Britain - The Official Thread

[Famine]

That half-wit Tory Telegraph columnist still can’t get her head around fake news...

I can't see Pearson's Tweets because she blocked me in 2017 after I - quite politely - pointed out that calling for people to key expensive cars for the crime of being expensive, as she did in an article, was incitement to commit criminal damage.

 

[baldgye]

I can't see Pearson's Tweets because she blocked me in 2017 after I - quite politely - pointed out that calling for people to key expensive cars for the crime of being expensive, as she did in an article, was incitement to commit criminal damage.

She’s so committed to fighting against the wealthy, she now works for the people who own the Ritz and pay the PM.

 

[PzR Slim]

The BBC and Laura K have broken electoral law. Can this election get any more stupid?

 

[jake2013guy]

The BBC and Laura K have broken electoral law. Can this election get any more stupid?

I'd rather not imagine how it could get more stupid.

 

[Famine]

The BBC and Laura K have broken electoral law.

Not from what I understand of it.

Postal votes are opened at special sessions before polling day. The candidates attend, along with election officials and the returning officer.

This count is supposed to be secret. It is an offence to relate to someone not present any information from the count. It is an offence to record any details of the count.

It's not an offence for someone who wasn't there - like a journalist - to pass on the information.

That means the journalist's source(s) almost certainly broke the law, but she did not.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I'd rather not imagine how it could get more stupid.

The Tories could get a mandate to represent the people for another few years...

 

[PzR Slim]

Not from what I understand of it.

Postal votes are opened at special sessions before polling day. The candidates attend, along with election officials and the returning officer.

This count is supposed to be secret. It is an offence to relate to someone not present any information from the count. It is an offence to record any details of the count.

It's not an offence for someone who wasn't there - like a journalist - to pass on the information.

That means the journalist's source(s) almost certainly broke the law, but she did not.

Im not so sure.

 

[Famine]

Im not so sure.

I was about to post that, or rather this, because it confirms what I said:


The person/people who broke the law was the person/people who recorded the information and communicated it to a non-attendee. The key part here is that the journalist did not communicate information obtained at the postal vote count session(s), rather communicated information obtained by people who obtained it at the postal vote count session(s).

There's a few papers reporting on this right now saying she "may have" broken the law, which tells you what papers not to read. As the famous quote on journalism goes, if someone says it's raining and someone else says it's not, it isn't their job to report both angles for balance but to look out of the ****ing window.

If I cared, and were being paid to write about the election, I'd be up to ankles in the actual legislation right now. As it stands, I don't think she has broken the law but her sources have. I haven't looked out of the window yet though.


Edit: The relevant legislation is Section 66 of the Representation of the People Act 1983. It gives the conditions of the requirements of secrecy, and they apply to people at a count or at a polling station. Unless the journalist was at the postal vote count(s) that she's reported on, it doesn't apply to her and she's not broken the law.

(4) Every person attending the proceedings in connection with the issue or the receipt of ballot papers for persons voting by post shall maintain and aid in maintaining the secrecy of the voting and shall not –
(a) except for some purpose authorised by law, communicate, before the poll is closed, to any person any information obtained at those proceedings as to the official mark; or
(b) except for some purpose authorised by law, communicate to any person at any time any information obtained at those proceedings as to the number or other unique identifying mark on the back of the ballot paper sent to any person; or
(c) except for some purpose authorised by law, attempt to ascertain at the proceedings in connection with the receipt of ballot papers the number or other unique identifying mark on the back of any ballot paper; or
(d) attempt to ascertain at the proceedings in connection with the receipt of the ballot papers the candidate for whom any vote is given in any particular ballot paper or communicate any information with respect thereto obtain at those proceedings.

The clip doesn't say either way, but it sounds like she wasn't at the postal vote counts and has merely had the information conveyed to her:

"The postal votes of course have already arrived and the parties - they're not meant to look at it but they do kind of get a hint - and on both sides people are telling me that the postal votes that are in are looking pretty grim for Labour in a lot of parts of the country."

Of course anyone who did tell her is breaking the law.

That took ten minutes for a science-trained motoring and games writer to check, so it's bewildering that professional news and political journalists are reporting she "may have" broken the law. Look out the ****ing window, guys.

Of course it's all over Twitter that she definitely has broken the law...

 

[Liquid]

Welcome to election day.

Let the omnishambles begin.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Welcome to election day.

Let the omnishambles begin.

Oh come on... it'll be a laarrff.

We doing election night drinking games?

Get Brexit Done: 1 Shot
Take back control: 2 Shots
Manta!: 5 Shots
Seat change: 1 Pint, 3 shots, a chaser of Port, and a Guinness with a Jäger Depth Charge.
An MP representing a party that doesn't recognise British Parliament: One thousand nine hundred and five shots
A Lib Dem seat win: half a pint of lambrini, a WKD Blue, 3 cans of Tesco Value Lager and a pot noodle
Nigel Farage on TV: A Bucket of Țuică
Tory Landslide: Bleach, lots and lots of bleach, and packet or two of Aspirin.

 

[Liquid]

Nigel Farage on TV: A Bucket

Agreed.

 

[baldgye]

We doing election night drinking games?

Done, if Boris wins you have to drink yourself into a coma

 

[PzR Slim]

I was about to post that, or rather this, because it confirms what I said:


The person/people who broke the law was the person/people who recorded the information and communicated it to a non-attendee. The key part here is that the journalist did not communicate information obtained at the postal vote count session(s), rather communicated information obtained by people who obtained it at the postal vote count session(s).

There's a few papers reporting on this right now saying she "may have" broken the law, which tells you what papers not to read. As the famous quote on journalism goes, if someone says it's raining and someone else says it's not, it isn't their job to report both angles for balance but to look out of the ****ing window.

If I cared, and were being paid to write about the election, I'd be up to ankles in the actual legislation right now. As it stands, I don't think she has broken the law but her sources have. I haven't looked out of the window yet though.


Edit: The relevant legislation is Section 66 of the Representation of the People Act 1983. It gives the conditions of the requirements of secrecy, and they apply to people at a count or at a polling station. Unless the journalist was at the postal vote count(s) that she's reported on, it doesn't apply to her and she's not broken the law.

The clip doesn't say either way, but it sounds like she wasn't at the postal vote counts and has merely had the information conveyed to her:
Of course anyone who did tell her is breaking the law.

That took ten minutes for a science-trained motoring and games writer to check, so it's bewildering that professional news and political journalists are reporting she "may have" broken the law. Look out the ****ing window, guys.

Of course it's all over Twitter that she definitely has broken the law...

Yeah, I’d seen all the relevant legislation before I posted. I guess it comes down to how you interpret ‘communication of information obtained at a postal vote opening session’. She obviously wasn’t in attendance but has communicated information obtained at one.

 

[adamp93]

The current top Twitter trend in the UK is "#GE2109"
We can't be trusted to do anything.

 

[baldgye]

Reality, facts, truth... these words and others similar no longer matter to the general media and general public assuming the polls end up being correct.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Already voted. Got up early and did it before going to work. I didn't want to do it after work as I'm reasonably sure I wouldn't have bothered at that point of the evening. In the dark. And rain. Who thought an election in December was a good idea?

 

[PzR Slim]

I woke up with a feeling of dread this morning. I can't quite believe that following a referendum that was so close we are on the cusp of such a horrible far right wing government. The only hope is that they don't get a working majority.

 

[Famine]

Yeah, I’d seen all the relevant legislation before I posted. I guess it comes down to how you interpret ‘communication of information obtained at a postal vote opening session’. She obviously wasn’t in attendance but has communicated information obtained at one.

The communication is not relevant. The law covers people in attendance and nobody else.

Whoever told her probably broke the law unless they were exceptionally vague (such as "looks pretty grim for 'x'") but she can't have - and as journalists are not yet required to reveal sources it won't go anywhere.

 

[Touring Mars]

Done, if Boris wins you have to drink yourself into a coma

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking.

Couple a Tory majority with an SNP landslide in Scotland, and staying sober is a tall order. It's our Xmas party tomorrow as well, so staying even remotely sober is going to be a real challenge.

I have a tradition of watching the election results for as long as I can. My friend's Mum once stood as an MP in Edinburgh and we watched the election at his house. He ended up swigging from a bottle of his Mum's 'Westminster' whisky and barfed all over his own front door step. He then said 'I'm not drunk, I'm just sick of the Tories'... yeah, right!

 

[baldgye]

I woke up with a feeling of dread this morning. I can't quite believe that following a referendum that was so close we are on the cusp of such a horrible far right wing government. The only hope is that they don't get a working majority.

They will. Hope is meaningless when the party that’s been in government for 9 years can claim that it isn’t responsible for poverty... because that’s a local council issue. Nothing to do with the government.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I'll vote this evening, on the way to the pub... last time round the Tory MP in my area got 35,464 votes, Labour saw bigger gains, and mustered only 13,730 votes... I will be represented again by a Tory whichever way I vote. It's really quite depressing.

Done, if Boris wins you have to drink yourself into a coma

 

[Famine]

Interestingly, Boris has not voted for himself.

 

[Dotini]

The very soul of piety, humility and justice, a saint walks amongst us.

 

[Liquid]

Interestingly, Boris has not voted for himself.

DTA - Don't Trust Alexander de Pfeffel

 

[Tired Tyres]

Interestingly, Boris has not voted for himself.

How do you know that? Has he said? Cos if he did I'd be inclined not to believe him.

 

[Famine]

How do you know that? Has he said? Cos if he did I'd be inclined not to believe him.

He's standing as an MP in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. He voted in Westminster.

 

[Liquid]

He's standing as an MP in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. He voted in Westminster.

Even Boris Johnson wouldn't vote for Boris Johnson.

Instead, I believe he's voting in a marginal seat. Tactical voting? Who'd have thought it (?)

 

[MatskiMonk]

I like that #generalerection is trending

 

[Famine]

Even Boris Johnson wouldn't vote for Boris Johnson.

Instead, I believe he's voting in a marginal seat. Tactical voting? Who'd have thought it (?)

He had a majority of 5,034 (10.8%) in his own seat - which this year is being contested by Count Binface, formerly Lord Buckethead after he lost a legal challenge for the name with a US film director (Todd Durham) over its use in his 1984 film Hyperspace, and Lord Buckethead who is endorsed by Todd Durham. And I believe that sentence is pretty much normal for UK politics.

The seat he voted in had a majority of 3,148 (8.1%). It's certainly less safe but not exactly marginal - although both lost 10%+ of their majority in 2017 (although Boris increased his vote share by 0.6% while Field lost 7%) - and has never not been Conservative, even under its previous name. In fact the last time the area wasn't Conservative was two Constituencies ago and in 1868.

 

[Liquid]

He had a majority of 5,034 (10.8%) in his own seat - which this year is being contested by Count Binface, formerly Lord Buckethead after he lost a legal challenge for the name with a US film director (Todd Durham) over its use in his 1984 film Hyperspace, and Lord Buckethead who is endorsed by Todd Durham. And I believe that sentence is pretty much normal for UK politics.

Latest poll gives Johnson's Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat as having 45% of the vote and Labour as having betwen 42-44% of the vote.

It could be very interesting if there was a tactical vote/withdrawal/encouragement by the Lib Dems and the Greens.