Jim Ratcliffe - claims the UK is being “colonised”

MellowJoe said:
Cos the term has been overused and diluted so much to mean almost nothing now?
Click to expand...
It can't be overused in this context given the whole colonisation argument is so easily dismantled.

Jim Ratcliffe claimed colonisation by mentioning that a £9bn drain exists spent on foreign-born people benefits. But what about the £100bn that we spend on everybody else who claim benefits? A mere 1011% difference?

If it's not potentially racist then why didn't he just talk about the benefits bill generally? How can an immigrant be a drain but the exact same person in the exact same situation who isn't an immigrant isn't a drain?

Maybe he is playing to the classes who unfortunately will be stupid and gullible enough to vote Reform.
 
Hopefullly the rags lose some supporters.

I know this might sound sacraligeous but I know a few former dippers who are now ex-supporters.

Why give money to someone who wants to destroy your life?
 
We've got Guardiola said:
It can't be overused in this context given the whole colonisation argument is so easily dismantled.

Jim Ratcliffe claimed colonisation by mentioning that a £9bn drain exists spent on foreign-born people benefits. But what about the £100bn that we spend on everybody else who claim benefits? A mere 1011% difference?

If it's not potentially racist then why didn't he just talk about the benefits bill generally? How can an immigrant be a drain but the exact same person in the exact same situation who isn't an immigrant isn't a drain?

Maybe he is playing to the classes who unfortunately will be stupid and gullible enough to vote Reform.
Click to expand...

They reckon if we have an election tomorrow Reform would win - that's the problem with calling people racist lightly all of a sudden there's millions of racists in the country.

I don't know nowt about Jim Ratcliffe, I've heard he got his numbers wrong and colonialism isn't the right word and he's apologized since but I would still not blithely call him a racist.
 
MellowJoe said:
They reckon if we have an election tomorrow Reform would win - that's the problem with calling people racist lightly all of a sudden there's millions of racists in the country.

I don't know nowt about Jim Ratcliffe, I've heard he got his numbers wrong and colonialism isn't the right word and he's apologized since but I would still not blithely call him a racist.
Click to expand...
He stated the population was 58m in 2020 and close to 70m today. It was 68m in 2020 not 58m. He is appealing to a section of the population, like Tommy Robinson, with conflated figures like that. It makes it sound like millions of immigrants have come in, in the last 6 years. The population growth is a mix of legal and illegal immigration along with natural population growth due to birth rates and people living longer. The figures he quotes, alongside the figures on welfare seem to say that immigration is causing most of the problems with society, such as long NHS wait times and welfare housing. The issues with the NHS are down to successive governments underfunding the NHS for years, not growing the funding with inflation and the poulation. The issues of social housing started in the 80s when Thatcher sold the council houses and underfunded new social housing developments and building. {The cynic in me says this is to drive up housing prices for the ultra rich.) So when a tax dodging billionaire starts to blame immigration it is like a magician saying look over here and not over there.
 
MellowJoe said:
They reckon if we have an election tomorrow Reform would win - that's the problem with calling people racist lightly all of a sudden there's millions of racists in the country.

I don't know nowt about Jim Ratcliffe, I've heard he got his numbers wrong and colonialism isn't the right word and he's apologized since but I would still not blithely call him a racist.
Click to expand...
I very much doubt that all those who are planning to vote Reform are doing so purely because people called them racist. What I would say is that I don't believe every Reform voter is racist - more that some of them feel the country is on its arse and that they've been let down by successive Tory and Labour givernments, and perhaps Reform will make things better so that's why they feel attracted to them. My own opinion is that Reform will absolutely not make things better, will probably make things a whole lot worse, and these people are - putting it politely - misguided. After all, Farage's Brexit ideology has helped contribute to fucking up the country, and now he's brought in a load of failed Tories who also helped fuck up the country. This goes way beyond their proposed divisive policies on immigration, as bad as they are. There's also the erosion of worker's rights, and the possibility of the NHS being sold off to the highest bidder. I see next to nothing in any of their policies that appeals to disenfranchised voters. As bad as the Tories and Labour have been, you could at least pick out some policies from their respective manifestos and find some appeal in them.
 
MellowJoe said:
They reckon if we have an election tomorrow Reform would win - that's the problem with calling people racist lightly all of a sudden there's millions of racists in the country.

I don't know nowt about Jim Ratcliffe, I've heard he got his numbers wrong and colonialism isn't the right word and he's apologized since but I would still not blithely call him a racist.
Click to expand...
Who will they blame when Reform gets in and makes their lives even worse? Whilst their immigration stuff fails just like it did with the Tories they will get busy doing everything that they want for their mates and not the people who voted for them.

I can demonstrate how stupid this situation is. These people voted massively to reject the Tories at the last election and now they're going for Reform. And who is Farage filling Reform with? The exact same Tories that they rejected, it makes no sense at all. Those Tories didn't change principles, they're jumping from a sinking ship.

I really do think it's just Brexit all over again where immigration has become the yes or no question. The statistics already prove the correct answer and we can do other non-extreme things about the small boats problem so the only logical reason to reject immigration generally must be racism or at the very least something like xenophobia.
 
Last edited:
We've got Guardiola said:
Who will they blame when Reform gets in and makes their lives even worse? Whilst their immigration stuff fails just like it did with the Tories they will get busy doing everything that they want for their mates and not the people who voted for them.

I can demonstrate how stupid this situation is. These people voted massively to reject the Tories at the last election and now they're going for Reform. And who is Farage filling Reform with? The exact same Tories that they rejected, it makes no sense at all. Those Tories didn't change principles, they're jumping from a sinking ship.

I really do think it's just Brexit all over again where immigration has become the yes or no question. The statistics already prove the correct answer and we can do other non-extreme things about the small boats problem so the only logical reason to reject immigration generally must be racism or at the very least something like xenophobia.
Click to expand...

One of the benefits of Reform doing well in the local elections is that it has, in constituencies where they were popular, exposed them to be massive frauds.

We will see the same thing play out this year on a broader scale. Reform will get a lot of seats and councils by promising things they cannot deliver, and then they'll go about making peoples' lives worse in a meaningful way.

I am still quietly confident that by 2029 Labour the progress Labour has made on issues like immigration (lowest levels since 2011 RN) will be felt, and Reform will have proven themselves unfit for office and more and more information about their foreign backers will have come out and punched through to the electorate.
 
M18CTID said:
I very much doubt that all those who are planning to vote Reform are doing so purely because people called them racist. What I would say is that I don't believe every Reform voter is racist - more that some of them feel the country is on its arse and that they've been let down by successive Tory and Labour givernments, and perhaps Reform will make things better so that's why they feel attracted to them. My own opinion is that Reform will absolutely not make things better, will probably make things a whole lot worse, and these people are - putting it politely - misguided. After all, Farage's Brexit ideology has helped contribute to fucking up the country, and now he's brought in a load of failed Tories who also helped fuck up the country. This goes way beyond their proposed divisive policies on immigration, as bad as they are. There's also the erosion of worker's rights, and the possibility of the NHS being sold off to the highest bidder. I see next to nothing in any of their policies that appeals to disenfranchised voters. As bad as the Tories and Labour have been, you could at least pick out some policies from their respective manifestos and find some appeal in them.
Click to expand...

You can’t pick out policies from their manifesto as they don’t actually have one which actually stacks up and the numbers work. Are people that thick that they look at the disinformation they put out there and pass it off as matter of fact? Judging by what happened in 2016 it doesn’t look like it.

If there was a general election called Farage and his minions would shit the bed. They would move from being a one policy protest vote to running the country, they wouldn’t be able to sit on the sidelines anymore grifting money out of people blaming everyone else as they would then be on a 5 year parliamentary countdown to the end of their political careers.
 
Last edited:
feedmpenzaandhewillscore said:
You can’t pick out policies from their manifesto as they don’t actually have one which actually stacks up and the numbers work. Are people that thick that they look at the disinformation they put out there and pass it off as matter of fact? Judging by what happened in 2016 it doesn’t look like it.

If there was a general election called Farage and his minions would shit the bed. They would move from being a one policy protest vote to running the country, they wouldn’t be able to sit on the sidelines anymore grifting money out of people as they would then be on a 5 year parliamentary countdown to the end of their political careers.
Click to expand...
Totally agree. They don't have a manifesto and appear to be just making policies up as they go along. I was just saying that few, if any, of those policies will appeal to disillusioned voters. The immigration thing has been exhausted so they have to come up with some other stuff now. In amongst all the leaflets I've received to do with the Gorton and Denton by election, I got one from Reform about the NHS. It was penned by a doctor who used to work in the NHS and it was ll about saving the NHS because they care very deeply about it. I find it difficult to believe how anyone would fall for such guff but no doubt some people will.
 
MellowJoe said:
They reckon if we have an election tomorrow Reform would win - that's the problem with calling people racist lightly all of a sudden there's millions of racists in the country.

I don't know nowt about Jim Ratcliffe, I've heard he got his numbers wrong and colonialism isn't the right word and he's apologized since but I would still not blithely call him a racist.
Click to expand...
A few months ago and Reform probably would win. Now though many seem taken with the Greens, so Denton and Gorton will give a good indication which way the wind is blowing.

I also think the recent Welsh by election, where Plaid Cymru were elected is an indicator. I reckon in many seats tories, libs etc will vote green to keep reform out.

I personally haven't got time for any of them. I've always voted since being 18, (I owe that much to womens emancipation) but I'm honestly struggling for whom I would give my X to.

I do know however that I'm fed up of being considered as a person of privilege in my own country when I worked all my adult life and paid tax and NI. The culture seems to be its OK to not work, not contribute to society and whilst you're about it here's a free house for you and yours. Imo it's all gone completely pear shaped in my adult life and I blame successive governments. They are all, as useless as each other. I'm also irate about the blatant cronyism from all parties getting those who I consider less than deserving into the nice lifelong earner that is The Lords. I think quite a significant numbet of elected mps basically are in it for themselves and their constituents take a back seat and are just incidental.
 
M18CTID said:
Totally agree. They don't have a manifesto and appear to be just making policies up as they go along. I was just saying that few, if any, of those policies will appeal to disillusioned voters. The immigration thing has been exhausted so they have to come up with some other stuff now. In amongst all the leaflets I've received to do with the Gorton and Denton by election, I got one from Reform about the NHS. It was penned by a doctor who used to work in the NHS and it was ll about saving the NHS because they care very deeply about it. I find it difficult to believe how anyone would fall for such guff but no doubt some people will.
Click to expand...

Well surely the NHS should be working now as it’s had £300 million extra a week put into it since we left the EU in 2020. The one policy that Farage has pushed in his entire political career that has shaped the direction of the country. And it’s been a total fucking disaster.

Reform will simply say anything to get the attention of simpletons. They are going to reduce the cost of a pint, how will that work when it brings in so much revenue in tax? They want to ban working from home, how does that help start up businesses that are created on someone’s kitchen table who need to hire people but can’t commit to leasing an office?

Their obsession with illegal immigration costs the country £10 billion a year, the fuck U.K. of brexit goes into the £100s of billions a year. If you want to throw money at solving illegal immigration get the economy working and remove the red tape on businesses who have to walk through treacle to trade with Europe. Then you would have some money to solve it.
 
MellowJoe said:
Cos the term has been overused and diluted so much to mean almost nothing now?
Click to expand...

I wouldn’t say that, it’s more we somehow got to a point where being called a racist was seen as a bigger insult to the person than them being racist themselves.

Where I live has plenty of people like that, was the same when I lived in Shropshire too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top