Imagine going through the soul crushing hell of being a committed and earnest election worker in a failing 21st century democracy and then the clouds part and in one shining moment you can tell boris you have no idea who he is, but he'll need ID.
Like seriously consider it. Do you say "on your bike son"? Can you resist flipping him off? The joy he gave that one person might be the single act of good in johnson's entire life.
I wonder how Boris feels about the current crop of carbrained Conservative candidates, given that supporting bikes was one of the few good things he did as mayor.
He’s LITERALLY the reason Tory MP’s are both fucking useless, or leaving/quitting in droves. When he gutted the party for not backing his Brexit vote, he got rid of lots of established conservative politicians, replacing many with populists.
The Conservative party doesn’t have many actual conservatives in it any more. Many feel that they’ve been forced out, and even those looking to join feel that they’re just a right-wing party on the tails of Reform.
It’s one of the reasons I’m so excited for a GE. It’ll likely result in a Labour landslide, but it’ll also potentially be the biggest decimation of the Tories since Thatcher, probably more so because she was still ultimately a Conservative. If they can’t root out the populists, the party is basically dead.
Serious about him being better than the current crop on this very specific issue? Yes. Other than that, he’s a piece of trash and a hack of a politician, so I don’t disagree with you on that point.
Although frankly I’d be happy if conservatism was buried altogether, and not just “populist” conservatism. Both forms are incredibly harmful to the poor and the disadvantaged in general.
That’s a big part of the Boris Johnson myth. The “Boris bike” system in London was actually created by his Labour predecessor Ken Livingstone. The system officially opened shortly after Boris became mayor, who then took the credit for it.
The guy does ride a bike, but not as much as other’s coattails.
I’ve seen Boris “expansion of the london cycling network” up close and personal the few times I’ve decided to go for really long cycles away from London zones 1, 2 and 3 - the cycling “network” out there is basically made up of tiny blue signs with a white stylized cyclist symbol every half a mile or so along the side of the road and nothing else (not even paint on the road, just near invisible signs), but that was enough for him to claim he had added a huge number of miles to the London cycling network.
Boris “achivements” are invariably just traditional posh-boy lying: in a very strict sense not a lie, but using words (“cycling network”) that leads others to understand one thing (actually usuable, properly marked “cycling lanes” that make it safer to cycle) which is completelly different from the reality (little signs on the side of the road that do not add up to a cycling lane or are even easilly spotted by drivers).
You’d think that the Prime Minister who implemented the rule to require a photo ID to vote would then not forget his own photo ID at the next time he tries to vote. Smells distinctly oniony.
He has at best an intelligence a bit above average, tough seems to believe he’s some kind of genious.
Like in so many things, there seems to be a sort of Dunning-Krugger Effect when it comes to intelligence, with the “just above average” up to what I call “entry level genious” - i.e. those just about intelligent enough to frequently outsmart most people - often vastly overestimating their own mental capabilities.
(Think Elon Musk if you need another example).
It probably doesn’t help that in the environment he grew up and lives, those who intellectually can run circles around him won’t actually tell it to his face and instead just use him if they can or keep quiet to avoid some kind of negative reprecursions if they’re in a position of less power.
What he does have which is vastly superior to most people is the lack of scruples and of morals: there are definite advantages in terms of outwittting others for those who lie and deceive with the same naturality as breathing. That is however not intelligence, just a mix of sociopathy and public school training.
I think Johnson and Musk are both great examples of people who have that Used Car Salesman style emotional intelligence needed to sell ice to an eskimo. But they lack the curiosity or self-reflection that one might need to do anything useful.
What he does have which is vastly superior to most people is the lack of scruples and of morals
They’re both failkids who rose upwards from their parents’ petite bourgeois class position. They were surrounded by people who also lacked scruples and morals, but never got to really push pedal to metal by hooking up with an insider like Jeff Epstein or Peter Thiel.
No way, he’s a fool. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence would not have walked, talked, and TOUCHED people with Covid. He nearly died, OUR Prime Minister during Covid. It was a moment when we truly teetered on the edge and he was the creator. I’ll agree about the morals though, serial cheater.
Edit: I saw David Cameron at a social event a few weeks after resigning, hair down(so to speak), beer and fag in hand. He knew what shitshow he was leaving behind.
This fucking dingbat. Even if he was just a random citizen, he should know by now that you need to bring ID. And it’s always good to check if you have it when going to your polling station.
Here in the Netherlands, we’re VERY strict on ID. No ID, no vote. I’ve been witness to a fair few elections as a reporter, and it always gets drilled into the people who run the polling stations: even if the King himself walks in, you ask him for his ID and tell him to bugger off if he doesn’t have it. I’ve seen city mayors turned away at polling stations in their own council buildings for failing to produce ID. And they all perfectly understand why those strict controls are necessary.
The UK never needed ID, there was no evidence of voter fraud happening at polling stations. So voter ID was introduced.
There has been evidence of voter fraud happening via postal votes where no id is required.
The UK doesn’t have any government ID, only ID by proxy like drivers license and passport. So poorer people and the elderly are less likely to have photo id. Only one group got an exception - the one that voted conservative.
The previous Scottish conservative leader committed electoral crimes live on TV. There was no consequences. But know people are further disincentivesed to vote, despite very little evidence of people fraudulent casting votes claiming to be someone else.
I hear people are being turned away. But whenever I vote, I stroll down the road to a basically empty room, in and out in a couple of minutes. All in all, 20 minutes max. If I forgot ID it would be very little effort to just go get it.
Needing ID is a brand new idea for british conservative party. Its been in place since last local elections (a year ago?), and yeah it is a stupid idea that solely disenfranchises people
Agreed, and probably the main aim of the change. It forces people to have a photo ID when they wouldn’t necessarily otherwise.
I don’t know if this is the case in other countries, but in the UK if you don’t drive and don’t require a passport then you wouldn’t naturally have a photo ID. Forcing people to choose between “volunteering” all their personal data and being allowed to vote is not an action of a benevolent democratic government.
You’re lucky that you live close enough, or that you’re not popping in on your dinner break, or on your way between jobs, and don’t have time to nip home to pick up your ID.
Your lucky that you’re not elderly or disabled and struggling to get to the polling station at all, never mind having the opportunity to get there and back easily.
I’m in Arizona and have had to wait in line for a couple of hours before. They also purged a bunch of voter registrations before without informing people, so quite a few had to cast provisional ballots and hope they got counted.
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