h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Could be, but that is not scientifically proven.

Take your pick of coverage of Dominic Cummings. The man must think we're all idiots to swallow his excuses.

Boris Johnson is not doing himself any favours by refusing to sack Cummings. I'm sure the weight of public opinion is against Cummings, who really should have resigned by now.

I notice that Trump is having a bit of a tantrum after Twitter put a fact check on one of his posts. Not only has he accused social media of trying to stifle conservative free speech, but he also plans to sign some kind of executive order on social media. I don't know what effect the order is expected to have, but it feels like a child throwing its toys out of the pram because it couldn't have its own way.

President Big Brain is also threatening to sic the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Justice on Social Media because Twitter also had the audacity to prompt readers to fact check his false statements regarding mail-in voter fraud.

fascist!

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-trump-executive-order-social/trump-executive-order-takes-aim-at-social-media-firms-draft-idUSKBN2340MW

Mr Potato Head is being renamed Potato Head: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56200811

Considering the publicity generated from the 'Toy Story' films I don't know if the new name will make any difference.

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Sadly, I can already imagine the OUTRAGE from conservatives and Faux News types.

Everyone has the right to wear a moustache, not just men.

Yes, they do.

http://mcphee.com/products/stylish-mustaches-for-girls

Or be in a relationship other than marriage?
Will Happy Families card game be made PC next?

I thought only female walruses had moustaches.

Turns out the UK's General Election will be in six weeks - knowing he'll almost inevitably lose, the PM wants to rush into an election in the hope that his opposition aren't prepared to launch a campaign yet.

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Looked like staff at No 10 have given up on him - no-one thought to hold a brolly over him. Or was it that he's so rich he can afford to get a suit soaked?

Probably wants to have his dress reflect his emotional condition or something.

TIL: Brolly

Good to have this thread back on.

We Dutch now have four parties finally in general agreement on their way forward after the elections last year November, but nobody wants to be Prime Minister due to the risk of early failure and association with the populist PVV party.

Fortunately the UK's populist party, Reform UK, isn't very popular. Or to put it another way, while polls indicate it may attract about 10% of the vote, on a similar level to the Liberal Democrats, it isn't an established party and doesn't have the logistical support that the Lib Dems have, so at the recent local elections held on 2nd May Labour won 1,158 councillors, the Lib Dems won 522, the Conservatives 515, Greens 181 and Reform scraped up 2.
Reform UK wasn't ready for the local elections and by springing the general election in 6 weeks, they won't really have time to find and field candidates. Certainly not vetted ones, with the number of racist candidates that the party rushed to the ballot box and then had to disown last time not helping their image.
So if Reform are on the back foot the Tories presumably are hoping that the right wing vote won't be split.

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Let's hope all hell doesn't break loose after the UK elections. I was planning to spend my holidays there in the weeks after. I do come by boat, but not a small one, so I suppose we won't be sent to Rwanda just yet. (the safe country that only has some difficulties with rebels, active volcanoes and where you should avoid crowds as well as quiet places)

It looks likely to be a massive Labour victory, with Kier Starmer going for a steady campaign without anything controversial.
The chaos seems to be from the Tory side, where some of the Prime Minister's own MPs are apparently trying to call a vote of no confidence in their own prime minister in a bid to stop the election in 6 weeks, as they are convinced they are going to lose.

I wouldn't worry about Rwanda - despite the rhetoric, no-one's been deported there against their will. Only one person who had been bribed £3,000 to go to Rwanda to let the current government say that they have, in fact, sent people to Rwanda, honest. That law will be scrapped soon.

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Good.

The current agreement between the four Dutch parties trying to form a government contains a lot of: 'We will do our utmost to arrange this and this ridiculous exception on the EU rules...' So that when it bounces off (which it will due to being unconstitutional), they can blame the EU it doesn't work out. I didn't vote for any of these parties. They took several months to discuss how to match their ideas with the constitution. I could have told them up front. You make sure you stick to it, because it is there for a reason.

We appear to have a new Prime Minister. He is not related to any of the parties forming a government. He used to be boss of our secret service and the National terrorism-prevention organisation. Looking around in the world, that could be a sign he is in there for the long run.

In Anglophone countries such as the UK, US and Australia, young voters under 25 are getting increasingly Left Wing, more so than the traditional truism "young voters are more Left Wing than the elders", but strangely in Europe - particularly Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Portugal and Finland, the same age group - and especially young men - are far more likely to support Far Right parties than the 25-30 age group.

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I wonder whether the social isolation of the COVID lockdowns has had that effect during the crucial adolescent age. A combination of getting trapped in social media algorithm traps and no peer group bonding due to less actual social interactions? My daughter sees a distressing lack of historical and political awareness among her fellow students. (and populist one-liners with no actual feasible plan fit so much better to tiktok content).