To give you a sense of Chega’s politics, it ran on a platform advocating the creation of a new crime of “illegal residence” on Portuguese soil
To give you a sense of Chega’s politics, it ran on a platform advocating the creation of a new crime of “illegal residence” on Portuguese soil
Sane people will be wondering why they didn’t have one before and why haven’t we got one?
It rather beggars belief that such a law didn’t already exist…
BiND
We have lots of laws, they just aren’t enforced or one can get around it by claiming “asylum” and waiting 10 years for the claim to be processed.
I saw a video recently about a family who discovered an illegal in their car’s roof luggage.
Instead of the proper response of “Right son you’re fucking nicked !” And beating him senseless with trucheons, the coppers said “You alright there mate ?” And helped him out.
Oh woe oh woe, so is our country run.
Now, be fair Ottokring, they did make him find his own way to the benefits office
Presumably they were arrested and charged with not being sufficiently welcoming to their newly imported rocket engineer, and not giving up a seat for him.
The only reason I can think of to stop me voting for Chega is that I believe fascists are too left wing.
An article packed with lefty butt-hurt. A pleasure to read. Recommended.
From the article:
“If the westernmost nation of mainland Europe was once seen as a paragon of sensible governance, it is now set for months or even years of political instability”
When I was studying politics 50 years ago, it was a by-word for military juntas, coups, and proper fascism.
She writes as if this is a bad thing:
The Communist party is weakened, with just four MPs now where it had 17 at the time. The anti-capitalist Left Bloc, which peaked in 2015 at 19 seats, now clasps on to the five it has had since 2022.
An article packed with lefty butt-hurt. A pleasure to read. Recommended.
The Grauniad from cover to cover?
I saw a video recently about a family who discovered an illegal in their car’s roof luggage.
I can imagine the bugger being escorted by Plod into their home where he declares, Papa Lazarou style, “This is my house now” while eyeing up their pre-teen daughter.
The paradigmatic shift isn’t so much the end of the two-party system, but the end of the electorate’s faith in a socioeconomic model that has for many decades failed to sustainably deliver for the average working Jane and Joe.
Huh, you don’t say.
Helicopter rides when?
Often interesting to notice the disconnect between the media and their readers. From the four most popular comments following the G’s article:
“People will vote for these radical parties if they believe their concerns are not being addressed by the mainstream ones. That’s the message that politicians have to learn.”
“The real question is will the socialists who write for and read the Guardian ever learn? My guess is not.”
“Ever learn what? People of europe are fair minded, why do people think that they are stupid if they do not vote the way they think? In this case ,,ooh its the right wing they are evil, the european people are rejecting the way it is run simple as that, uncontrolled immigration ( not immigration) is rejected by the majority . You can deny it all you want but the truth hurts.”
“Ah the Guardian where democracy is only good if their ideological side wins.”
As almost all comments were in the same vein, please spare a thought for the poor intern who was given the job of selecting ideologically sound comments as “Guardian Picks”
It may now be too late for the West, a corpse that cannot be galvanised
Elected governments no longer have the power or will to do what is needed to save our free societies
Mr Gove’s struggle to define extremism (something like “active opposition to fundamental British values”) is a sign that politicians have lost control of the public sector in all its ramifications. The “extremism” at issue is within organisations that are part of or have been co-opted as partners by the state itself, sponsored by officials and subsidised by the taxpayer.
For centuries, liberals feared the over-mighty state, and tried to restrain it by putting legal limitations on its actions, by protecting the autonomy and privileges of great institutions (universities, churches, museums, the BBC, professional associations, charities) and by decentralising power to “arms-length” bodies to regulate, take decisions and spend money on the government’s behalf.
This may be the ideal for a free country. But only if there is a broad consensus as to what is in the common interest and what is publicly acceptable. Such a consensus no longer exists. Many institutions have been taken over by activists who behave as if they are theirs to dispose of. Trustees wink at the pursuit of ideological goals without popular consent.
They have power without responsibility, while politicians have accountability without authority. Genteel corruption is becoming rife, as in the shameful Post Office scandal.
[…]
But Orwell added that a universal bedrock of patriotism meant that in an emergency “the whole nation suddenly swings together … like a herd of cattle facing a wolf”. We can no longer be confident of that. We have allowed a patriotic consensus to be undermined. We have encouraged distorted or fake accusations against ourselves under the pretext of “inclusion”, and rewarded the accusers. National institutions seem at best indifferent to the nation that sustains them.
https://archive.is/mD8D3
“ Chega’s success is the result of letting the beast of social discontent grow, feeding on the rapidly deteriorating living and working conditions.”
Maybe just maybe those in power should have actually governed in the interests of those voting? Maybe those in power should have done something about living and working conditions by focusing on the Portuguese rather than the ‘newly resident’?
An example:
The UK needs to build new, gas-fired power stations to ensure the country’s energy security, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday.
The new stations would replace existing plants, many of which are aging and will soon be retired.
But the government says the plans do not include measures for climate change-limiting carbon capture.
That could threaten a legally binding commitment to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, critics say
Mr Sunak, writing in the Daily Telegraph, said new gas power stations were needed to have a reliable and affordable back-up for days when renewables like wind and solar did not deliver.
“It is the insurance policy Britain needs to protect our energy security, while we deliver our net zero transition,” the prime minister wrote.
The government did not give any details about when or where the new power stations would be built
I’m fairly sure that if Kim Jong Un decreed a power station should be built, it would be built. But the utterances of the “British” government have less effect on reality than the statements of some tinpot government in Africa or Asia.
That’s across the board, from the Ministry of Defence (which does nothing in our defence) and its comical daily updates on how the cowardly Russians continue their disastrous retreat towards Kiev, to the “Department for Energy Security and Net Zero”, which can’t produce energy or security, because of Net Zero.
Nobody believes they can solve any of our problems, because they are the problem.
That technique for absolving ministers from their responsibilities is not even decades old.
You give up an empire and then are surprised that so many former colonials want to migrate to the imperial centre.
On a recent visit I was struck by how many people didn’t look Portuguese. Mind you, the Portuguese are not very easy on the eye. Even the birds on bus stop adverts promoting fitness classes are pretty chunky.
The problem is not so much the numbers. At least Portugal and UK have a variety of migrants. In France and Sweden they must be about 95% muslim.
Yes, it’s amazing how many brown people want to live in imperial centres such as Stockholm, Oslo and Dublin.
I suppose, to them, all whites look the same.
Hugh – Innit.
Almost as if this has nothing to do with the 19th century at all.
The Communist party is weakened, with just four MPs now where it had 17 at the time. The anti-capitalist Left Bloc, which peaked in 2015 at 19 seats, now clasps on to the five it has had since 2022.
I confess to be amazed that Europeans are STILL voting for fucking commies. 100 million murders, 100% economic failure brushed aside. Even the Chicoms found communism so destructive they swapped it for fascism. And the Portuguese voted in 4 greens and what appears to be some bint from PETA to boot.
I’d say the far right’s got some work to do.
Wait, the Guardian are allowing comments on articles?
Wokeypedia on Salazar is interesting. I have no idea why the usual censors haven’t torn the article to shreds.
Confusion in Austria as there were elections on Sunday in Salzburg and the Communists (KPOe) scored 23% and might be able to appoint the mayor.
“ I confess to be amazed that Europeans are STILL voting for fucking commies. 100 million murders, 100% economic failure brushed aside.”
Kip Esquire’s Law. They imagine they’ll be the ones ordering the killing and riding in the Zil lanes.
The evidence so far is that Democracy was a mistake, and not one that’s likely to catch on.
Call me old fashioned, but there was nothing wrong with being ruled by Kings who were anointed by God and had a set of reciprocal obligations to their subjects.
We should be lucky to live under the “tyranny” of a Charles I, compared to how we are taxed and governed today. It would be a blessed relief to kiss His Majesty’s royal pinkie ring, for his worst despotism was far more benign than the lightest yoke of your local council’s planning department.
Not to mention the parking enforcement cunts.
Sunak “new gas power stations were needed to have a reliable and affordable back-up for days when renewables like wind and solar did not deliver”
Customer pays twice for power: Once for cheap gas, then again for expensive wind
“It is the insurance policy Britain needs to protect our energy security, while we deliver our net zero transition”
Bin net zero then no “insurance” needed. Result: UK safer, richer and happier
@Marius
Even the Chicoms found communism so destructive they swapped it for fascism
Yep. Still waiting for name change: CCP to National Socialist Party or maybe Socialist National Party – SNP
Pcar “Still waiting for name change: CCP to National Socialist Party or maybe Socialist National Party – SNP”
CNP — China National Party
CWP — China World Party [not to be confused with the Clown World Party]
CP — China Party
Con — China only nation
“The paradigmatic shift isn’t so much the end of the two-party system, but the end of the electorate’s faith in a socioeconomic model that has for many decades failed to sustainably deliver for the average working Jane and Joe. … Democracies that fail to learn this lesson are doomed to open the door to the Chegas of the world.”
If even Guardian writers are working it out then progress is being made.
And…Chega party wins
Right-wing Democratic Alliance party wins tight Portugal election
Portugal’s conservative Democratic Alliance has won the General Election, with the Right-wing Chega party tripling its 2022 result
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13181175/