UK and Europe World • Page 16

I think the right of the party in small pockets just can't understand why different political opinions are popular. I think some of the old blairites need to be put out to pasture if they can't represent the party as it stands.

 

He would demand a new leader if Labour win the election????

 

London Bridge attack: 11 detained, attackers to be named - CNN.com

 

What a joke. Whatever you think of Corbyn, that's just ridiculous.

 

Yeah, he's one of the worst Labour MPs. He's standing in this election but his position makes no sense:

Labour MP John Woodcock: I can't vote for Jeremy Corbyn to be Prime Minister

 

He even looks like a Tory.

 

Seeing this video being shared a lot on Facebook:

You've got a former EDL leader sounding reasonably rational. Genuinely asking, why are councils locally housing radicalised people like this? Especially right next to a school? Would a homosexual feel safe wandering the streets amongst such hateful preachers? The guy even had his passport seized to prevent him fleeing the country yet people wonder why alt-right movements gain traction? So what's the incentive to keep people like this? Is it just for 'freedom of speech', ie like the Westboro Baptist Church in the U.S? Or is it like a flytrap to lure and monitor other supporters?

 

Being radicalised in and of itself isn't a criminal act. You can be made to believe something, but not necessarily commit wrongdoing just by believing in it. It'd be considered an abuse of freedom of thought for a government to act against someone on that basis because it goes against article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Basically, to allow a government or a council to infringe upon this right or, even worse, scrap the right entirely (say, removing it from the Human Rights Act), it's some very sketchy precedent for what they'd be able to get away with in the future.
That, and the definition for what is considered terrorism or hateful speech is too broad to be easily defined enough to specifically target groups like this. It's an incredibly subjective topic. A comedian like Frankie Boyle for instance who is known to be deliberately offensive in much of what he says, in some cases to the points of alluding to acts that may be considered criminal, is purely satirical. To ban all material like that is very tricky without catching within it a lot of people that aren't broadly doing anything wrong.

 

I see. Thank you. But that said, aren't some neo-Nazi groups banned for the exact same thing, ie the National Action?

Source: Neo-Nazi group National Action banned by UK home secretary

Surely this all applies to radical jihadists too? Otherwise we'll just see a rise in Ukip voters again.

 

I can't say for sure, but I'd assume it's because groups like that are talking about violence and hatred towards specifically protected groups. If they're neo-nazis, that probably means the Jewish community as well as gay people, disabled and differently abled people. Under the equalities act these groups receive specific protections and is probably used in conjunction with the terrorism act. I'm speculating here but that's where I'd assume the legal backing is coming from.

 

While it's great to see him getting crowds like that, it's worrying me that they're campaigning in Gateshead given that we had a 15,000 vote majority there in 2015. There's probably a reason for it but I would assume now more than ever campaigning in marginals is where the priority should be.

 

I know Corbyn was in Blyth Valley earlier, where Labour have a majority of 9229. No candidate is standing for UKIP and they got 8346 votes in 2015 so I can see the logic in visiting certain "safe" seats. I don't think that's the case in Gateshead tho but I guess they aren't taking anything for granted.

 

I suppose so. Part of me considered that it may be that being able to post a large crowd photo like that to social media sites creates the feeling that there's a lot of support for the party? Kind of like that staged shot of Theresa May's rally that was designed to look really busy and in fact had very little support, except with a real crowd of supporters. I don't know, like I said I'm sure there's some tactics behind it, but I'm not sure what they are.

 

Ah, in that case I don't know. I'd need to look into the specifics to say for sure.

 

Sorry, to be blunt -specifics of what?

 

Specifics in the Legal argument as to what differentiates this Neo-nazi group and the Islamic extremists mentioned in that video to make one able to be caught and banned under the terrorism act and the other one not. Sorry, I'm not meaning to undermine the argument being made, just as a Law student I kinda assume there must be a legally sound argument otherwise a court appeal on the basis that these other groups exist and are allowed to practice under article 8 whereas this one cannot. I may be wrong, there may not be a justifiable exception in one case over the other and there's some legal battle underway on this basis, but one of my modules this year was on Human Rights law specifically and this didn't come up.

 

Glad to see this held up with the one conducted immediately after Question Time on Friday. I'd like to think following Saturday that this will shift even more in Labour's favour. Not that I think we'll get more seats than the Tories, but more in the right direction.

 

I can't believe it'll actually be that close to be honest. Based on absolutely zilch, I think they'll maintain at about the same levels they did in 2015 - which obviously will feel like a massive defeat for May.

 

thread

 

Interestingly enough actually, John Curtice made a good point earlier. He's the guy that's seen as the elections and psephology expert and he pointed out a 7% win by the Conservatives in 2015 only actually won them a majority of 4. If that's to be believed and the political composition in the country is similar to what it was then, even a 5% win by the conservatives could result in a hung parliament. But yeah, completely agree that any result like 2015 is a defeat for sure.

 

Not to run away with myself, but should she lose it will be so satisfying to see her dumped by the Conservatives after so many months of them telling us she's infallible.