I’m voting for Owen Thompson and the SNP at the UK election on December 12th. Normally for an election I would look through the manifestos and compare them along with consideration of the candidates and the party leaders to decide. But this election is a single issue election. It was called because the flawed 2016 referendum on EU membership did not ask what people wanted, it asked what they didn’t want (EU citizenship) but because there was no question asking what people did want instead it led to three years of parliament being stuck. The SNP policy is for a double proposal to have a referendum on the UK’s EU membership against the Withdrawal Deal as currently negotiated, and then to have a referendum on Scottish independence. This offers me the best chance to keep my EU citizenship and the freedoms it brings, while offering a good chance to get rid of a corrupt and pointless layer of government.
As I’ve said before all the political parties let us down in 2016 by not effectively campaigning for EU membership and letting the racists and populists win over. They continue to let us down here on those measures. Not one party proposes to ban political advertising online as done with TV despite the well documented populism that gives. Not one seems to have a commitment to reform the rules of election and referendum campaigns to stop the illegal behaviour that Johnson’s Vote Leave campaign used in 2016. And I’ve never heard anyone point out that asking a referendum question which only says what you don’t want and not what you do want instead is a pointless question.
But here’s a quick look at the manifestos anyway.
SNP Good stuff about refendums, no nuclear bombs and critique of why Westminster if broken. The usual vague stuff about ending austerity without defining it and promises for the NHS with no explanation of why that public service deserves them more than every other public service. Various good ideas for things to be devolved like broadcasting or employment law. They do want to fix the voting franchise for UK elections to include non-UK EU citizens and people from age 16. They seem to think the UK government will allow an independence referendum while also de-legitimising the idea that there is no need for anyone to allow Scotland to have a referendum, this is a dangerous stance to take as well as incorrect, no other country considers that it has to ask its neighbour for permission for independence. Climate emergency comes in a bit later in the manifesto than I’d like to see but I suppose there’s not much the SNP can do at the UK level since the right layer of government for this is the EU and Scottish layers. Complying with international law to allow the return of residents of Diego Garcia is pleasingly in there but not on Catalonia. I’ve done door knocking with their candidate Owen Thompson this election who is an experienced politican from local and UK layers and I’m happy to support him.
Labour doesn’t get round to the Brexit question until page 80. The central issue of the election which defines if I will have freedoms and a functional economy in a year’s time and they can’t be arsed to highlight their policy on it. When they do they say they’ll negotiate a hard Brexit (outside the customs union; outside the single market) and then have a referendum on it. This sounds faffy and dislikeable. The leaflet from their candidate said she would campaign to remain and reform but with no suggestion of what they reform would be and there’s nothing about it in this manifesto so I think she’s lying on that point. They support weapons of mass destruction despite the party membership in Scotland voting against them and UK and Scottish leaders campaigning against them, which shows what a mess this organisation is. Lots of interesting stuff about renationalising public services which I think is a strong part of the cause for the party leadership wanting to leave the EU, EU law will mean having to pay full rate for renationalising these industries while outwith the EU they can pay below market rate, but on the whole I’m against cheating the rules of a functional economy, after all this is my pension scheme they’d be cheating. No mention of complying with international law about Diego Garcia or Catalonia. Fixing the voting franchise is in there. Climate emergency is pleasingly put as a headline item.
The Lib Dems have clear constitutional positions which is fine but being against referendum on them is hypocritical. They compare Scottish independence to Brexit, which is nonsense. Climate emergency doesn’t come until half way through. No mention of Diego Garcia or Catalonia. No mention of nuclear bombs. Nothing devolved to Scotland. Pleasingly they do want to fix the undemocratic where we get a prime minister without a vote of parliament or people and they do want to fix the shutting down of parliament. Otherwise largely underwhelming.
The Conservative party is now a radicalised dangerous nationalistic vehicle which support shutting down parliament, corruption of referendums, limiting the voting franchise, blocking the release of reports on foreign interference in voting and ignoring international law. Everyone should vote to stop them from getting power. They will start the Brexit process with the Withdrawal Agreement but still with only a minimal plan for how to implement Brexit, but their lie that this will “get Brexit done” rather than the truth that it is only the start of the process seems to be ignored by the media. Their hard Brexit will put up new borders, shut off supply chains, limit the economy and take away my freedoms. The headline item of course is to stop a referendum on independence which is as hypocritical as it comes. Climate emergency doesn’t seem to feature. There is scary protectionist British nationalism like “When we leave the EU, we will be able to encourage the public sector to ‘Buy British’” which goes against basic economics and shows how far they have fallen from their Margaret Thatcher free-market politices, which as simplitic and damaging as they were, at least were consistent. This party is run by people who ran illegal campaigns in 2016, take power without a vote, ignore international and national law and shut down parliament, they are not democratically accountable, they need to be stopped.
[ Update to the below paragraph, in my rush I missed the Green manifesto which is full of good stuff.]
The Greens aren’t standing in my constituency and don’t have a manifesto and because of the voting system won’t get any result except maybe help the SNP lose where they should win so despite being a party member I can’t advocate voting for them. They make the point that the climate emergency is more important than Brexit, but alas the EU is the right layer of government to take the lead on it so EU membership is vital to helping prevent or limit it and the votes this election need to be directed towards that.
So hopefully an SNP win in Scotland (like they have in every election for the last decade) will help them support a Labour government in England to have a referendum (with rules fixed to make it a valid and fair one) on EU membership vs Johnson’s hard brexit proposal and then a referendum on Scottish independence. But it probably won’t be that simple.
😀
Why do you feel the need to post this on KDE Planet?
Planet KDE exists to allow KDE people to share information about themselves as well as their KDE contributions. A hard Brexit will affect KDE significantly. I often get people thanking me for my political opinion blogs. If you don’t want to read it then don’t read it.
I think it’s okay. I’m really interested in the kind of attitude the people behind KDE have! For me as a German, it’s interesting how British people think. KDE is an international project! Nationalist efforts are poison for a project like KDE. In this sense, the upcoming Brexit also affects the KDE project.
“Nationalist efforts are poison for a project like KDE.”
LOL at the irony of that statement. The SNP stands for the Scottish National Party. A party who fully support Scottish nationalism! So Brexit = bad but Scottish nationalists who support the EU = good.
Just as a matter of interest, how would you react to this photograph, if instead of the Scottish flag they flew the German flag – https://news.images.itv.com/image/file/494386/stream_img.jpg
It’s very pleasing that the nationalism for Scottish independence is internationalist and about better governance not protectionism and restricting freedoms with hard borders.
I’m not sure the purpose of your question there. I don’t tend to fly flags except the European flag but if some people waved a German flag around I would consider the sentiment behind that and my feelings would respond appropriately.
yeah, bla, bla, bla everyone who agrees with Brexit is nationalist…
Urgh, spamming PlanetKDE again. Shame.
>A hard Brexit will affect KDE significantly
We have plenty of people in non-EU countries hacking on KDE…what are you talking about?
I’d like to organise a spint in London next year for KDE but people are reluctant to come if there is a hostile attitude to Europeans and if bureaucracy suddenly exists where previously there was none. KDE has thrived in Europe more then the rest of the world and the freedom given to us by the EU structure will be a strong part of that reason.
Yeah. Besides, we had sprints in Switzerland and other places which are outside the EU. There are meetings even in countries not inside Schengen. It is a no issue. I am not sure why it is envisioned so.
“A hard Brexit will affect KDE significantly” That is your opinion and you are perfectly entitled to hold it. This is your blog and you can say what you want on it.
But you are making the choice to tag these posts as planetkde and planetubuntu so that they appear on these feeds. Both of which have global audiences, with the majority of readers not being able to vote SNP even if they wanted to! If they even know what the SNP are for that matter!
It’s not just an opinion, adding in bureaucracy really will limit how effectively KDE can function.
agree with you
Hard brexit has been ruled out by Westminster and therefore it would be unlawful. The only way this can change is by the parliament gaining majority by people’s vote, in which case they are entitled to execute anything within their jurisdiction for which they have got the support from the British people.
Anyway, Boris says that he has got a great deal, so he cares about hard brexit not. The clean break brexiteers in the Brexit Party could complain that they are not getting what they want. But your fear is completely unfounded for the aforementioned two reasons.
The Brexit that Johnson’s Conservative government would negotiate is for a hard brexit with border restrictions and bureaucracy. I moved to Barcelona to work on KDE for a year in 2014 and I would no longer have a right to do that. People traveling to conferences into the UK our needing travel out of the UK would have restrictions same as people traveling between India and the EU which is bureaucratic and takes times and money. Switzerland is inside Schengen giving freedom to anyone who wants to travel there from the EU, Johnson’s hard Brexit would take away this freedom to me. A cliff edge no-deal Brexit is still possible if there is no deal completed by the end of 2020 and no extension requested, which is quite possible. If you don’t like my blogs then best scroll past them.
corrupted Westminister, like socialistic centralised EU is not bureauctratic corrupted monster…
There is no way this should be on Planet KDE. It’s a hyperbolic set of opinions (yes, opinions, no-one who leads into a paragraph with “a radicalised dangerous nationalistic vehicle” can claim it’s not an opinion) based on Jonathan’s biased interpretation of election manifestos.
I’m going to ignore the obvious ‘glossing over’ of the SNP’s blatantly racist and nationalistic policies and the hypocrisy of espousing the greatness of Salmon and Sturgeon’s ‘policies’ while calling the Conservatives ‘nationalistic’.
And the FUD that when the UK leaves the EU that no-one will be able to collaborate on KDE? Urgh. We’re globalised. I’m sure KDE has coders and developers who are outside the EU. I myself live and work outside the EU (but am from the UK) and seem to be able to manage just fine. As do many of my friends.
In short, I am disgusted that Jonathan is producing such biased nonsense and making it available on the Planet KDE blog, and I implore all readers to come to their own conclusion rather than reading the ramblings of a SNP supporter.
Sorry to disgust you, but if you don’t want to read it then best not read it.
I’m not a member of the SNP and left it’s membership a few years ago so I’m not a supporter generally. Fortunately they’re not racist at all and promote open and free borders which the Tory party wants to remove.
Most of us subscribe to the Planet feed because we want to read topics relating to KDE, NOT Scottish or UK politics.
There are plenty of other places to get that information and many many echo chambers which, I’m sure, would love your point of view.
After 20 years working on the project I like to think I am part of KDE.
And after 20 years you can’t see the damage posting divisive material like this can cause? Or the precedent it sets for future posts on other topics? ie the 2020 United States presidential election, or any of the following controversial topics?
Gun Control, Abortion, Religious Freedom, Animal Rights, Vaccines, Capitalism, Socialism, Global Climate Change, Evolution, Marijuana Legalization, Capital Punishment, Marriage Equality, Immigration, Trump, Illegal Drugs etc etc
I’m not asking you to stop posting them on your blog, just don’t tag them for Planet KDE or Ubuntu like you have done with this one.
Discussing politics is important for a functioning society, one of the reasons for the rise of populism is the reluctance many people have to do so which leaves the nutters with a louder voice.
And who, Jonathan, are the “nutters” you refer to?
The people which you don’t agree with?
The people who have a different opinion than you do about things?
Those awful people from “up norf” who voted Brexit, and you don’t like them?
You don’t see the irony in your statements; in one paragraph you espouse working together and the removal of borders, and in the next one you’re calling people “nutters” and using vitriolic statements such as “[a] dangerous nationalistic vehicle” because you don’t agree with their policies.
Anyway… after this episode, I’m getting as far away from KDE’s website as possible; there goes my $25 per month in donations to KDE e.v. Ironically, the only reason I found myself on KDE’s website was I’ve had such fun with Plasma 5 I wanted to give a little back to the community. 🙁
Fair enough, I’ll just remove the Planet KDE feed and good luck in the General Election.
Firstly, there is no hard brexit on the radar. It is your imagination.
Secondly, brexit will not affect KDE in my opinion all that much. People can still travel as much as they like for visit. It is not like people came to England to stay here for contributing to KDE.
Thirdly, I find it somewhat hypocritical to argue with unity, but actively speaking up for leaving the UK unity.
Fourthly, I find it self-defeating to judge yourself with thanks. I am sure you know very well that this topic divides nation, friend, world, relationship, etc. Human of any kind. However, the biggest thanks go by the Brexit voters. The UK has been the founder of democracy. We also follow democracy in KDE. I do not understand your problem with it.
Fifth, as you probably know my opinion, this content either should not be on KDE Planet or we readers should have the option to filter content out. I stopped reading planet KDE for these reasons. You do not only post political content once in a while, but repeatedly. This is better suited for a political platform.
I really don#t get the problem with it. I look regularly at Planet KDE Feed and read maybe 20 % of the Articles because the rest is of no interest to me.
So what exactly prevents people here to just ignore articles they do not want to read. The Title alone says that it is an article related to the elections. If I’m not interested in it I ignore it.
You all spout about freedom. You also have the freedom to ignore the article, but you want to take away the freedom to find it easily.
Congratulations on the SNP win! Great news for Scotland and KDE.
I do understand why some people find this annoying (though, in this specific case, I myself am not, despite disagreeing on several points).
I think that off-topics are perfectly fine, but political content is often divisive, no matter how “reasonable” or “agreeable” we believe that our positions are. The problem, as I see it, is that some readers might feel they are not welcome into the KDE community if they don’t share these views. Maybe they won’t attend conferences, in order not to feel out of place.
On the other hand, it’s good that comments are enabled, so there is room for dialogue and hopefully for friendship.