Global Political News and Elections Thread

[Curryong]

Boris Johnson set to lose seat in election pasting as poll predicts 85 key Tory losses - Mirror Online

Wow! Terrible news for Boris and the Tories in the latest YouGov polling about voter intentions. Predictions he might even lose his own seat and a general wipeout over the rest of the country. It suggest to me not so much a lovefest with the Labour Party or even the Lib-Dems but that in general people are cheesed off with both lack of compassion in several instances and elitism in others among the Conservative Ministers and MPs.

[Curryong]

Canada to cap the market for handguns with new law

Trudeau?s government is set to introduce restrictions on hand guns in Canada and a raft of other legislation pertaining to individuals using the Internet to promote gun violence. The young Uvailde individual who perpetrated the massacre in the US signalled what he wanted to do before he did it.

?Canada already has plans to ban 1,500 types of military-style firearms and offer a mandatory buyback program that will begin at the end of the year. It already expanded background checks.

Trudeau has long had plans to enact tougher gun laws but the introduction of the new measure comes after mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, N.Y., this month.

Bill Blair, minister of emergency preparedness, said Canada is very different from the United States.

?In Canada, gun ownership is a privilege not a right,? Blair said. ?This is a principal that differentiates ourselves from many other countries in the world, notably our colleagues and friends to the south. In Canada, guns are only intended to be used for hunting and sport purposes.?? (From the article.)

[wannable]

In 10 minutes the world will know the fate of Boris Johnson.

[Curryong]

Confidence votes are always bad news for a current PM. However I expect him to survive, if only because there?s no clear popular successor.

[TLLK]

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wins confidence vote

LONDON ? Boris Johnson survives ? for now.

The British prime minister narrowly won a confidence vote among his own lawmakers Monday, leaving him damaged but still in power and his ruling Conservative Party bitterly divided over its once-talismanic leader who has become plagued by scandal.

Johnson, 57, won by 211 votes to 148 in a high-drama secret ballot in Parliament? a majority of just 63 and splitting his party 59 percent to 41.

[Curryong]

The prediction here is that Boris is now safe for the next 12 months. I?m not so sure as he has a mightily restive back bench. However the numbers weren?t that bad. He actually won the final ballot for his leadership in 2019 with 51% of the votes so there?s an improvement. However it depends if any more disastrous polls and by elections loom up in the next six months.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/boris-johnson-vote-live-updates-uk-prime-minister-faces-tory-no-confidence-vote-20220606-p5arj1.html

[wannable]

Lord Geidt QUITS: Boris Johnson's ethics adviser resigns in curt one-sentence statement after weeks of speculation about his future following Partygate scandal - leaving the PM 'surprised' by the move

Boris Johnson?s top ethics tsar has sensationally quit his role tonight after weeks of speculation about his future following the Partygate scandal. A short statement released on the Government's website confirmed Lord Geidt (main), a former aide to the Queen, will leave his role as the Prime Minister's Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests. A senior Downing Street source said there had been no official reason provided for the ethics tsar's shock departure, and admitted Mr Johnson was left mystified by Lord Geidt's resignation. The pair's previous scrapes include warring over the infamous 'Wallpaper Gate' refurbishment of No 11 in February 2020 and Mr Johnson's refusal to say whether he broke the ministerial code when he received a Partygate fine (inset) earlier this year.

The former aide to the Queen quits on Boris.  One more whatever 'gate' from Boris, he's out...

[Curryong]

The Tories go down in two bye elections. In one though, the blow for the conservatives is lessened in that Wakefield is a natural Labour constituency, as commentators have pointed out. I think the Tories won there in 2019 for the first time since the war. It?s Tiverton (which fell to the Liberal Democrats) that is the really  troubling result. The Tory MP there had been briefly caught in scandal by being seen looking at porn on his phone while in the Commons. The Lib Dems have just won in a conventional Tory area by over 6,000 votes.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/uk-conservatives-lose-elections-blow-pm-johnson-85626128

[wannable]

It factually does, all were clinically certified to be Mentally Ill with a HISTORY, hence the media when giving stories about ALL the gunners. The End.

This thread is about the Sussexes, not the 2nd amendment nor gun law. I'd like to discuss it at the Coffee k.

[Curryong]

That is completely untrue. There have been several cases where US gun massacres have occurred, such as the Las Vegas shootings and several where shooters went to their places of employment and shot fellow employees. In  several instances nobody knew what set such shooters off.

And

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/blaming-mass-shootings-nations-mental-health-crisis-harmful/story?id=84973562

?However, physicians, psychiatrists and other leading experts told ABC News that it is inaccurate to assert that "mental health issues" are solely or primarily responsible for the United States? ongoing rash of gun violence.?

?Instead, while experts say some aspects of mental illness are associated with mass violence, they insist that it is truly a multi-layer and complex crisis, driven by a confluence of other factors as well, such as widespread access to firearms, stalled gun reform and exposure to increased stressors and crises.?

[wannable]

Paddock was not known to the federal authorities, but was known to local law enforcement, according to NBC News. Police confirmed Paddock was the son of bank robber Patrick Benjamin Paddock, who was on the FBI's Top 10 most wanted list for over a decade until 1977. The original FBI posting described the elder Paddock as "psychopathic ... with suicidal tendencies." 

Surveillance to the family of this Psycho, 0.


*****

Psychopathy is also an inherited condition, according to J. Reid Meloy, forensic psychologist and author of ?The Psychopathic Mind.? ?The more severe the psychopathy, the greater the inheritance for the disorder,? he said.

Google is our friend.  ALL specialists agree with this ^

Anyway, The SUssexes should take care of their MH issues as their #1 priority.   

IF anyone has the answer to why Harry and Meghan excluded their children at the Trooping, tell us.

[Curryong]

Paddock was not known to the federal authorities, but was known to local law enforcement, according to NBC News. Police confirmed Paddock was the son of bank robber Patrick Benjamin Paddock, who was on the FBI's Top 10 most wanted list for over a decade until 1977. The original FBI posting described the elder Paddock as "psychopathic ... with suicidal tendencies." 

Surveillance to the family of this Psycho, 0.


*****

Psychopathy is also an inherited condition, according to J. Reid Meloy, forensic psychologist and author of ?The Psychopathic Mind.? ?The more severe the psychopathy, the greater the inheritance for the disorder,? he said.

Google is our friend.  ALL specialists agree with this ^

It can be an inherited condition but that is not always the case and the son was never diagnosed with such a condition. And I know all about Google. I?ve linked several good articles about the terrible incidence of US gun violence here, and regarding Switzerland (which you used as an example of a defence against lax gun laws) as well.


Based on what we know about [the shooter], we cannot come to a formal conclusion that he had a mental illness," Greg Hansch, executive director of the Texas chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, told ABC News.

Abbott admitted during the conference that the 18-year-old suspected gunman in the Uvalde shooting, Salvador Ramos, did not have a diagnosed mental illness or a known criminal background, but rejected the idea that stricter gun laws would have prevented the shooting.

[wannable]

The Associated Press
@AP
New AP-NORC poll: A growing, overwhelming majority of Americans say the U.S. is on the wrong track, including nearly 8 in 10 Democrats  :unsure:, in a midterms challenge for President Joe Biden.

[Curryong]

The Associated Press
@AP
New AP-NORC poll: A growing, overwhelming majority of Americans say the U.S. is on the wrong track, including nearly 8 in 10 Democrats  :unsure:, in a midterms challenge for President Joe Biden.

I agree that the senile old goat has been a disaster, heading a paralysed administration. However, if the article below holds true for young Dems voters then it may well be the same for the rest of older ones.

Why Young Voters Are Down on Joe Biden Before 2022 Midterms | Time

The result is growing levels of disengagement. According to the Harvard Institute of Politics youth poll, released in April, roughly 36% of Americans under 30 believe politics ?rarely has tangible results,? up from 22% in 2018. More than 40% believe their ?vote doesn?t make a difference,? up from 31%. And more than half of young voters (56%) believe the political system is ?no longer able to face the challenges? facing the country, up from 45% just before the last midterm. Only 41% of these voters approve of Biden?s job performance, down 18 points from last year, according to the Harvard poll.

It?s not clear, however, that this disillusionment will necessarily hurt Democrats in November. The Harvard poll found that number of young people who say they will ?definitely? vote in the midterms is roughly equivalent to what it was ahead of the record-breaking 2018 youth turnout.

[TLLK]

With two high profile cabinet resignations today, it seems that Johnson's term as Prime Minister could be ending soon.

Chris Pincher: Sunak and Javid quit cabinet as PM admits 'mistake' - BBC News

The party?s over ? The Queen stands by to appoint the 15th Prime Minister of her reign ? Royal Central

The party may soon be over for Boris Johnson following a series of high profile ministerial resignations which threaten the collapse of the government.

Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, both resigned on Tuesday evening, citing no confidence in the Prime Minister.

Mr Sunak, one of the UK?s most senior politicians and a close ally of Mr Johnson, said: ?the public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously?.

He adds: ?I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning?.

Boris Johnson and his government have been rocked by recent scandals, with the Prime Minister?s own conduct coming under intense scrutiny.

Mr Johnson was recently fined for attending unlawful parties during the Covid-19 lockdowns, and has suffered significant defeats at by-elections.

It is difficult to see how Mr Johnson can survive following the resignation of his two most senior allies.

The Queen will be aware of developments and will be prepared to appoint the 15th Prime Minister of her reign should there be a need.

[wannable]

Week in Week out, he apologizes, is saved, until when?

[Curryong]

Week in Week out, he apologizes, is saved, until when?

Boris has behaved extremely stupidly over Pincher (an appropriate name, considering his behaviour) and his own party-gate contremps. I wrote in my original post after the disastrous by elections that he was likely to survive for a while as no clear alternative leader seemed to be emerging from the dissatisfied Conservative MPs. However, every leader needs political allies in and out of Cabinet, and with Boris?s two main ones now gone, he appears to be hanging on by his left toenail. He may survive for a little while. We?ll see. Btw, I thought the Queen is spending a few days at Sandringham, not hanging around in BP waiting for Boris to call on her.

[wannable]

I don't think Boris will survive the weekend, it's when rather than if...tic tac tic tac.

47 resignations and counting. 

[wannable]

The guy who's doing this excel sheet is updating per hour. LOL

[Curryong]

The Australian Financial Review

[Curryong]

I think Boris is in big trouble but I doubt he?ll go within hours. The Tories are in a mess but I doubt they will want to give Labour too much of a satisfied glow. It?s a numbers game still.

By the way, mods, shouldn?t this recent news and our postings be in the British Political News thread?


Boris Johnson hit with more resignations as leadership crisis deepens | SBS News

ITV reported on Wednesday evening that Mr Johnson was defiant and was not going to resign, telling cabinet colleagues that they faced the choice between a summer focused on the economy or a leadership contest.

"(I'm) told PM absolutely defiant and is not going to resign. Sources tell me he told Cabinet colleagues that it was a choice between summer focused on economic growth or chaos of a leadership contest- followed by massive pressure for general election," ITV deputy political editor Anushka Asthana said on Twitter.

[Curryong]

I think Boris is in big trouble but I doubt he?ll go within hours. The Tories are in a mess but I doubt they will want to give Labour too much of a satisfied glow. It?s a numbers game still.

By the way, mods, shouldn?t this recent news and our postings be in the British Political News thread?


Boris Johnson hit with more resignations as leadership crisis deepens | SBS News

ITV reported on Wednesday evening that Mr Johnson was defiant and was not going to resign, telling cabinet colleagues that they faced the choice between a summer focused on the economy or a leadership contest.

"(I'm) told PM absolutely defiant and is not going to resign. Sources tell me he told Cabinet colleagues that it was a choice between summer focused on economic growth or chaos of a leadership contest- followed by massive pressure for general election," ITV deputy political editor Anushka Asthana said on Twitter.

[Curryong]

What the British newspapers are saying about Boris clinging grimly on to power. How the media loves drama!

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-the-papers-62073135

Newspaper headlines: Johnson 'fights for life' and 'stares down mutiny'.

Questions over the survival of Boris Johnson's government continue to lead Britain's national newspapers. "Johnson fights for his life" headlines the Times, as it writes the prime minister declared he was "absolutely determined" to stay on despite more than 40 ministers quitting government since Tuesday. It says Mr Johnson claimed his resignation would lead to a general election keeping the Conservatives out of power for decades. It quotes an ally of the premier saying: "It's an utter illusion if people think they can topple Boris and think it will be happily ever after."

[Curryong]

Boris has agreed to resign after his position became untenable. He?s apparently going to stay on in a caretaker PM role until the autumn to allow for a new leader to be chosen. I?d say the Tories are done for at the next election, anyway.

Boris Johnson resigns: Embattled UK Prime Minister agrees to quit

It's understood Johnson will stay in office while the Conservative Party chooses a new leader, who will replace him as prime minister.
Treasury chief Nadhim Zahawi was the latest to call on Johnson to resign on Thursday, just 36 hours after Johnson put him in the job.
Zahawi said Johnson knew "the right thing to do" was to "go now".

[TLLK]

@Curryong-So any thoughts on who might be waiting in the wings to take over as the leader of the Conservative Party? Do you believe it might be a member of the Cabinet?