Former biochemist but escaped from the lab! Now an interdisciplinary social scientist.
Political account - on Birdsite this overtook things somewhat so I've separated it out. (So please don't take offence if I follow you on only one account! It's a judgement on content type, not quality.) (UK-based)
| Mastodon (general) | https://mas.to/@DuncanMSussex |
| KBin | https://kbin.social/u/AcumenDonor |
| Twitter (inactive) | https://twitter.com/DuncanMSussex |
| Profile Image Description | White bloke with stubble and highlighted blonde slightly long and curly hair. He is leaning over and smiling. The photo is taken in an old building in Rye, with a wooden beamed roof. The picture is a few years old. No header art. |
Find it a bit depressing that what's going on in Lebanon is barely registering. Or, as something more positive that's barely registering, that Ukraine is doing pretty well in the war right now.
I mean, I get that the Iran situation is fucked, but the inability of the media to focus on more than one thing at once is concerning.
Congratulation to the left wing parties of Denmark! 🇩🇰
With 99 percent of the votes counted, the left is in a far stronger position to form a government than the right.
1. They have 84 seats VS 77.
2. They are fewer parties who need to agree (5 VS 6).
3. 58 or their seats belong to just two parties (S and SF).
Now the negotiations begin, and anything is possible. But right now, the results look like a left wing future for Denmark, with a focus on the environment, the climate, and education.
As someone who doesn't like Kneecap, good. It's an embarrassment that the government even went down this road.
Some pretty decent news. The most bonkers technically-not-a-tabloid in the UK is getting bought out by a German group, rather than The Mail.
Don't get too excited, Axel Springer also owns Bild so it's not like they don't also produce right wing crap - but this'll hopefully lead to, at least, a decrease in the sheer insanity of the DT.
Sorry about the paywall.
https://www.ft.com/content/e5cb6481-3dd7-4907-b3d4-919227423678
66% of the voters rejected the right-wing fuckwits in Reform.
Watch how the mainstream news coverage focuses on Zlabour coming third, rather than the rejection of Reform.
"It’s what should be a deafening warning shot to Labour that alienating your left flank while flirting with right-wing framing has consequences, and it’s a much needed reminder to Reform UK that shouting “Britain” at people at the top of your voice is not the same as representing them"
#GortonAndDenton #ReformUK #GreenParty #Labour #UKPolitics
Dispatch From South Africa: While I Ate Koeksisters, Britain Voted Green
https://www.bearlypolitics.co.uk/p/dispatch-from-south-africa-while
Now the big picture. 🤷♂️
If Starmer was smart this'd be a wake-up call that he's losing his core and he could wake up after the GE to the Labour equivalent of the Tories losing Oxfordshire and most of Surrey.
So the Blue Labour, anti-immigration stuff dies. And we get PR.
But if Starmer was smart he'd have probably never tried a "chase the far right" strategy given outside Denmark (even that's arguable) it's never worked for SocDem parties.
Also I feel sorry for the Lib Dem candidate. This is old now but there was a by-election in a predecessor seat in 2017, she was the candidate then. And she was strong.
Without having been on the campaign (and high up) I can never confirm this but reportedly she was leading. Then GE2017 was called, the dynamics changed and it all unwound.
Must suck to come dead last in a seat where, a few butterflies flying differently, you could have been sitting MP.
Well done to the Greens, so far as I'm aware this is their first by-election win of this nature.
The campaign generally looked pretty Lib Demmy (down to releasing data showing you just behind your scariest opponent) so I feel vindicated in sometimes lumping the two parties together when it comes to strategies.
The Modi poster wasn't great though. Less of that please.
Second best realistic result imo from Gorton and Denton. Labour holding on slightly better so Reform was third would've been nice.
Reform actively doing badly given their awful candidate would be even better but not likely given it's a by-election and the government's managed to piss off both its natural enemies and its natural allies.
But hopefully some wind out of Reform's sails nevertheless.
Randahl Fink
Ian Robinson
JuneSim63 💚