I’m not sure who I’m going to vote for yet. It’s a first past the post system here so I have to seriously consider whether or not voting for a minor party achieves anything. It will be my first vote in a UK national election.
One positive of the situation is that UKIP are an absolute shambles and have been that way since they achieved their primary policy goal.
[quote=“DonMania, post:119, topic:3879, full:true”]
Which is why today, and to a slightly lesser extent, the Dutch elections was so critical. Fingers crossed Merkel wins. What folks don’t realize is that its not globalism that took their jobs, shuttered their businesses, and caused havoc among the less qualified. It is technology. And there is no stopping its march. For example, in the US, the Solar Energy sector alone employs more people than oil, coal, and gas COMBINED. Where governments (including a series of Republican and Democratic ones) have failed is in not clearly accepting this and ensuring the population is trained and prepared.
[/quote]
Nutshelled. Including us,… post Rudd/Gillard anyway.
If not for Abbott & Murdoch sucking in the nuffies, we would be well on our way here by now.
Well big a, maybe history is repeating, as in Germany back in 1933, only about 33% voted for the Nazis like Le Pen, and they had a Centrist Chancellor, and the Right got control, and away we went.
Tech + offshoring certainly (and tech is one of the reasons offshoring became routine due to improved communications etc)
I’m yet to hear anything resembling a policy answer for the problem, tbh. I don’t think there’s historical or economic precedent for unskilled or semiskilled labor simply not being a marketable commodity for an extended period of time. I’ve heard all the suggestions about minimum basic income, but it seems a doubtful solution. I mean, if you parachuted into a future where tech has rendered work pretty much obsolete, then sure, it makes sense. But now, when we’re just beginning the transition, and when cheap overseas labor is also a major contributor to the situation? I’m not so sure. Seems a bit like the ancient roman corn dole, a recipe for a permanent underclass who are meat for whichever unprincipled politician promises to up their allowance the most.
Need one with Cyanide and Le Pen 
Or Zyklon-B to be more specific.
I assume you know the National Front are Hitler-worshiping, holocaust-denying, white-supremacist neo-Nazis - yeah? Are you seriously saying they are preferable to the status quo?
While we’re on the topic of rubbish memes, this is a fun read:
I found that really interesting. Not a lot of articles posted on blitz that I read through to the end.
Waiting for “email hack” revelations against Merkel to start appearing.
Germans are no longer gullible or stupid
Sites like that churn out so much drivel that it’s hard to notice some of the quality journalism they occasionally do.
This story from last year blew my mind, though in hindsight it is hardly surprising that legal mechanisms like it exist:
Sorry for going a bit off-topic folks.
Emma Ruby-Sachs - Avaaz [email protected] 16:25 (6 hours ago)
Dear friends,
Europe, including 20 million Avaazers, is rising up to defend the world against Trumpism! And it’s beautiful.
Austria. Netherlands. And now France. Everywhere the far-right is trying to take power, they’re being crushed!
In France’s presidential election, the racist nationalist Marine Le Pen was beaten even worse than expected, 66-34, and by a brand new political movement that proudly defended the values of humanity and openness.
Stopping the far-right’s momentum has been Avaaz’s top priority this year. Here’s how our community rose to the fight in France! –
Our election campaigning was all over global and French news:
Our community sent more than 20,000 text messages and made thousands of calls in a targeted get-out-the-vote program to those who claimed they would abstain:
We blanketed key neighbourhoods with posters linking Le Pen to Trump and her father that reached more than 2 million people:
Our viral video calling on France not to get ‘Trumped’ got over 2 million views in days:
And all throughout the election, Avaaz members were in the streets orchestrating media-grabbing actions that helped shape the media narrative:
France is a crucial world leader in so many of the things our community fights for: Stopping climate change. Saving our biodiversity. Protecting Internet freedom. For both their country and all of us, most of the 4 million Avaazers in France fought hard to help keep Le Pen out of office, and bring to power Emmanuel Macron, a man who shares many of our values – including supporting a strong Europe, fighting climate change and creating an inclusive and open world that celebrates difference instead of vilifying it. Today is a day to celebrate.
Click to leave a message and join the global celebration!
The tide is turning away from far-right extremism. But the BIG fight isn’t over yet. Dangerous, hate-filled rhetoric used by politicians to divide us is a threat everywhere. The world needs our 44-million-strong global community more than ever before, to show up time and again to defend our unity, and our democracies. And I know we’ll be there, together. See you in the next fight 
With so much hope and gratitude for this movement,
Emma, Alice, Nell, Patricia, Christoph, Julie, Camille, Amelie, Andrew, Mia, Mike, Martyna, and the whole team at Avaaz
Read more:
Marine Le Pen Critics Warn French Voters Not To ‘Trump’ Themselves (Huffington Post)
It would be foolish to write LePen off.
Getting 34% of the vote shows widespread support, and will give her Party many seats in the French Parliament. Hilter started with a lower base but continued to build on it, and while economics conditions in Europe are not like 1925 to 1933, some of the nationalist feelings are.
That’s only 33% of valid votes… 25% of the population did not vote while many voters chose to vote for none of the two candidates (not accounted for in the final candidates’ percentages).
I agree though, that still means 10M votes for the far-right party, which is pretty saddening
Coalition talks (between the right & the left) in Holland have collapsed which opens the door for Wilders again
LOL
Now that’s how you politispeak.
All signs pointing to a hung parliament in the UK. Best news so far is the UKIP laying a big, fat egg. Is Brexit in trouble? Surely its too late to stop it, right?
Yeah Europe is said it is too late a few times.
