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The slippery slope - dictatorship anyone?

(415 Posts)
Amagran Thu 26-Sept-19 01:35:09

We have a Prime Minister who suspends Parliament for 5 weeks at a time of national crisis in order to allow him to pursue a minority policy, and who then forcefully declares that the 11 Justices of the Supreme Court, the highest legal authority in the country, are wrong.

My Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a dictator as a ruler with (often usurped) unrestricted authority. It defines usurp as seize or assume (a throne or power etc.) wrongfully.

I feel that we have crossed a line on to a very slippery slope.
Do supporters of Johnson not feel just a teeny bit worried?

varian Fri 27-Sept-19 20:58:21

I am not angry with friends or relatives who voted for brexit.

Not one of my extended family voted for brexit. Only one close friend did but she haz now changed her mind and would vote Remain in a People's Vote.

I do know other folk who voted leave but I am not angry with them, only with the liars and charlatans who deceived them.

Urmstongran Fri 27-Sept-19 20:56:05

So BRINO then GGMk3?

I’d rather Revoke. I think that’s been the game plan all along.
I’m not sure we will be allowed to Brexit after all.

GracesGranMK3 Fri 27-Sept-19 20:52:26

The issue isn't only that the advisory vote was close. At this point almost all MPs wanted to try and work something out. The didn't have to, it was advisory but they signed Article 50 in good faith.

Then we voted in a hung parliament. This is our democracy; a right to vote for our Representative. This sent a message to parliament which certainly wasn't no-deal, it was more like 'compromise'.

varian Fri 27-Sept-19 20:51:42

My view, like the majority of UK voters ( as evidenced by numerous polls over the last two years) is that the UK should Remain in the EU.

There is nothing extreme about that.

lemongrove Fri 27-Sept-19 20:45:43

Varian’s views on Brexit are extreme ones.Extreme views are usually better avoided.
I don’t know anyone in real life who is angry with friends/ relatives for daring to vote in a different way to themselves.
Social media has just become a shouting match, much the same as Parliament.

Joelsnan Fri 27-Sept-19 20:40:18

varian
My post was a statement of fact. Millions of decent folk were deceived and sooner of later they will come to realise that

As WWM2 would say...oh dear!

varian Fri 27-Sept-19 20:32:50

My post was a statement of fact. Millions of decent folk were deceived and sooner of later they will come to realise that.

Urmstongran Fri 27-Sept-19 20:20:11

There’s no building bridges with you, is there varian?

My post was polite and conciliatory. Yours however. ...
☹️

varian Fri 27-Sept-19 20:13:41

Millions who voted leave deserve to be upset because they believed the leave liars.

Urmstongran Fri 27-Sept-19 20:05:44

I can see that MaizieD

The whole issue now is so utterly divisive isn’t it? I think most people are heartily sick to the back teeth of it. And yet, awful though it is, a decision has to be made. And either way MILLIONS of us are going to be upset.

I don’t honestly see how we can mend this division. We can’t put the genie back into the lamp.....

Time I suppose. It’s said to be a great healer.

I think it might be like the silence that developed after the Spanish civil war, where whole families fought (for real) and were split asunder. Subsequent generations didn’t speak of it.

Here it is in Wikipedia:
The Pact of Forgetting (Spanish: Pacto del olvido) is the Spanish political decision (by both the leftist and rightist parties) to avoid dealing with the legacy of Francoism after the 1975 death of Francisco Franco, who had remained in power since the Spanish Civil War in 1936–1939.

MaizieD Fri 27-Sept-19 19:28:55

I’d be dispirited

Problem is, Ug, the vote was very close and no-one tried very hard to get Remainers onside when we were all dispirited.

MaizieD Fri 27-Sept-19 19:24:19

To be honest, they seem to hate southerners as much as they do the EU.

Which is strange because, as a southerner who relocated to the NE, I have found them to be most friendly and accepting of 'incomers'. Far more so than the people I encountered in Yorkshire, who really did have a chip on their shoulders about 'southerners'. (And not all of them 'hate the EU', I know plenty who voted Remain)

growstuff Fri 27-Sept-19 18:54:17

I have extended family in the North East, all of whom voted to leave. I have theories about why they feel as they do. To be honest, they seem to hate southerners as much as they do the EU. I think you're right that life is tough and they've developed a strong sense of coping alone … and much else.

Urmstongran Fri 27-Sept-19 18:50:32

I’d be dispirited.
☹️

varian Fri 27-Sept-19 17:56:37

Would you be worried UG if we had a general election which resulted in another hung parliament? What then?

Urmstongran Fri 27-Sept-19 17:52:58

I think Boris must be the only ‘dictator in waiting’ who is begging for a GE!

The 2 things are not compatible so I’m not worried.

Fennel Fri 27-Sept-19 17:24:14

As I said Varian it's a bit of a mystery still to me.
The only reason I can think of is that this strong community spirit fosters a feeling of independence - we can cope on our own. Don't want to be told what to do.
Most people my age left school at 14 and had to go to work.

varian Fri 27-Sept-19 17:14:28

Why Fennel do you think that these traditional LP voters in the NE, unlike most LP voters, voted for brexit?

Fennel Fri 27-Sept-19 16:19:48

growstuff Your graph is interesting.
We live in the NE and as I've said a few times on here, The opposition to the EU is a mystery to me. even though I was born and grew up here.
There are many immigrant groups where we live now, probably not elsewhere. They're well accepted.
There's still a strong tradition of local community support, especially among the elderly, who all seem to know eachother. Who have kept eachother going in the 'hard times'.
Things are changing though as they/we pass away.

Labaik Fri 27-Sept-19 16:18:58

?

lemongrove Fri 27-Sept-19 16:13:09

grin

Labaik Fri 27-Sept-19 16:08:48

Can I just say how fantastic it is of you to go to a dangerous country to do voluntary work...x

Barmeyoldbat Fri 27-Sept-19 15:48:48

Jo Johnson was in a key position here. And yes I choose to live there for 4 months a year I am regarded as just a tourist and don't have to work under his rules. Just keep my head down. I

If you weren't that interested why ask?

lemongrove Fri 27-Sept-19 15:44:16

OK Barmey....well, am certain I only asked once, not twice
( am not all that interested) but you replied to my comment of ‘some people should try living in a real dictatorship’ with your own post saying you lived in one for four months a year for eleven years.This bit of info was intriguing, so I asked which dictatorship, and why you did so.You need not have told me if you didn’t want to, your choice!
Also your choice to go and live there for four months in every year ( unlike the residents.)
Are you seriously comparing us with Cambodia?Also, am fairly sure that Jo Johnson is not in a key position there.grin

Barmeyoldbat Fri 27-Sept-19 15:30:25

OK Lemongrove having just got back from hospital appointment I can now answer your question that you have asked twice.

Hun Sen is the dictator and its Cambodia and why do we go? mainly to visit friends and carryon with a bit of voluntary work as if its got anything to do with it. Why do you go where you do for a holiday?

Yes he has held elections almost a 100% turn out because if you don't vote and vote for him there are consequences and you often disappear. He has family members in key jobs (Boris's brother) and last time we were out there they were having key court case in their high court. He replaced the judges and of course we can guess how the case went. There are many other things, censor of newspaper, now only one allowed. I could go on.

So what has this to do with Boris? Well bury your head in the sand if you like Lemongrove but he has the all the makings of a dictator and has started to abuse his power already.

On the whole just because you have elections does it make all ok.