"We have no idea how many of the 2.1m people who have signed it would be eligible to vote were Starmer to suddenly decide to acquiesce. For that matter, we have no idea if they are real people at all." Me on petitions, direct democracy, and tea with Elon Musk www.newstatesman.com/politics/202... - ThreadSky

rmcunliffe.bsky.social • 103 days ago

"We have no idea how many of the 2.1m people who have signed it would be eligible to vote were Starmer to suddenly decide to acquiesce. For that matter, we have no idea if they are real people at all."

Me on petitions, direct democracy, and tea with Elon Musk

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2024/11/labour-shouldnt-fear-the-facile-general-election-petition

Comments

writergeek.bsky.social•103 days ago

There are probably two things going on here. 1. Emboldened by the Trump win, the extreme right (Farage) want to undermine UK democracy to get power and 2. People are perfectly capable of getting incensed about completely invented issues.

officer-blackavar.bsky.social•103 days ago

Can't say I agree with the last line. All this cowtowing and deference to Musk is pointless, not to mention degrading. Yes, he is rich, but he is just a private citizen. Governments are vastly more powerful. He tried to strong arm Brazil and lost spectacularly, the UK should not be scared of him.

andi65.bsky.social•103 days ago

Have a loot at the petition’s data page for insight into the number of votes from around the world

andi65.bsky.social•103 days ago

“Look” obviously, not “loot” whoops 😳

rmcunliffe.bsky.social•103 days ago

That doesn't tell you if they're British citizens or residents though

andi65.bsky.social•103 days ago

True, but I think it’s quite an eye opener all the same.

finstumpf.bsky.social•103 days ago

Facile. Exactly

sjkenyon.bsky.social•103 days ago

I agree with most of your article. But invite Musk into Number 10 for a cosy cuppa? No. Absolutely not.

mysteryhour.bsky.social•103 days ago

It’s gained 350,000 since I received it on WhatsApp about 3 hours ago and signed it. You need an email address and a postcode, everyone I know has signed it. Starmer is a loser.

brummieboy.bsky.social•103 days ago

But back in the real world he has a huge majority and probably sleeps very soundly.

mysteryhour.bsky.social•103 days ago

I’m sure someone donated him a comfortable bed to sleep on.

brummieboy.bsky.social•103 days ago

🤣

rmcunliffe.bsky.social•103 days ago

Because it is completely impossible to make up an email address or put in a random postcode

rhuaraidh.bsky.social•103 days ago

Eight hundred and fifty thousand of those polled live at the same post code.

ronappleton.uk•103 days ago

Totally amazing how the signatories are so even spread, and gathered so fast, hmm might be smelling an issue here...

mysteryhour.bsky.social•103 days ago

WhatsApp among friends, family and colleagues as well as Facebook groups. Everyone I k ow has signed. People are genuinely pissed off.

davemayhem.bsky.social•103 days ago

Especially given the same people pushing this petition are the ones who don't want any further votes on brexit. You don't treat bad faith arguments with anything other than contempt and this is bad faith all the way down.

rmcunliffe.bsky.social•103 days ago

One thing which isn't in the article: there are a whole lot of people who got used to having political influence under the Tories and are struggling to adapt. And a similar trend among voters.

Sometimes governments do things you don't like! That isn't "undemocratic", and you can't hack the system

csav55.bsky.social•103 days ago

True and I'd include a lot of journalists in this group, so many have resorted to just making stuff up because they no longer have cosy chats with Government Ministers, it's so depressing.

haynick.bsky.social•103 days ago

Trouble is the malign influence of MSM (and owners thereof) continues unabated.

itsamisterlee.bsky.social•103 days ago

Petition you say?

rmcunliffe.bsky.social•103 days ago

Lots of lefties and Remainers struggled to accept this, and were ridiculed for it. Now we're seeing the reversal, only intensified because a) social media and b) age (2024 was the first election where the Boomers didn't get their way).

Not everyone knows how to handle that. It's quite sweet, really

ormejks.bsky.social•103 days ago

Broadly agree, but at the risk of eliciting an eye roll can I just do the NotAllBoomers thing? I’m ancient, and the 24 election was the first national vote that had gone my way in about 20 years!

rmcunliffe.bsky.social•103 days ago

Fair! I meant as a voting cohort

ianrobo.bsky.social•103 days ago

problem is Rachel is the media are part of this, get fake stories etc from DM then the BBC then take on because their management are rubbish. This govt seems to want to annoy certain sections and it gets misreported, the fake stuff over the farmers, where BBC main news spent hlf a bulletin on it

metaphorqu.bsky.social•103 days ago

This boomer got her way with a new 🌹🌹 government and is mightily pissed off at the idiots of all stripes not making it easy to get on with what they need to do.

csav55.bsky.social•103 days ago

Ditto

stephena77.bsky.social•103 days ago

I was thinking this. It's the first time "The Right" have had a proper hissy fit. Slightly frustrating that they have to actually respond to it (saw it discussed in This Morning!!) but they are doing the right thing, just ignoring the noise and cracking on.

jamespfeffer.bsky.social•103 days ago

That's a pretty poor characterisation of the post-2016 remain position. A referendum where the question is "do you want what you've got or something else - FOR EVER" is a very different beast to a general election where the choices are clear and there is the chance to change your mind in 5 years.

csav55.bsky.social•103 days ago

Absolutely, total false equivalence to equate Farage's GE poll with our genuine concern about Brexit, and how right we were eh.

elainescott.bsky.social•103 days ago

Totally agree but please ‘some’ or even ‘most’ Boomers!

christianrad.com•103 days ago

Also, I think the chaos of the Tories since 2016 (five PMs) means people think government can easily chop and change and that political downfalls are just around the corner. Some commentators seem to think this, also...

rmcunliffe.bsky.social•103 days ago

Anyway, if you really want to bring back direct democracy, let's go all the way and adopt the ancient Athenian procedure of ostracisation. Let's vote every year for the person we most want to exile. I will leave you to come up with your own suggestions...

albeb3.bsky.social•103 days ago

Finally, something we’d all want Nigel Farage to win.

unicorntickles.bsky.social•103 days ago

I’m over here in the US getting jealous at the differently fucked up gov of the UK, I think I just need to throw myself off a cliff lol

ldw1.bsky.social•103 days ago

Don’t do that. We’re not as fucked up as it appears: https://bsky.app/profile/monkemma.bsky.social/post/3lbpilqu3kk2w

richclever.pouringoutmyheart.uk•103 days ago

I know it'd happen every year but can we please have more than one? I've got a rather long list.

wolfiegary123.bsky.social•102 days ago

I would be subtle
Fox , farage and tice are symptoms not causes
Spiked and unherd journalists. tufton street employees and Michael gove , they are anarcho capitalists using populism and culture war issues to destroy the nation state and communalism

aliquack.bsky.social•103 days ago

As they'd be too many candidates, couldn't we go Roman and stick them all in the Colosseum against the lions?

thebironicman.bsky.social•103 days ago

Hard to choose between Farage, Lauren Fox and Katie Hopkins 🤔

wtuckfieldpr.bsky.social•103 days ago

Hmmm, how could I possibly decide between Robbie Gibb and Paul Dacre? 🤔

gordonshorten.bsky.social•103 days ago

The nice thing with the Athenian approach is that it isn't a one-off event.

rmcunliffe.bsky.social•103 days ago

Every year we'd get to pick someone new. It would be like Christmas, only for democracy

ldw1.bsky.social•103 days ago

Are we allowing the North Koreans to vote on who we kick out?

tigermick239.bsky.social•103 days ago

Could be a long term replacement for I'm A Celebrity?

localnotail.bsky.social•103 days ago

It's been fun being able to say "You lost, get over it" and "Why do you hate democracy" to those people all excited about their stupid general election petition.

ldw1.bsky.social•103 days ago

Actually, we *do* have some idea - or at least, Emma Monk has: https://bsky.app/profile/monkemma.bsky.social/post/3lbpilqu3kk2w

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