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An oath on British Values?

(619 Posts)
yggdrasil Mon 05-Dec-16 07:34:51

Latest proposal is that all immigrants should be made to take an oath to abide by British values before even coming in to the country.
What would those values be? I doubt you could get much agreement between those of us born and bred here.
England, Scotland, Wales, NI? North, south, east, west?

durhamjen Wed 04-Jan-17 23:09:39

POGS, May gave the date, the end of March. It was her decision, so yes, SHE said it. SHE is the only one who can decide.
Do you agree with that? SHE can change her mind if SHE wants to. Nobody else has a say in that.
It doesn't matter what anyone else says about it. SHE has the authority and is using it. Try not to pretend otherwise.

POGS Wed 04-Jan-17 23:43:53

POGS,

'May gave the date, the end of March. It was her decision, so yes, SHE said it. SHE is the only one who can decide.
Do you agree with that?'

Read my flipping post I replied 'Yes'.

'SHE can change her mind if SHE wants to. Nobody else has a say in that.'

Yes they do, at the moment we are waiting for a judicial response to the court case. If the court case is found in favour of the government then I will agree with you, she could bring it forward if 'she' chooses.

You are still ignoring the fact she tried to get a consensus from other EU counterparts but they said 'Non'.' Nein' ' Bugger Offski'.

rosesarered Thu 05-Jan-17 08:47:33

Radio 4 news this morning says that May will set out broad plans by the end of this month.Everything is being held up by the law suits, as to being able to trigger article 50 by the end of March....who knows.

rosesarered Thu 05-Jan-17 08:50:00

The EU could have agreed to guarantee the workers abroad ( Brits) and May would have done the same for EU workers here, but the EU wouldn't even discuss it.

whitewave Thu 05-Jan-17 10:33:37

That's because we haven't triggered A50 yet rose

Britain knows that nothing can be discussed until that is triggered - we made the rules!!!!

POGS Thu 05-Jan-17 10:38:00

Sigh

rosesarered Fri 06-Jan-17 09:06:54

grin
Yes, I did know that, but you know rules are just made by People... and can be changed.In this case, guaranteeing the rights of British in the EU countries and vice versa, because it affects lives so directly, could have been assured if BOTH parties wanted it so.

rosesarered Fri 06-Jan-17 09:08:09

Anyway, it's January now, so not long to go before March, unless the court cases hold things up.

whitewave Fri 06-Jan-17 09:28:41

1917 is probably going to turn out more interesting than 2016 - if that is possible.

Le Pen is hopeful, not sure that the FN will succeed but they are softening their stance in order to attract more voters. It is interesting to look at the way they have softened their product. Father was a Facist, daughter who is a closet Facist realises that they will not succeed so softened the message, and is now softening it even further. But they are still a threat to democracy in France, and I hope enough voters will agree.

I love the way she aligns herself with UKIP, and the way Farage backs away like mad. It's like a mad dance,

daphnedill Fri 06-Jan-17 09:34:03

...backs away like mad and falls into Trump's golden lift...

This could be made into a comic ballet!

Mair Fri 06-Jan-17 11:59:48

"daughter who is a closet Facist"

Any evidence for that? Or is it just your usual prjudices?

Do you follow exactly the politics of your parents?

Does the fact that Ralph Milliband was a Brit hating Marxist mean that Ed must be a 'closet Marxist'?

Can you not undrstand that Le Pen while agreeing with the general thrust of her fathers nationalism, has a more broad minded softer view, just as Milliband while agreeing with the thrust of his fathers international socialism has a more broad minded softer view?

daphnedill Fri 06-Jan-17 14:11:36

Marine Le Pen expelled her father from the Front National. On the face of it, she disagrees with her father about many issues. She's also more intelligent than either Trump or Farage and has clearly thought through a number of policies. Unlike either Trump or Farage, she has been a serious politician for a number of years, so it's possible to read what she has stated and done in the past.

Le Pen Senior was a traditional (for France) anti-Semitic, racist, misogynistic, homophobic right-winger. Marine Le Pen doesn't hold her father's views, although many in the Front National still do. She has formulated policies which combine nationalism and socialism (sound familiar?). She believes in an authoritarian state, while offering sops to the disenchanted. She has stated that she would not seek to take France out of the EU. She is an intelligent woman and has certainly created a 'brand' which might very well appeal to the majority of French. Who knows what her real ambitions are? Certainly, she has changed her tune from her earlier stance on a number of issues, possibly to win votes by making FN appear more palatable.

Mair Fri 06-Jan-17 15:23:23

So absolutely no evidence she is a 'closet fascist'.
Thought not.

It seems there are plenty of Bremoaners who believe in an "authoritarian state" and that MPs should ignore the refernum.

Jayh Fri 06-Jan-17 16:00:55

What is a Bremoaner?

whitewave Fri 06-Jan-17 16:11:56

I actually believe that she has her fathers views but it simply more hungry for power than her father. She has cleaned up her act and is attempting to clean it up further before before the may election. However I am hoping fervently that it will do her no good.

Mair Fri 06-Jan-17 16:39:31

What is a Bremoaner?

Surely you can work this out?

I actually believe that she has her fathers views but it simply more hungry for power than her father

Well of course you do WW. I would hardly expect someone of your strong convictions to be open minded about her.grin*

Much the same suspicion could be applied to Ed Milliband, which goes some way to explaining his electoral failure

Eloethan Fri 06-Jan-17 17:31:21

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/why-we-should-be-scared-of-marine-le-pens-front-national-a6765751.html

The conclusion in the above article in the Independent was:

"Papa Le Pen comes from a French ultra-right tradition which existed long before Nazism and fascism; he is an anti-Semitic social conservative and an anti-government populist.

"His daughter is both a “nationalist” (anti-European, anti-immigrant) and de facto a “socialist” (trade barriers and subsidies for industry; a higher minimum age; and a reduction of the retirement age to 60). She is also, as a double divorcee, socially liberal. She supports abortion and some gay rights. Many of the ambitious young men who surround her are openly homosexual.

"On one level, this can be dismissed as a ragbag of policies and attitudes designed to appeal to every grievance and frustration in a country which has been spinning its wheels for four decades. Ms Le Pen has skilfully exploited the anger of a blue-collar and provincial middle-class electorate which berates politicians and demands “change” but refuses most specific changes. On the other hand, “nationalism” and “socialism” combined have a dark history, whatever Ms Le Pen may say. To that extent, the “Mariniste” FN is more authentically fascist – even if “fascist lite” – than her father’s party was."

I don't really care whether Le Pen's political positioning is described as fascism, nationalism, socialism or a mixture of all. My feeling is that anybody who exploits and exacerbates feelings of fear, dislike and distrust between groups of people is someone to be worried about.

Mair I see that you accuse whitewave of giving a prejudiced opinion in her critique of le Pen. In accepting the description of Ralph Miliband as "a Brit hating Marxist" (courtesy of the Daily Mail) it appears that you are not exactly neutral in your opinions either. The Telegraph's obituary to him seems not to support that description of him:

"Miliband never joined the Communist Party, unlike so many of his friends, repudiating Stalinism and always keeping his distance from sectarian groups"

- and indeed speaks of him as an important and highly respected political academic.

Mair Fri 06-Jan-17 17:53:30

Paul Dacre in defense of the DM article:

Our point was simply this: Ralph Miliband was, as a Marxist, committed to smashing the institutions that make Britain distinctively British

Paul Dacre on the Mail's controversial headline:

The paper therefore reasoned that "the public had the right to know what influence the Labour leader's Marxist father, to whom he constantly referred in his speeches, had on his thinking", he wrote.

Journalist Geoffrey Levy's 1 October article examined the views of Ralph Miliband - who died in 1994 - "over his lifetime, not just as a 17-year-old youth as has been alleged by our critics", Mr Dacre said.

"The picture that emerged was of a man who gave unqualified support to Russian totalitarianism until the mid-50s, who loathed the market economy, was in favour of a workers' revolution, denigrated British traditions and institutions such as the Royal Family, the church and the Army and was overtly dismissive of western democracy."

Mr Dacre said his paper had not suggested Ralph Miliband was evil, "only that the political beliefs he espoused had resulted in evil".
"As for the headline 'the man who hated Britain', our point was simply this: Ralph Miliband was, as a Marxist, committed to smashing the institutions that make Britain distinctively British - and, with them, the liberties and democracy those institutions have fostered."

Eloethan Fri 06-Jan-17 23:17:13

But it is said that there is now a wave of "anti establishment" feeling across the country. Doesn't the establishment contains those institutions which are referred to - the Royal Family, the church and the army, to name but a few?

People increasingly complain of being powerless, of having their wages cut and their hours increased, of the distance between their lives and those of politicians and other establishment figures, of being held to ransom by energy and transport companies, of the inequities of the market economy, etc. etc. It is only by examining and challenging the way things have traditionally been done that these issues can be addressed. If all political thinkers and academics just toed the establishment line, we would never have a pensions system, an NHS or legislation to prevent all kinds of discrimination.

durhamjen Sat 07-Jan-17 00:52:07

Quoting Paul Dacre, eh, the man who hates liberal Britain, and the EU, but has taken £88,000 from EU funding.
The Nigel Farage of the newspaper world.

durhamjen Sat 07-Jan-17 00:57:54

That was just in one year, by the way. He has received nearly half a million from the CAP since 2011.

JessM Sat 07-Jan-17 09:16:14

And it seems the lovely Farage has, in his desperation to make more money, taken a job as a shock-jock on London radio. He knows the very basic salary from the EU (for which he does virtually no work) is time limited now and is on record as envying his peers, who are all stinking rich. No new years honour and, as yet, no definite consultancy work for El Trump.
I sincerely hope that people will not ring in to argue with him, thus depriving him of more opportunities to show off and say outrageous things without a smidgin of responsibility.

whitewave Sat 07-Jan-17 10:17:14

Still it is only London, he is hardly speaking to his core constituency. I would guess he won't get very far in his attempt at division politics

Anniebach Sat 07-Jan-17 10:27:52

He has also been signed up to an American tv show

MaizieD Sat 07-Jan-17 11:02:47

He should suit America down to the ground. Perhaps he'll be such a success that he really will p* off and live there.