent an aide to tell the ticket collector that he was going to sit in First Class, but was unwilling to pay. Sadly for him, the discussion took place right next to a journalist, who tweeted the whole thing. This comes hot on the heels of Plebgate, of course: the protagonist in that embarrassment resigned soon after Osborne's gaffe, apparantly in an attempt to distract attention. One positive thing for the government, though: they're successfully remaining more ludicrous than the politicians in Armando Iannucci's satirical series The Thick of It.

Irony? That's like goldy or silvery, right?

MartinWisse — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 10:01:07 -0800

Atos Healthcare is a French company that's a contractor to the UK department for Work and Pensions, hired to test disabled benefits claimants on whether they're fit to work. If they are, they'll lose their disability benefits and are back on normal unemployment benefits. It is a controversial company, as its standards for declaring people fit to work are very low, as The Daily Mirror has been showing. By design or through incompetence, quite a few people who are clearly incapable of work are declared fit for work anyway, lose their benefits and some of them even die because of it, either through suicide or through the stress and healthcare problems caused by losing their benefits. (previously.) So who better to "inspire a generation and sponsor the Paralympics?

UK PM Cameron suggests cutting housing benefit for under-25s

marienbad — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:13:41 -0800

The prime minister has suggested that people under the age of 25 could lose the right to housing benefit, as part of moves to cut the welfare bill. Scrapping the benefit for that age group would save almost £2bn a year. via BBC News. Comments sortable and worth reading. *Tries really hard not to editorialise after a killer 12 hour shift today* Guardian's take on this.

Omni Consumer Products

ClanvidHorse — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 03:53:48 -0800

Welcome to Omni Consumer Products. "First they came for the NHS and I said nothing because I was not sick. Then they came for the disabled people and those on benefits and I said nothing because I had an income and didn’t care what the ‘scroungers’ said. Then they came for the schools and I said nothing because I had no kids. Then they came for the police force with private/public partnerships and for speaking up, I received a baton to the face. The private guards looked at their targets and smiled: dissent down 35% this month." Guardian link

" I've always been acutely aware of how much society hates me because I'm disabled"

MartinWisse — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:45:11 -0800

"The other day I was having a conversation with a Tory who accused me of using "strong language" when I pointed out that welfare reform is forcing disabled people to commit suicide. He felt there's no forcing going on. I had to explain that one needs money to live in this world, if you deny people money they have no way of carrying on." One disabled woman tells of the despair the UK government's plans for "reform" of disability benefits as they will leave her and many others without income or support. Meanwhile, the lack of attention this issue has gotten from the main groups opposed to the overall agenda of spending cuts means there has been little organised protest against the reform, which is on the verge of passing into law. Even a petition to pause the reforms has gotten less than 7,000 signatures so far -- when it needs at least 100,000 to be treated in parliament. The end result for her is that the reforms will turn her " little black toy dog" of depression into "a huge black wolf that's threatening to destroy" her when her disability benefits will end. "It's not emotional blackmail; it's the basic stuff kids learn in primary school about how one needs £1 to buy a loaf of bread." At least several people have already committed suicide because their benefits ran out, while the blog this was posted at had to put in a link to The Samaritans because so many people commented about committing suicide if/when their benefits run out.

It's On Like Harper Kong

mightygodking — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:35:18 -0800

The Government of Canada has fallen after a 156-145 contempt motion passed in Parliament. The contempt motion came after a Parliamentary committee found (PDF link) that the government failed to provide adequate information on the costs of crime legislation. Stephen Harper will go to the Governor-General on Saturday to request an election.

The Tories' favourite Lib Dem

acb — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:40:27 -0800

Good news for Nick Clegg, deputy Prime Minister of the UK and leader of the Liberal Democrats: he's more popular than the Tory Prime Minister, David Cameron. Perhaps not so good news for the Liberal Democrats' image: that's with Tory party activists. Meanwhile, Cameron has professed his love of Macs and iPads in an interview, undoubtedly causing Apple to become instantly uncool in much the way The Smiths and Paul Weller did a few years ago.

Indecision day UK style

idiomatika — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:59:27 -0800

Following days of uncertainty not witnessed since 1974, David Cameron makes a hasty entrance to 10 Downing Street, an hour or so after Gordon Brown made a surprisingly hasty exit. We began today with the unlikely, but possible prospect of seeing a Liberal Democrat/Labour "progressive coalition" government following last week's UK general election ending up as a hung parliament. But talks between Labour and the Lib Dems did not meet with success, and so earlier this evening, Gordon Brown went to Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation to the Queen, forcing the hand somewhat of the Tories and the Lib Dems, who have not finished their coalition negotiations at the time of writing. The upshot is that David Cameron, as leader of the biggest Party post-election, went to see the Queen shortly after Brown left her, asking permission to try and form a government. With permission granted, he is now in No. 10 Downing Street. We know there is to be a full coalition government for a fixed term (unheard of in UK politics), with some cabinet seats going to the Liberal Democrats, but we as yet do not know the details - and crucially for Liberal Democrats, whether we are to have any possibility of proportional representation the next time we go to the polls. I bet someone else has posted something in the time it has taken me to write this

Conservative candidate believes homosexuality can be cured

ellieBOA — Sun, 02 May 2010 07:14:15 -0800

Potential Conservative MP Philippa Stroud founded an evangelical church that tried to 'cure' homosexuals by driving out their 'demons'. Stroud is head of the Conservative thinktank The Centre for Social Justice, lauded as the most influential thinktank in Britain who have heavily influenced David Cameron's views and policies on the family. Stroud is likely to take the Sutton and Cheam seat in Greater London after the election on Thursday. The Conservatives have tried to win over gay voters after a string of controversial comments by party members. The Conservative shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, said owners of B&B accommodation should have the right to turn away gay couples. Labour argue that this would violate the law. Julian Lewis, the shadow defence minister, said he was against lowering the age of consent from 18 to 16 for homosexuals.

I agree with Nick: you're no Jack Kennedy.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:05:36 -0800

Yesterday, the leaders of the three largest political parties in the UK engaged in a live televised election debate for the first time in history. Most commentators seem to agree that Nick Clegg, the leader of Britain's perennial third party the Liberal Democrats, made the best impression in yesterday's first of three weekly debates leading up to the general election on May 6. The progressive-leaning Guardian even goes so far as to claim that he is now prime ministerial material.

This being Metafilter you will undoubtedly ask, "how does Cory Doctorow figure into all of this?" Well, he agrees with Nick on the Digital Economy Act. Then again, Nick is agreed with quite a lot.

What happens if David Cameron loses?

Len — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:16:49 -0800

Most people assumed the Tories would walk the coming election. But with their poll lead evaporating, what would a Conservative defeat mean for Britain – and David Cameron? What happens if David Cameron loses? Sidebar: Britain's last hung parliament

The next age of government

kliuless — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:28:30 -0800

While much is being made of dysfunctional government [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9] and hung parliament [1,2,3,4,5], David Cameron's pitches for a fairer society [1,2,3], smarter policy [1,2,3] and employee ownership [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] have been positively, uh, Obamanian.^* ^*Ezra Klein, btw, makes the case that politicians are weird

Sticks and stones can harm your poll ratings

Grangousier — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:18:58 -0800

The Observer publish an excerpt of Andrew Rawnsley's new book, in which he alleges that Gordon Brown has been aggressive and volatile in power. Immediately up pops a representative of an organisation called the National Bullying Helpline, which says it has received calls from "inside Downing Street", garnering TV news appearances. However, is the NBH all that it seems? Anti-Tory bloggers point out that the Charity is run by a woman married to the director of a private company that deals with the same issue, the implication being that it was set up to fish for customers of that company; A blog has been online for a while alleging that the company is more interested in siding with the companies against the complainants. It's all quite mad. [editorializing]I find it quite depressing that the next government of my country can't even run a smear campaign competently. I worry what will happen when they get their hands on the economy.[/editorializing]

Doctor Who and the Overthrow of the Thatcher Goverment

Artw — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:50:18 -0800

"My exact words were: I’d like to overthrow the government. I was a young firebrand and I wanted to answer honestly. I was very angry about the social injustice in Britain under Thatcher and I’m delighted that came into the show." - former Doctor Who script editor Andrew Cartmel on the shows 80s political stance. Terrance Dicks and Andrew Cartmel on Newsnight. Meanwhile former Doctor David Tennant gives his veiws on the Master-like characteristics of Tory leader David Cameron.

Tory poverty rethink hits headlines

teleskiving — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 04:13:03 -0800

"The Conservative Party recognises, will measure, and will act on relative poverty". Following a Mail-baiting report from policy adviser Greg Clark MP which recommends that Tory poverty policy should take inspiration from Polly Toynbee instead of Winston Churchill, David Cameron weighs in. Toynbee responds.

Dot-comservative party?

greycap — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 01:33:21 -0800

Webcameron. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party in the UK, reaches out to the Youtube generation.

Stephen Harper to become Canada's next PM

Robot Johnny — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 19:56:40 -0800

Harper wins Tory minority government. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper will become Canada's next prime minister, as Canadians have elected a Tory minority government and ended a 12-year reign of Liberal rule.

sillygwailo — Sun, 31 Mar 2002 03:49:39 -0800

George F. Will, a professed conservative, has criticized President Bush, not once (on steel tarrifs), not twice (on policy towards Israel), but thrice (on campaign finance reform) this month. Am I missing something, or is Bush not adequately protecting his right flank?

Granted, Will is a conservative of the tory variety, but it's still a noticeable change in tenor since fawning over Bush's decision on stem-cell research.

Lo! Behold the power of the internet!

phalkin — Sun, 10 Feb 2002 16:54:03 -0800

Lo! Behold the power of the internet!
That'll teach the guy to put sharply-worded messages on his own property. The nerve of some people.

Mocata — Fri, 01 Jun 2001 03:57:13 -0800

Boris Johnson, crying into his beer, describes the moment he first became aware of "Tory feelings".