Helen Jackson

"It works democratically". Cuba and Vietnam are both one-party states.

Because that's what people who don't like democracy are endorsing. Often idly and casually. Btw, anyone who wants a radically different economic system needs to explain to the rest of us how it would work and how it would be better than post-war nationalisation, which was democratically rejected.

I have literally no idea what you're talking about 🤷‍♀️, so have no choice but to block you, sadly.

I just want to thank everyone on Bluesky who behaves like a normal human being with compassion, tolerance, humour, intelligence and equanimity. I'm sure I can't be the only one who wants social media to be more like that. I am always very much reassured by your presence.

Sion, I honestly don't understand your reaction. Please consider whether this is a healthy way to react to someone else's reasonably expressed opinions on social media. I want to see a society where we can debate politics civilly and where people are not put off doing so online.

I think voting reform would get more support now.

OK, what do you want?

No, you're just assuming that. There's a lot of people on here who are very angry about democracy but have the luxury of not saying what they want instead. Our political system plainly isn't working well. No-one seems to be clearly stating what they want instead. Is that too much to ask?

I am actually arguing that people need to do far more than tick a box.

Democracy isn't a mechanism for delivering what you want. It's a mechanism for deciding between different interests peacefully. That should be something we all sign up to.

I think it's sad you can't even engage in a bit of political debate on social media without getting v angry v quickly and resorting to abuse. If you want to want to understand why politics isn't working on the social media age maybe look in the mirror.

I do acknowledge it's broken - I think things are really bad. I am saying if people want things to improve they actually need to articulate what they want to change and convince others. Many don't even take the first step.

If people can't be bothered, they can't expect others to put it right for them.

I have zero sympathy with the "everything is crap so I don't have to bother with democracy" mindset. Many of the most politically opinionated people on social media would never deign to stand on a doorstep, they just expect other people to put it right.

Most people don't want anarchy, goose.

If you don't like what you've got, you need to articulate what you'd prefer and gather support for it. That's democracy.

If you don't think the system allows you to do this, articulate and push for something better.

If you want to see the policies you prefer put in place you need to organise into political parties to compete for power. We seem to have lost sight of something very basic. I am tired of people complaining that others don't do what they want.

It's an example of people being able to organise to form a new political party, even disadvantaged people, if there is a need. Note that I didn't need to get personally abusive with you to make a point, Mr Anonymous. This is Bluesky, not X. Do better.

Your defeatism that people can't use their political rights to effect change is what causes the problem. Much more disadvantaged people with fewer rights have done so in the past.

People should look at the way the labour movement organised to form a new political party at the start of the 20thC.
They didn't sit around saying "the odds are stacked against us, we can't do anything".

If you're equating the UK in 2025 with a police state you have literally no idea what a police state is.

Read up on what happened in Syria if you want to understand what living under a police state is like. If you don't like the existing parties, start your own.

If people don't like what they see from political parties, they should constructively exercise their political rights to push for something they prefer. It really is that simple. Telling people they are justified in being anti-democracy is dangerous and wrong. They wouldn't like the alternative.

The majority of Americans either voted for Trump or are too indifferent/self-absorbed/weak-minded to actively oppose him and his attacks on American democracy. Sorry, but this is how your nominal allies see you now.

Unfortunately millions of Americans have bought the lie that Canadians are just another bunch of foreigners doing them over - instead of accepting the reality that NAFTA was an American idea.

Vance needs to realise there are 100s millions of people in this world who have actually read the Gospels and are not going to be fooled by this administration's fake Christianity. "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

I expect the plan is to blame DEI when agencies can't respond to extreme weather emergencies because roads and bridges have been trashed

Inconvenient truths about the fires burning in Los Angeles from two fire experts For years, renowned fire experts Jack Cohen and Stephen Pyne have tried to shift the conversation on fire prevention strategies. This week’s destruction, they say, could have been minimized.

"We can adapt", they say, except we're not - interesting views from two fire experts in California:
• neighbourhoods can be designed and hardened to stop embers spreading fires from house to house
• building codes failed to address this
www.latimes.com/california/s...

In recent decades, wildland fires have been enabled by many factors, including the legacy of fire suppression, human settlement and distribution patterns, other management actions, and even natural climate variability. 1/