French presidential election.

[hans kraay fan club]

How anybody with more than half a brain talk about percentages telling them this or that,after only the first part of a multi-choice vote,I really don't understand.After the vote-off between Macron and le Pen,fair enough,but till then utterly delusional.
A simple question or two for all the usual suspects screaming right-wing,Brexiteer,racism,but I don't expect any of them are honest enough,or clever enough to answer-
How many BAME or minority religious people are MEP's (not including British ones)?Is the EU a racist organisation?

Well to answer your first part - its you looking like the one with 'half a brain' to not recognise comments that were very clearly no more than a throwaway satirical observation of the 51/49% vote.

On your BAME question, a. its something that could easily be looked up, so not really anything to do with being clever or otherwise, but b. the numbers once looked up, wouldn't answer your question anyway. The MEPs are elected by democratic process in the member states. If 100% of the MEPs were all white men in their 50s it would surely tell you plenty about the electorate of those states and nothing about the EU as an organisation

 

[Two Professors]

Well to answer your first part - its you looking like the one with 'half a brain' to not recognise comments that were very clearly no more than a throwaway satirical observation of the 51/49% vote.

On your BAME question, a. its something that could easily be looked up, so not really anything to do with being clever or otherwise, but b. the numbers once looked up, wouldn't answer your question anyway. The MEPs are elected by democratic process in the member states. If 100% of the MEPs were all white men in their 50s it would surely tell you plenty about the electorate of those states and nothing about the EU as an organisation

Well,perhaps my comment was a 'throw-away' as well!Has nobody in the EU heard of positive discrimination?As President Erdogan recently said,where is the ethnic Turk representation among these Nazi descendants?
Isn't it easy to throw out accusations of racism when you shout louder than anyone else?

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Well,perhaps my comment was a 'throw-away' as well!Has nobody in the EU heard of positive discrimination?As President Erdogan recently said,where is the ethnic Turk representation among these Nazi descendants?
Isn't it easy to throw out accusations of racism when you shout louder than anyone else?

I'm sorry. I have no idea at all of the point you are trying to make.

 

[The Clamp]

Well,perhaps my comment was a 'throw-away' as well!Has nobody in the EU heard of positive discrimination?As President Erdogan recently said,where is the ethnic Turk representation among these Nazi descendants?
Isn't it easy to throw out accusations of racism when you shout louder than anyone else?

Pointless rambling. What's the point here?

 

[Two Professors]

I'm sorry. I have no idea at all of the point you are trying to make.

The EU is a racist organisation,with a total lack of representation for ethnic minorities,so how can organisations like the FN and UKIP be racist in wanting to leave it?

 

[Two Professors]

Pointless rambling. What's the point here?

Who rattled your cage?Not feeding time yet

 

[The Clamp]

The EU is a racist organisation,with a total lack of representation for ethnic minorities,so how can organisations like the FN and UKIP be racist in wanting to leave it?

Farage hasn't been making particularly rapid moves to leave it's ranks, eh! Still drawing his €8020.53 per month plus expenses from them, £60,000 for "bodyguards" alone over the space of five events.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

The EU is a racist organisation,with a total lack of representation for ethnic minorities,so how can organisations like the FN and UKIP be racist in wanting to leave it?

A total lack of representation for ethnic minorities does not make the EU racist. That is down to elections in the individual countries, as pointed out above.

And it is not "wanting to leave the EU" which makes the FN and UKIP racist, if indeed they are racist, which is a matter of opinion, possibly.

But in my opinion, they are both racist. UKIP has announced a lot of "integration" measures today, all of which are about Islam, Sharia law, the Burqa etc and are clearly singling out one group of people. They are, how can I put it, racist.

 

[Deleted member 22389]

A total lack of representation for ethnic minorities does not make the EU racist. That is down to elections in the individual countries, as pointed out above.

And it is not "wanting to leave the EU" which makes the FN and UKIP racist, if indeed they are racist, which is a matter of opinion, possibly.

But in my opinion, they are both racist. UKIP has announced a lot of "integration" measures today, all of which are about Islam, Sharia law, the Burqa etc and are clearly singling out one group of people. They are, how can I put it, racist.

How many burqas do you see where you live? When I was living in Luton I saw it being worn almost everyday. I didn't like it, In fact it used to scare me. It certainly doesn't promote integration.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

How many burqas do you see where you live? When I was living in Luton I saw it being worn almost everyday. I didn't like it, In fact it used to scare me. It certainly doesn't promote integration.

I don't particularly like burqas, but I do see them quite often.

My main problem with them would be why they are being worn:
- woman being forced to do it by her husband - wrong.
- woman choosing to wear a burqa - no problem
But how do you tell the difference?

 

[Lincoln Imp]

When the FN most likely lose it will be hailed as a rejection of extremism and endorsement for the status quo. Unfortunately, this view is somewhat mistaken in my view. This is just another near miss and warning that significant changes are needed. Macron is more a last chance for the more centrist politicians to come up with policies and solutions that really address the legitimate concerns of the population. Not sure how many more warnings the establishment/political class need.

Le Pen got just over 20 per cent of the vote, less than she hoped, and will as you say likely have a tough time in the second round. I am not sure this constitutes a near miss.

 

[Lincoln Imp]

France will look after no1 whatever the outcome and docent give a t88s about the UK ,trading or not . if it suits them to trade they will if it docent they won't its as simple as that

Quite possibly but I wasn't talking about France. The description 'our biggest trading partner' was a reference to the EU.

'Doesn't'?

 

[ManOfSussex]

There's one huge advantage that Marine Le Pen does have over Emmanuel Macron and that's her niece, the FN MP Marion Maréchal-Le Pen.



If she knocked on your door, fluttered her puppy dog eyes and said -

Voudriez-vous s'il vous plait vote pour mon tante Marine dans le seconde rond?*

It would be hard to say 'non', whatever your political persuasion.

(* - I only got a 'D' for GCSE French)

 

[Lincoln Imp]

The EU is a racist organisation,with a total lack of representation for ethnic minorities,so how can organisations like the FN and UKIP be racist in wanting to leave it?

That's about as loopy as saying that because the Albion doesn't have that many ethnic minority season ticket holders it is a racist organisation.

 

[clippedgull]

Le Pen steps down as party leader but still in race to be French President.. just announced on LBC news.

 

[JC Footy Genius]

Le Pen got just over 20 per cent of the vote, less than she hoped, and will as you say likely have a tough time in the second round. I am not sure this constitutes a near miss.

And Macron only got 23%. Any time a far right candidate gets through to a two horse race in a major country (or any country) is a worry especially considering the unpredictable and fluid state of politics.

 

[Gwylan]

And Macron only got 23%.

Only? That's a huge amount for a candidate with no party machinery behind him (and he actually got just over 24%). And for all the talk about a breakthrough, Le Pen only increased her vote from 17.9% in 2012 to 21.3%.

The real winner was Mélenchon who jumped from 11.1% to 19.6%, a rise entirely attributed to his performance in the televised debates (for those who say that TV debates are irrelevant). If Hamon had dropped out and thrown his weight behind Mélenchon (as Bayrou did for Macron), it would have been an extremely close race.

 

[JC Footy Genius]

Only? That's a huge amount for a candidate with no party machinery behind him (and he actually got just over 24%). And for all the talk about a breakthrough, Le Pen only increased her vote from 17.9% in 2012 to 21.3%.

The real winner was Mélenchon who jumped from 11.1% to 19.6%, a rise entirely attributed to his performance in the televised debates (for those who say that TV debates are irrelevant). If Hamon had dropped out and thrown his weight behind Mélenchon (as Bayrou did for Macron), it would have been an extremely close race.

All possibly true but the underlying point is a far right candidate is in a two-horse race in a major western democracy which I think we can all agree is a bad thing ... right?

 

[Gwylan]

All possibly true but the underlying point is a far right candidate is in a two-horse race in a major western democracy which I think we can all agree is a bad thing ... right?

Well, it is but we've been there before and the FN got well beaten. But the point I was making is that we could have had a far-left candidate in a two horse race, which would have been almost as bad. And if Bayrou and Hamon had switched stances, so the latter dropped out and the former didn't, we could have had Le Pen in a run-off with Mélenchon ... and that would have been mayhem.

 

[Lincoln Imp]

All possibly true but the underlying point is a far right candidate is in a two-horse race in a major western democracy which I think we can all agree is a bad thing ... right?

As long as many of NSC's more strident Brexit supporters aren't looking, I think we can say that we do all agree on that.

Although we're right to perspire a bit, we shouldn't be too depressed - the situation that sees a far right candidate in a two-horse race is really a side-effect of the French electoral procedure: the FN's ticket to the race was its ability to garner a bit over 20 per cent of the vote in the first round, less than Macron, less than it hoped for and of course less than that other lot you enjoy describing as extremist lunatics, those malevolent plotters known as the Liberal Democrat Party, gained in the 2010 UK general election. And what happened (he added glumly) to it?

Gwylan's point about Melenchon is well-made - you can see someone suggesting that the top three parties go through to a second round in future, with a final run-off if necessary.