General election/politics

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

RE: General election/politics

Tanaqui · Intermediate Club Player

Congratulations on having a key right as a citizen restored to you, Bob!

From the linked article, it looks like you would register in the last constituency you were registered in or living in. I hope that's a marginal seat, so you can feel like your next vote has extra impact!

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Bob in Spain wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
Bob in Spain wrote:
Not sure if it is relevant to any other posters on here, but as of today, I have got back my right to vote in UK elections as the 15-year rule is expunged.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/16/britons-living-abroad-regain-right-to-vote-in-uk-elections-as-15-year-rule-ends?

-- Edited by Bob in Spain on Tuesday 16th of January 2024 04:53:33 PM
Nice one ! Out of interest , how does it work? Which constituency would your vote count in, the last one you registered in or can you choose anywhere ?
From what it says in the article, I have to contact the last constituency in which I was registered to vote, before I moved abroad. Whether that means my vote will count in that constituency or not, I don't know. But I will definitely know before the next election.

Ha, I should have read the article before asking! Sounds good, and glad youve got your rights back.

could this be that the government believe nett nett that the additional voters will be largely Tory (realise not you!) and they need all the votes they can get!?

Tanaqui · Intermediate Club Player

Bob, the Electoral Commission has pages for overseas voters, including a link to the online registration form, that seem to reflect the new situation -- you just need to make sure you set your location correctly near the top of the page to "overseas": www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Tanaqui wrote:
Bob, the Electoral Commission has pages for overseas voters, including a link to the online registration form, that seem to reflect the new situation -- you just need to make sure you set your location correctly near the top of the page to "overseas": www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections

Thanks

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Really concerned about how the US elections are going to go over the course of this year. Trump is getting more and more extreme and people are lapping it up. He is ahead in the polls. Here is his latest diatribe.

Ignore the fact that Piers Morgan is tweeting and look at the screenshot of Trump's statement.

https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1748005042987114515

In a nutshell, he is saying a President can do what they like and have complete immunity. He states:

"Even events that cross the line must fall under total immunity".

Scary.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Bob in Spain wrote:
Really concerned about how the US elections are going to go over the course of this year. Trump is getting more and more extreme and people are lapping it up. He is ahead in the polls. Here is his latest diatribe.

Ignore the fact that Piers Morgan is tweeting and look at the screenshot of Trump's statement.

https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1748005042987114515

In a nutshell, he is saying a President can do what they like and have complete immunity. He states:
"Even events that cross the line must fall under total immunity".
Scary.

"Scary" doesn't begin to describe that utterly graceless, odious, appalling man! furious

christ · Futures qualifying

It is looking increasingly likely that he will be elected again: if this is the case I would assume that there won't be another Presidential election in his lifetime. ("Suspended until they can be guaranteed to be fair")

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

christ wrote:
It is looking increasingly likely that he will be elected again: if this is the case I would assume that there won't be another Presidential election in his lifetime. ("Suspended until they can be guaranteed to be fair")

Has he got the power to do that ? Isnt that overriding the constitution ? Surely the president cant do that without congress and supreme court in some way ie all 3 parts approving and presumably by some margin?

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Ps I dont know us constitutional law so just guessing !?

christ · Futures qualifying

JonH comes home wrote:
christ wrote:
It is looking increasingly likely that he will be elected again: if this is the case I would assume that there won't be another Presidential election in his lifetime. ("Suspended until they can be guaranteed to be fair")
Has he got the power to do that ? Isnt that overriding the constitution ? Surely the president cant do that without congress and supreme court in some way ie all 3 parts approving and presumably by some margin?

No.

But he does have a long and distinguished record of ignoring things that he shouldn't be able to do, and he has a compliant (sycophantic) party & Supreme Court.

... and I am sure that he wouldn't contravene the law, just suspend it (until such time ...). He came very close to overturning the last election through denial and ignoring the rules. It was only a non-compliant vice president that stymied him then. He and his support organisation have learned.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Putin wasn't allowed to do it - but did

Lukashenko wasn't allowed to do it - but did

As christ says, there's a very long history of leaders changing the law (whether in the constitution or not) to entrench themselves with impunity

There's every reason to think Trump would consider doing the same and, if newly elected, would arguably have the support of the people to do so

indiana · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
Putin wasn't allowed to do it - but did

Lukashenko wasn't allowed to do it - but did

As christ says, there's a very long history of leaders changing the law (whether in the constitution or not) to entrench themselves with impunity

There's every reason to think Trump would consider doing the same and, if newly elected, would arguably have the support of the people to do so

The thing is I once would have rebutted - "but this is America." However, who knows any more.

In many ways I still find it all incredible that such a man can continue to have the support of so many Americans to be their President

I understand that there is self interest for many in they expect him to do things that will benefit them

But I would never have expected such support for such a man in that nation.

But increasingly it seems I have to get my head around the scary evidence.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Thanks all - and I agree it is very scary and believable. Ive been watching a series about world war 2 and specifically how what appeared normal and non extreme people came to support the rise to power of Hitler and the Nazis and there are some very strong parallels - self interest, group think, passionate dislike of what they perceived had been done to them, pride in their perception of their nation. A lot of these things are what many fascist / populist leaders take advantage of, even today with the rise of the right in many countries.

Its a thin line between populist and fascist - Trump certainly is populist; many commentators would say he is a fascist or at least has the potential to cross that line.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

This is as painful as it is hysterical.

When is a backlog not a backlog? When it's a 'queue' or a 'caseload' or a 'legacy backlog'.

twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1753467601424904302

How to distort statistics : For beginners.