[mr angry manchester]

The Daily Mail really is becoming disgusting. It has gone from just being a stupid, ranty toilet roll to laugh at into something like you would have got in the Third Reich. Its now dangerous, evil and damaging

[Andy McDandy]

If you look back at the early days of this site (via some of the archive threads) you'll see how while comment moderation was always a slipshod affair, there was at least an effort to keep things civil and delete the more offensive comments. It now looks like a complete free for all. As said elsewhere, I hope that it's a small number of obsessive inadequates who feel emboldened, rather than an actual groundswell of opinion.

[The Red Arrow]

I'm formulating a theory that a few B R A I N D E A D I S L A M O P H O B I C A R S E H O L E S have multiple accounts.

[Safe_Timber_Man]

Another shift is their comfortableness with their extremism. In the past if they're accused of using language akin to outright racism or nazism it'd hit a bit of a nerve and they'd try and justify themselves and backtrack so as not to be aligned with such extremism. Now they just shrug and say "and?". We're really not far off "Hitler had some good ideas" being accepted in actual mainstream media.

[youngian]

Or are we seeing the diminishing enthusiasm for the populist far right domino effect so the nutters stand out more? A bit like pro-Corbyn comments are becoming more loopy as its only the likes of Dr Eoin now making them.

Brexiters appeared to have spent a lot of emotional capital in the Dutch election. And no self-awareness that they are now electoral poison around Europe.

[Catkins]

If you look back at the early days of this site (via some of the archive threads) you'll see how while comment moderation was always a slipshod affair, there was at least an effort to keep things civil and delete the more offensive comments. It now looks like a complete free for all. As said elsewhere, I hope that it's a small number of obsessive inadequates who feel emboldened, rather than an actual groundswell of opinion.

I have a suspicion that the Mail comments retained a veneer of civility and sanity during the period the Telegraph - and Telegraph blogs in particular - had below the line comments. Unmoderated and unrestrained racism, anti-semitism, misogyny and Islamophobia. When the Telegraph shut down comments and their bloggers all went to Bretibart, the commenting nutters had to go somewhere and just overwhelmed the Mail site.

[The Weeping Angel]

Desperately trying to put a positive spin

http://commentcentral.co.uk/holland-pop ... lism-dies/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Those watching the BBC news this morning with titles such as “Dutch election: PM celebrates ‘rejection of populism’” would be forgiven for thinking that there was a clean sweep by the ruling party in the Netherlands during yesterday’s election. I’m afraid that nothing is as far from the truth.

Instead, it seems likely that the PVV, the party headed by Geert Wilders, will have increased the number of seats it holds in the Dutch House of Representatives from five to 20, making it the second party in the new parliament. Indeed, the ruling party, the VVD, did gain the highest number of seats (33) but lost eight, with other parties such as the Christian Democrats and a party called Democrats 66 both due to take 19 seats respectively. This, along with the cross-spread of other seats that will see a total of 13 parties taking up seats in the new Dutch Parliament, means that power will be diffused.

[The Red Arrow]

An interesting take from the Netherlands...

The alarmist Brexit press got everything wrong about the Dutch elections
Joris Luyendijk
Most of Fleet Street is so wilfully myopic it was unable to see even the sliver of good news for its own ignorant case in the defeat of Geert Wilders

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... rt-wilders" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mattomac]

The French one is an interesting one, all you see is Le Pen leads with a small caveat that if Macron makes the final two he would effectively bat it out of the park.

In fact Macron has been largely steady since early Feb, I think Fillon is finished and it wouldn't surprise me if Macron is underestimated, also talking tough in certain ways such as the National Service will help.

[youngian]

The French one is an interesting one, all you see is Le Pen leads with a small caveat that if Macron makes the final two he would effectively bat it out of the park.

In fact Macron has been largely steady since early Feb, I think Fillon is finished and it wouldn't surprise me if Macron is underestimated, also talking tough in certain ways such as the National Service will help.

I like how Macron is firing back populist cliches; if you don't like our values then eff off to Putin's Russia appears to be message here

Emmanuel Macron‏Verified account @EmmanuelMacron
I refuse a multi-speed approach on European values: if you are part of the EU to access the single market, you have to respect our values.

[spoonman]

Dutch Rutte government resigns over child welfare fraud scandal

Mark Rutte's government has stepped down after thousands of families were wrongly accused of child welfare fraud and told to pay money back.

Families suffered an "unparalleled wrong", Dutch MPs decided, with tax officials, politicians, judges and civil servants leaving them powerless.

Many of those affected were from an immigrant background and hundreds were plunged into financial difficulty.

Mr Rutte submitted the cabinet's resignation to the king.

"Innocent people have been criminalised and their lives ruined," he then told reporters, adding that responsibility for what had gone wrong lay with the cabinet. "The buck stops here."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55674146

BiB: What a difference compared to the psychopaths running the government in Westminster.

[youngian]

Rutte’s clearing the decks as he’s up for election in March so this isn’t a high risk move. Good to hear taking responsibility is a vote winner. It’ll never catch on here.