Charlie StrossMay 15, 2023

Low birthrate is UK’s top priority, Tory MP tells rightwing conference

A Conservative MP has claimed the UK’s low birthrate is the most pressing policy issue of the generation and is caused in part by “cultural Marxism”

They're getting ready to go full forced-birther white supremacist here, aren't they https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/may/15/low-birthrate-is-uk-top-priority-tory-mp-tells-rightwing-conference-miriam-cates?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Low birthrate is UK’s top priority, Tory MP tells rightwing conference

‘Cultural Marxism’ and excessive education among factors causing existential threat, says Miriam Cates

The Guardian
Show threadAgnieszka R. TurczyńskaMay 15, 2023

@cstross I am again and again flabbergasted about how similar, even with all the differences, Poland and UK are in scope of the politics. Regardless of the overall wealth of the country and the nation, right wing conservatives are right wing conservatives. And they use the same concepts, the same rhetoric, the same means of manipulation to convince people to follow their backward ways.

I've seen it in Poland. Before 2015 I wasn't so interested in the British internal affairs, but then I had moved to UK. And I've seen the same there. It seems like they are using the same shitty guide book for ruling.

Show threadCharlie StrossMay 15, 2023

@agturcz it's like there's a covert international network of nazis executing a global conspiracy—

Remember, with the Right, it's always projection. So when they prattle on constantly about international socialist conspiracies … it's a confession. THEY are the conspiracy. It's a conspiracy against modernity and human rights and the idea that ancestry should not dictate outcomes. And you are their target.

Show threadJoy DenebeimMay 15, 2023
@cstross @agturcz so do they have glowing green worms behind their eyes?
Show threadCharlie StrossMay 15, 2023
@denebeim @agturcz If only they did it'd make it much easier to identify them!
Show threadJoy Denebeim
@cstross @agturcz well, if I recall they wouldn't last long. Anyway. It's been a while since I've read your books
May 15, 2023 at 9:15pmWeb
Show threadCharlie StrossMay 15, 2023
@denebeim @agturcz For the past few years I've been finding it *really hard* to come up with a sufficiently bonkers satire on British politics, even after appointing a Lovecraftian Elder God as Prime Minister …
Show threadJoy DenebeimMay 16, 2023
@cstross @agturcz and thank you for reminding me I'm a couple of books behind on the laundry. I need to listen to them.
Show threadCharlie StrossMay 16, 2023
@denebeim @agturcz "Dead Lies Dreaming" is the first of the New Management books and works as a self-contained entrypoint … best not to start with "Quantum of Nightmares" or "Season of Skulls", there's an ongoing story line (SoS closes it out).
Show threadJoy DenebeimMay 16, 2023
@cstross @agturcz on long trips, I usually listen to either your books or Stephenson's books.
Show threadJoy DenebeimMay 16, 2023

@cstross @agturcz I'm afraid that those types are incapable of creative thought, so they steal ideas from science fiction authors they grew up reading.

Except for Trump, he was purported to have a copy of mein Kampf on his bedstand. I never thought they had a comic book version, so this is probably apocryphal.

Show threadCharlie StrossMay 16, 2023
@denebeim @agturcz I heard it was a collection of Hitler's political speeches, not Mein Kampf. (Despicable as his beliefs were, he was a very powerful orator—that's what made him so dangerous.)
Show threadJoy DenebeimMay 16, 2023
@cstross @agturcz same as the orange menace. I guess. I don't know if Hitler was as transparently evil and perpetually lying