I live in Cardiff East and popped over to my local Tesco this afternoon on lunch, as I walked in there was a little table with a reform banner attached to it and two Reform advocates having a chat with a member of the public. (In the past few weeks, labour, Plaid, and Lib Dems have had such a little stall placed by this Tesco too)

As I walked into the Tesco and past this little stall I didn't stop to listen to what they were saying by the only few words I over heard from these Reform people was something along the lines of "....yeah they're coming in and...."

I only needed to hear those 5 words to know that all these two were talking about is immigration.

Reform has no other policies other than immigration. These people will not be able to run a country.

If you come across a reform voter, be respectful, but ask them about how Farage and Reform intends to deal with inflation, the NHS, the education system, funding local councils or whatever else and they'll have no answer

Sorry,I should say that this little table with the Reform people were not situated 'inside' this Tesco, but just outside the building.

I don't mean to imply Tesco are reform supporters or anything!

They can’t even run a local council, it’s been a shiiiiitshow wherever they were voted in to do so.

comment by Darren The King Fletcher (U10026)
posted 12 seconds ago
They can’t even run a local council, it’s been a shiiiiitshow wherever they were voted in to do so.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Yep.

I think they have to get in and prove to everyone that they’re simply full of sh!t though.

Once the NHS is scrapped for example, people will realise that Farage is just a banker who is in this to make him and his mates money.

comment by Robbing Hoody - Dad, why is my name ‘2025 summer transfer window?’ (U6374)
posted 15 minutes ago
comment by Darren The King Fletcher (U10026)
posted 12 seconds ago
They can’t even run a local council, it’s been a shiiiiitshow wherever they were voted in to do so.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Yep.

I think they have to get in and prove to everyone that they’re simply full of sh!t though.

Once the NHS is scrapped for example, people will realise that Farage is just a banker who is in this to make him and his mates money.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think you overestimate the average Reform voter, they’d just double down.

Probably tbf.

This is a party that has suggested using tax payers money to give to the Taliban and no-one batted an eyelid.

That’s just so funny to me.

Reform do have policies other than immigration. They consist of hard-right economic policies: going deeper with privatisation, cutting state provision of services and safety net, deregulation and tax cuts. It's the same playbook that parties serving the interests of the ultra-rich use throughout the world. The only way of selling policies that harm the material interests of the majority of the electorate is misdirection. Shift the conversation to focus on scapegoats: migrants, scroungers, easily demonised minorities.

By the way, given the alliances and the funding pathways, we should fully expect a UK Reform government to shift aggressively in an authoritarian, post-democratic, post-truth direction just like MAGA.

comment by Darren The King Fletcher (U10026)

I think you overestimate the average Reform voter, they’d just double down.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

People make emotional decisions on who they vote for. There's a lot of cognitive dissonance. And the basic pig-headed unwillingness to reevaluate one's stance when demonstrated to be wrong (case in point, likely Reform voter Lord Dowlias wanting the Senedd abolished based on having to many members, then scarpering when it's pointed out that the number he cited was cumulative, all-time).

The other issue with investing hope in Reform being punished at the ballot box after messing up the country is the real possibility that they use the extensive powers of the central government to suppress independent media, protest, right to vote, and judicial review, so it becomes very hard to kick them out even if the country wants to.

The hope, or certainly my hope, is that once Farage is gone, so does the lies he spins.

He’s in pretty poor health, and he’s a lazy cuuuuuuuuunt, so I really don’t think he’ll ever be PM.

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 6 minutes ago
comment by Darren The King Fletcher (U10026)

I think you overestimate the average Reform voter, they’d just double down.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

People make emotional decisions on who they vote for. There's a lot of cognitive dissonance. And the basic pig-headed unwillingness to reevaluate one's stance when demonstrated to be wrong (case in point, likely Reform voter Lord Dowlias wanting the Senedd abolished based on having to many members, then scarpering when it's pointed out that the number he cited was cumulative, all-time).

The other issue with investing hope in Reform being punished at the ballot box after messing up the country is the real possibility that they use the extensive powers of the central government to suppress independent media, protest, right to vote, and judicial review, so it becomes very hard to kick them out even if the country wants to.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah this is all true. But I think your first paragraph is more pertinent given Brexit should have been the eye opener to what a charlatan Farage and his minions are, yet they’re leading the polls.

There is a responsibility on people like me too when it comes to Reform voters.

It would be very easy to tar them all with the same brush but calling them thick in response to their social media posts isn't the answer either. I've seen people do this and then they just double down. I've found replying asking questions about what policy they like etc works better as at least it makes them think. I did have to draw the line this morning though with someone that claimed Plaid Cymru would allow 1.5m refugees into Wales. That's nearly half the population!

I don’t think it really matters, though. People aren’t going to change their mind from a conversation on social media when they’re seeing wall to wall coverage, in the mainstream stream and social media, of false information that confirm their biases and, or, radicalise them towards the far right.

Reform is getting in there is no doubt wait that. Labour and conservatives are finished. Labour will completely fail on the economy and have a very poor uninspiring leader.

The country is divided and after reform get in, we will see even greater levels of inequality. But if people vote for it I don’t have much sympathy, especially for those who vote for their own poverty.

The country doesn’t want immigrants, especially Muslims ones and reform is the only party that says clearly that they will deal with it. Trump said today that Starmer should use the military. Reform probably would and that’s what most British want: immigrants bombed at sea.

comment by Darren The King Fletcher (U10026)
posted 2 minutes ago
I don’t think it really matters, though. People aren’t going to change their mind from a conversation on social media when they’re seeing wall to wall coverage, in the mainstream stream and social media, of false information that confirm their biases and, or, radicalise them towards the far right.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I do think it matters when it comes to people I know and may see in the pub for example. Strangers, probably not though, but not everyone is that far gone. Some just want to give the government a bloody nose I'm sure. A lot of them aren't bad people either. Their activities in the community could well be classed as socialist in terms of volunteering, giving back, youth clubs etc but they seem to be blinded by the one issue that, quite frankly, doesn't affect us much here at all. I can go weeks without seeing a non-white person for example.

comment by manutdwinners (U23288)
posted 2 minutes ago
Reform is getting in there is no doubt wait that. Labour and conservatives are finished. Labour will completely fail on the economy and have a very poor uninspiring leader.

The country is divided and after reform get in, we will see even greater levels of inequality. But if people vote for it I don’t have much sympathy, especially for those who vote for their own poverty.

The country doesn’t want immigrants, especially Muslims ones and reform is the only party that says clearly that they will deal with it. Trump said today that Starmer should use the military. Reform probably would and that’s what most British want: immigrants bombed at sea.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I refuse to believe most British people wants immigrants bombed at sea!

Labour will completely fail on the economy and have a very poor uninspiring leader.
————————

UK has the highest growth in the entire G7 in 2025.

You’re being gaslighted.

comment by Diafol Coch 77 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Andrei Kanchelskis is a right winger I like. Tommy Robinson isn't. (U2462)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by Darren The King Fletcher (U10026)
posted 2 minutes ago
I don’t think it really matters, though. People aren’t going to change their mind from a conversation on social media when they’re seeing wall to wall coverage, in the mainstream stream and social media, of false information that confirm their biases and, or, radicalise them towards the far right.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I do think it matters when it comes to people I know and may see in the pub for example. Strangers, probably not though, but not everyone is that far gone. Some just want to give the government a bloody nose I'm sure. A lot of them aren't bad people either. Their activities in the community could well be classed as socialist in terms of volunteering, giving back, youth clubs etc but they seem to be blinded by the one issue that, quite frankly, doesn't affect us much here at all. I can go weeks without seeing a non-white person for example.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh yeah, in that regard I get you.

Well, I just had a knock on the door from a labour representative for my area for the votes today, I asked the guy 'for my area, is voting at the beacon centre?'

The representative did not know the answer to that question and he shouted across the street to some other labour reps 'wheres the polling centre for the area?!' and the guy across the street said yeah beacon centre...

Embarrassing that a labour rep didn't even know the polling station for this area. The level in this country is dire

Diafol - when reform get in and they are using extreme measures with support of Musk and Trump (reform getting in before he leaves; if he leaves), many will be celebrating. Migrants and Muslims etx are so dehumanised it won’t matter what happens to them.

I have now decided that all these parties are so out of touch, they dont even know polling stations in the area they're fighting for that they've claimed to live in for 10 years and claim to represent.

comment by #01 🟥⬜⬛ House ~ The Cycle is complete once more, we are back to sack the manager (U17162)
posted 33 minutes ago
I have now decided that all these parties are so out of touch, they dont even know polling stations in the area they're fighting for that they've claimed to live in for 10 years and claim to represent.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Is it that surprising? I've lived in the same city for 20 years now. I'm not involved in local politics, but if I were, even if I was canvassing in a couple of square miles around my home, I wouldn't know all of the polling stations in that area. Or I might know where all the polling stations are without knowing which ones applied to a given address, since a lot of people live a similar distance from more than one. You might say they should have done their homework in expectation they might be asked this, but not knowing doesn't indicate a lack of familiarity with / interest in the local area.

There are several reasons why Labour are seen to be failing and many of them are of their own doing.

The idea that we can praise them for their handling of the economy simply because we had a short period of growth higher than the rest of the EU is a bit like praising Amorim for finishing above Spurs last season.

They are not doing a great job at the moment and to argue otherwise is bizarre.

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by #01 🟥⬜⬛ House ~ The Cycle is complete once more, we are back to sack the manager (U17162)
posted 33 minutes ago
I have now decided that all these parties are so out of touch, they dont even know polling stations in the area they're fighting for that they've claimed to live in for 10 years and claim to represent.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Is it that surprising? I've lived in the same city for 20 years now. I'm not involved in local politics, but if I were, even if I was canvassing in a couple of square miles around my home, I wouldn't know all of the polling stations in that area. Or I might know where all the polling stations are without knowing which ones applied to a given address, since a lot of people live a similar distance from more than one. You might say they should have done their homework in expectation they might be asked this, but not knowing doesn't indicate a lack of familiarity with / interest in the local area.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Strong disagree.

You're taught the answer to 5 x 5 in primary school. Basics.

If your trying to get votes in your area, you try to research the questions your local area might ask about your party.

If you're trying to sway votes in an area that's somewhat deprived, so fed up and disillusioned with politics that we need confirmation of the polling station in the area, you should know these things.

And yes it is surprising, my area is fairly close knit. There's two polling stations in my area, I just wanted to double check. If people wanting to represent my area don't know the two polling stations in my area on a day that matters to these people the most, what faith should I have?

comment by manutdwinners (U23288)
posted 1 hour, 25 minutes ago
Reform is getting in there is no doubt wait that. Labour and conservatives are finished. Labour will completely fail on the economy and have a very poor uninspiring leader.

The country is divided and after reform get in, we will see even greater levels of inequality. But if people vote for it I don’t have much sympathy, especially for those who vote for their own poverty.

The country doesn’t want immigrants, especially Muslims ones and reform is the only party that says clearly that they will deal with it. Trump said today that Starmer should use the military. Reform probably would and that’s what most British want: immigrants bombed at sea.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The narrative on immigration has been lost because Labour hasn’t got to grips with the boats issue and because they refuse to acknowledge the issues that Brexit has caused.

Address those two points, get immigration back under control and then own the narrative again.

It is rescuable.

Not possible. Social media will not highlight any positives they make anyway. You think Musk is going to allow support away from reform? Reform have won. I don’t think there is any debate on that. Question now is will they be in power for a long time? Decades?