If the UK got rid of its nukes then we’d just be defenceless against Russia, China, and even the US if the US decides they don’t value their old allies (which seems to be the case these days).

Defending the UK given the current state of the world is sensible, but I wonder how they’ll raise the cash for this

Maybe it could. Starmer and his government have become more critical of Israel recently.

I think the Netherlands and Germany both have proportional representation and their parliaments have a bigger mix of parties, representing the interests of different sections of society.

I don’t favour PR because I think PR would be a better vehicle for my personal political views. I favour PR because I think a more democratic system is by itself a good thing. Under PR, every vote counts. But under FPTP, if you vote for a smaller party that has no chance of winning your constituency, your vote is essentially worthless.

Yeah PR probably won’t happen for years at least. I hope we get it at some point though.

Can I ask what specifically you think was corrupt/wasteful? As for unaccountability, we were able to vote for new members of the European parliament.

I definitely want people to have control over their data. And I like open source platforms, which is why I’m using Lemmy. But I just think if we want a European social media platform that sees widespread adoption among normal people, then such a platform would probably have proprietary elements. Surely if it was completely open source then some company could come along, take the open source stuff, bolt on some proprietary novelties, and start grabbing market share.

Most people want to use a service which is big and popular and just works, and I don’t think they care about code licensing…

It would be cool if Europe could make a really successful, open source social media platform which most Europeans want to use, but if it was open source then I expect some company (maybe a foreign one) would take the code, bolt on some proprietary features, and start stealing users.

Realistically though, proprietary tech services tend to be more successful. Whether it’s Facebook, or Windows, or the most successful European tech service: Spotify.

I like open source, but realistically if we want a successful European social media platform, it would probably be largely proprietary.

True, it’s a long time until the next UK general election. Maybe Reform’s vote will suffer before then. Alternatively the local elections and by-elections could be a boost for them, I dunno.

Anyway, maybe we should have proportional representation in the UK. Even if Reform had 25% of the vote and therefore 25% of the seats in parliament, that would mean that 75% of parliamentarians wouldn’t be Reform members.

Our current system allows a party with minority support (potentially Reform in the future) to win a majority of parliamentary seats. In 2019, the Conservatives won 44% of the vote, which gave them 56% of seats. Last year, Labour won 34% of the vote, which gave them 63% of seats.

He spends quite big sums on healthcare I think? I’m not saying he’s a perfect guy. Maybe the world would be better if taxes were such that nobody could be a billionaire. I just think I prefer Bill Gates to other billionaires, especially the prominent South African one.

My guess is that Labour have done some polling, showing them what red wall voters want, and Labour want to appeal to those voters - voters who are tempted by Reform’s message.

But on this climate change issue, the article is saying that voters don’t even want anti-green policies. And I haven’t seen signs that Labour are tempted to copy Reform’s anti-green stance.

At least Bill gives away a lot of his money, and his stance on politics seems relatively sensible and measured. Whereas the South African billionaire gets a kick out of being stupid and damaging to the US (and beyond the US if you look at his comments on foreign politics).

In my case I buy my own food because I just have different tastes I guess. But yes I get the point about judgement. I definitely plan to move out as soon as it’s feasible to do so.

Christ I need my own place

Same in my case. Living back with parents, after having lived independently, is annoying.

It’s similar in the UK currently. The UK’s equivalent of AfD is Reform UK who are apparently the leading party in the polls (source):

Reform UK in front on 25%, Labour on 23% and the Conservatives on 20%, with the Lib Dems on 16% and Greens on 10%

I know people want to hate on Bill for being rich, and I can understand that, but I still prefer him to a certain South African billionaire.

Maybe some people will say that’s like comparing a giant douche to a turd sandwich though.

I think democracy does a pretty good job of surviving when you have free and fair elections, and proportional representation probably makes politics even more democratic. In European countries that have maintained free and fair elections, they generally haven’t plunged into populism. Macron defeated Le Pen twice, for example. AfD have obviously grown their base in Germany, but they haven’t entered government. Hungary is arguably ruled by a populist, but some people would say their politics aren’t really free and fair anymore. If their politics remained free and fair then populism might have less power.

Maybe we need a new special relationship…

They do those things to some degree, but those things remain banned for under 18s, which I suppose reduces harm, even if it doesn’t fully eliminate harm.