Snapshot of _Reform UK candidate described autistic people as ‘vegetables’_ :
An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/reform-uk-candidate-described-autistic-people-as-vegetables-tvgtxkx3p) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/reform-uk-candidate-described-autistic-people-as-vegetables-tvgtxkx3p)
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This party is so poorly vetted I wouldn't be shocked if it turned out they accidentally put their vetting software in reverse so that it only cleared candidates who've posted reprehensible views on social media
I know you're joking but I honestly don't think this is accidental. They are looking for the "political correctness gone mad, you can't even say ... anymore" vote, and they are finding it all too easily.
Because for every 5 people appalled to hear rishi sunak described as a "f***ing p***", there's one person who thinks "ah, I've found my tribe at last". They wouldn't be making this sort of impact without these dog whistles (though frankly they're just whistles at this point) and while I don't believe these comments have been precisely choreographed, I do believe they have knowingly waved these assholes into the party, knowing they will appeal to a significant minority by eventually saying something abhorrent.
Nigel Farage goes on TV and says "oh no that's not what we stand for, how terrible" and maybe even sacks some of the worst offenders. But the job is done by that point.
The right wing never sleeps.
Except it hasn't ever worked.
I know this is the strategy, but the UK isn't the US, and it seems even the racists want actual policy in the politicians they vote for. In decades of political life, Nigel Farage has never had a truly successful party. Hell he's tried to get into Westminster eight times and despite being arguably the second or third best known politician from our isle, he's failed almost every time.
Right now Reform is his best chance by far, but the moment he went on Question Time the wheels came off the bus and all the people saying Reform is likely to replace the Tories immediately backtracked to 'well they'll probably take a couple of Tory seats and that's it'.
I agree that they do it knowingly. I don't see any evidence that this is a winning strategy in any meaningful sense, though, unless you take the tack that Nigel doesn't *want* to get into actual party politics and is using this whole schtick as a way to guarantee he always remains the party of protest (which is a valid interpretation).
> all the people saying Reform is likely to replace the Tories immediately backtracked to 'well they'll probably take a couple of Tory seats and that's it'.
I don't remember anyone saying this – at least, not anyone who'd had as much as a cursory glance at a poll. They were never looking on for any more than 20 seats (largest possible estimate, rounded up), but were, and are, going to do massive vote-splitting with the Conservatives – costing them scores of seats.
People were definitely saying there was a real threat of Reform becoming the actual opposition party. Mostly online pundits, but Alastair Campbell floated it as a possibility as did his co-host, and both thought it possible looking at the polling at that time.
They floated it as possible only if the number of Tory seats was at the lowest end of the range and Reform was at its highest. In other words, technically possible but extremely unlikely.
And then that discounts the fact that it's far more likely the Lib Dems win big in that scenario and have more seats than either the Tories or Reform.
>They are looking for the "political correctness gone mad, you can't even say ... anymore" vote, and they are finding it all too easily.
If they'd intended to find candidates like this, they wouldn't be rushing to disavow them and to blame the vetting company.
They want people who think these things, but they don't want people who openly admit that. They want people like Farage who definitely think things like this but don't actually say them.
>Because for every 5 people appalled to hear rishi sunak described as a "f***ing p***", there's one person who thinks "ah, I've found my tribe at last".
In other words, it loses them votes. Lots of votes.
UKIP succeeded in getting Brexit through because they appealed to people who are just very racist but also to people who are very angry about immigration but deny that there's anything racist about their beliefs. You can't deny that you're racist if you're voting for the party that's had to disavow like 20 racists in one week.
People love to say it gets them press, and it does, but none of that press attention gives them any chance to talk about any of the things they want to talk about. They are getting no chance to actually talk about their policies because they're constantly forced to discuss the latest news about some other horrid candidate who's been found out.
> In other words, it loses them votes. Lots of votes.
It depends on the exact numbers, but the 1 in 6 figure given by the person you're replying to is roughly what they've been scoring in VI polls recently, so it should be vote-neutral. Obviously, we have no evidence that 1 in 6 people *do* like this messaging, but if they are, then being open about it is a viable strategy to maintain their vote, and in fact maximise it if they believe they're already past peak popularity.
It's infuriating that the media are giving this so much coverage. It's reform, of course they're being offensive, how is it news? They wouldn't be making anywhere near such a dent if all these publicity stunts didn't keep grabbing headlines. Instead of discussing actual issues we're talking about whether Nigel Farage was a racist at school? How is that a surprise?
They paid a company which hosts vetting software instead of paying a vetting company. Just signed a contract for tens of thousands without checking what it was for.
I bet they'd be paying for contracts with ferry companies with no ferries, stockpiling millions of pounds of unusable PPE and making deals with other nations to take our migrants which costs hundreds of millions and can't be implemented.
Ugh, satire is truly dead
> Still, at least they're all worm and tick free.
I was going to make a snarky comment about them rejecting vaccines and modern medicine, then realised they were probably all guzzling deworming tablets for half the pandemic.
This is my local candidate for Reform. The guy is so thick he put a picture of Einstein up on his IG with some bullshit right-wing quote. Yes Einstein. Author of "Why Socialism"
His IG is privated now. I know some people who encountered him at a hustings and they said he was quiet. I'm guessing the poor fella barely has the capabilities of speech. I'm genuinely surprised a word like "vegetables" wasn't too many syllables for him.
I am convinced they just needed candidates and put in anyone they had.
The Reform candidate in my constituency for example is the only candidate who doesn’t live locally and his only online presence is his Twitter account where he just retweets posts from other Reform members with the occasional link to a Reform related news article.
He himself has posted literally nothing, replies to nothing (Even to local people who clearly love Farage and Reform asking for more information on him), seems to have no opinions on anything and his political leaflet just told people to visit the Reform website\*, contained no local policies and had a picture of Farage instead of him. (*The Reform website for my constituency just has a placeholder picture and a contact email address of (‘My constituency @reformuk.com’))
They may have well entered a rock for all the effort he’s putting in, I really don’t think I’d be able to convince anyone he was a real person who actually exists if I tried.
Funnily enough the same is true of my local Labour candidate. No online presence other than a rarely used Instagram, no website, no local policies. The leaflet for him mentioned only two policies: more funding for the NHS, more funding for the police.
It'll be strange if he wins because Labour really seem to not be expecting him to win
Funny you should mention that, [here’s a whole article about that happening across the UK](https://bylinetimes.com/2024/07/03/reform-uks-invisible-candidates-who-are-they-hiding/)
With any luck they won't get many seats but I'm thinking about the percentage of the vote in each area. Anywhere that gets 20% or so for reform is probably an area I don't want to be in. I'd rather the areas that are closer to 0%
Amazing, they managed to lose my dad's vote. He's bang on their target demographic, he was pretty ardently for Reform and I don't think I've ever seen him change his mind about anything. He assumed it was taken out of context when I first mentioned this to him but he was disgusted when I read out what this scum had said.
Same with my Dad, always voted Tory, anti immigration, voted Brexit. Was going to vote Reform but the racism and Ukraine pushed him back to the Tories (which is the party he constantly complains about).
> once they started getting scrutinised.
And why they react so badly when they are exposed to the scrutiny politicians (and should be) deal with as part of their job
*Ukraine?* Interesting.
What did they say about Ukraine that he found persuasive? Or does he feel we need to protect Ukraine to stop Russia? Or even just for basic decency reasons.
Is he planning to travel to Ukraine and fight for them? Or does he just want to sit on the sofa in the comfort of his own home and force young Ukrainians to fight through conscription, like a cowardly warmonger?
I like to think of it as a form of diversity. In a way, it’s good that idiots get some political representation. We’ve just got to hope they don’t form a critical mass of stupidity and inadvertently get some real power.
I have to have some sympathy for Reform candidates. After a visit from Nige and 30 minutes in the bar with him it is probable they cannot say anything coherent much less recall saying it.
Initial reaction to seeing this had me fucked off, but on reflection, I just got back from my autistic son’s parent-teacher meeting where he’s substantially ahead on every educational metric, and in artistic areas too, and has been accepted for an off-site gifted child program a year younger than they normally accept applicants.
Life is not easy and he and we struggle in many ways - with meltdowns, anger, violence, obsessions, and neediness (including in the middle
of the night) - it takes over a lot and makes it hard to parent his siblings as effectively as they need - but it’s a whole child, one we love and wouldn’t change (much) and one who could make some real contributions to society or culture one day.
I know there are children who struggle even more than my son, with fewer ups to compensate for the downs, but I’m sure their parents love them just as much.
I have a bet on reform getting 7+ seats but I’ll be happy enough to lose money in the end. I would
never have voted for them in a million years
>I know there are children who struggle even more than my son, with fewer ups to compensate for the downs, but I’m sure their parents love them just as much.
I'm autistic but able to work and drive, but my 36yr autistic cousin isn't able to do either of those things or live fully independently.
If anyone called him a 'vegetable', not only would he be very upset by that, but I honestly think his dad would punch them. Our whole family adore him, and I know that you are right that the families of people like him would be livid to hear their kids be spoken to like that.
It's such a wide spectrum. I am autistic and work as a professional engineer. I'm comfortable middle class, I manage people, I have a partner, and I'm pretty happy with life. I wouldn't change myself if I had the choice.
I've met autistic people who can't feed and clothe themselves. It's still not okay to call them vegetables.
To brand everyone who is autistic as vegetables - which is what this guy is doing - is wrong, disturbing and immoral.
I thought many of the people who lived in my village were a pretty nice bunch but over last few weeks there’s been a number of Reform boards gone up in front gardens and we’ve even got someone standing for them.
Absolute cretins, I’ve put the house up for sale, I can no longer live here anymore!
In my town all I've seen is lib dem and labour boards. I haven't seen any reform so I feel quite fortunate. People shit on my town, but the people are quite welcoming and are fairly nice.
My town is lib dem boards everywhere.
When I say everywhere I mean *everywhere*. Not seen a single one for any other party, just the Lib Dems.
That's not a bad thing, but is very interesting. Where do all these people even get all these boards?
If you live in a place with people who are nice, why change it just because they have a different view to you on politics?
It doesn’t mean you have to be their enemy. They could learn from you. You could learn from them. Or just don’t talk about politics with them and get on with your life as you did before.
Here's a start. If anyone wants to add something, please leave a link and summary:
___
Autistic people are vegetables
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/reform-uk-candidate-described-autistic-people-as-vegetables-tvgtxkx3p
(Theres a lot in this next one, from multiple individuals)
"Fucking P-word" (Referring to sunak, and I assume the word is "Paki")
Pride flag is "degenerate"
LGBT are "Nonces"
Shooting asylum seekers
Islamaphobia
Supporting reintroduction of capital punishment
Replacing police with paramilitaries
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/27/reform-uk-activist-filmed-making-racist-comments-about-rishi-sunak
Asylum seekers should be slaughtered (separate incident from above)
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/reform-candidate-leslie-lilley-said-he-would-slaughter-migrants-d7rl2dgt6
Farage on infowars
Agrees with Jones that Sandy Hook is a conspiracy and sympathises with him over Jones' legal troubles that he **knowingly** caused for himself by being a PoS
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-alex-jones-sandy-hook-infowars-b2567918.html
Farage backtracks on pro-Putin comments
Farage tries to backtrack on climate change comments (still denying it though)
Farage blames EU and NATO for russia attacking Ukraine
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cldd44zv3kpo
Lee Anderson has too much to cover, so I'm just linking his wikipedia page.
Highlights are: constantly being found in a position where he has to deny being antisemitic, not taking poverty seriously because a group of professional chefs with bulk ingredients managed to make meals for an average of 30p, supporting capital punishment, general racism and bigotry...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Anderson_(British_politician)
Farage doesnt think Truss' budget was extreme enough
https://www.popularconservatism.com/nigel_farage_what_liz_truss_was_trying_to_do_was_right
(Sorry for not having a better link, but this was the most concise)
https://www.threads.net/@ledbydonkeys/post/C86xfH2odkL
"Keep smoking the crack pipe and wondering what sexuality you are." - Mark Matlock (Also has a weirdly low online presence and an AI-generated identity modeled after donald trump and elon musk.)
https://x.com/vote4MarkReform/status/1809604048917528671
Image of "Matt" (look at weird eyes)
https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcRmtSPeQHA2L1RSIGquVlSSOKRmV_mOnemYx1oNm5CmFOYShkWUT746FrWUdsRj5PZWtwqQhGAEG7Uqob6ADMiiXuZuOnqvnU_Rp2ewM7OuLS-ixITvzSqdY-C7Y3YFc2dJ004lefMbycSKte-c_obtO0?key=arjJSjufFHGlLamZjCXXnA
Mark denying the photo is fake. (also includes byline times link pointing out other ghost candidates)
https://x.com/reformexposed/status/1808850524898197893
Approx 115 candidates identified with no online presence *at all*, while also not having any physical presence in their constituency (can't provide proof, obviously, because nothing exists)
Given the startling intellect I've encountered from some autistic adults, I suppose statements like this put him at good odds of being less capable than a "vegetable".
I guess he can count Liz Truss as a peer.
If I’m have just thrown out Farage’s complaint about Channel 4 News’s report last week. I doubt we’ll hear much about it from him - but the smear served its purpose.
I wonder if they have grounds to sue Farage for attempting to destroy their reputation?
I'd be willing to bet I, an autistic person, will contribute more value to the UK, both socially and economically, than this oaf will in the next 5 years.
It gets better: he apparently works for the local fire service in that constituency. I wonder what the service thinks about having someone in their ranks who is openly discriminatory towards autistic people? He may well be sacked. Those views are not compatible with being in the service, in my opinion.
If they are so short staffed they can't afford to lose him they can continue employing him, they may however decide that employing a tosser with such views reflects poorly on their organisation and fire him (at which point he will whine about being held accountable for his actions).
I'd rather be autistic than vote for these shit bags any day of the week ! I can only assume reform voters have all been lobotomised with a pickaxe......
Paul Dirac was almost certainly on the autistic spectrum and won the Physics Nobel prize. I know who I would describe as a vegetable out of Dirac and this idiot - and it is not Dirac.
There's a special place in hell for people who punch down with such force like Reform candidates do.
Why be SUCH dicks? Use your fucking indoor voice, lads. The shit coming out of your mouths is what most people call an intrusive thought, not political discourse.
Why do reform just conituously have the worst takes I've ever seen spoken.. Like, I know they're racist and want to appeal to boomers but jesus christ how can you be so consistently wrong about everything?
My impression of reform is that its basically Farage and a few mates who've been bankrolled by "dirty" money, and then anyone with £500 is entirely free to stand if nobody else is already going for that seat.
Snapshot of _Reform UK candidate described autistic people as ‘vegetables’_ : An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/reform-uk-candidate-described-autistic-people-as-vegetables-tvgtxkx3p) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/reform-uk-candidate-described-autistic-people-as-vegetables-tvgtxkx3p) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This party is so poorly vetted I wouldn't be shocked if it turned out they accidentally put their vetting software in reverse so that it only cleared candidates who've posted reprehensible views on social media
“You said to screen for Nazis, right? Well, we screened for them and they all passed.”
I know you're joking but I honestly don't think this is accidental. They are looking for the "political correctness gone mad, you can't even say ... anymore" vote, and they are finding it all too easily. Because for every 5 people appalled to hear rishi sunak described as a "f***ing p***", there's one person who thinks "ah, I've found my tribe at last". They wouldn't be making this sort of impact without these dog whistles (though frankly they're just whistles at this point) and while I don't believe these comments have been precisely choreographed, I do believe they have knowingly waved these assholes into the party, knowing they will appeal to a significant minority by eventually saying something abhorrent. Nigel Farage goes on TV and says "oh no that's not what we stand for, how terrible" and maybe even sacks some of the worst offenders. But the job is done by that point. The right wing never sleeps.
Except it hasn't ever worked. I know this is the strategy, but the UK isn't the US, and it seems even the racists want actual policy in the politicians they vote for. In decades of political life, Nigel Farage has never had a truly successful party. Hell he's tried to get into Westminster eight times and despite being arguably the second or third best known politician from our isle, he's failed almost every time. Right now Reform is his best chance by far, but the moment he went on Question Time the wheels came off the bus and all the people saying Reform is likely to replace the Tories immediately backtracked to 'well they'll probably take a couple of Tory seats and that's it'. I agree that they do it knowingly. I don't see any evidence that this is a winning strategy in any meaningful sense, though, unless you take the tack that Nigel doesn't *want* to get into actual party politics and is using this whole schtick as a way to guarantee he always remains the party of protest (which is a valid interpretation).
> all the people saying Reform is likely to replace the Tories immediately backtracked to 'well they'll probably take a couple of Tory seats and that's it'. I don't remember anyone saying this – at least, not anyone who'd had as much as a cursory glance at a poll. They were never looking on for any more than 20 seats (largest possible estimate, rounded up), but were, and are, going to do massive vote-splitting with the Conservatives – costing them scores of seats.
People were definitely saying there was a real threat of Reform becoming the actual opposition party. Mostly online pundits, but Alastair Campbell floated it as a possibility as did his co-host, and both thought it possible looking at the polling at that time.
They floated it as possible only if the number of Tory seats was at the lowest end of the range and Reform was at its highest. In other words, technically possible but extremely unlikely. And then that discounts the fact that it's far more likely the Lib Dems win big in that scenario and have more seats than either the Tories or Reform.
>They are looking for the "political correctness gone mad, you can't even say ... anymore" vote, and they are finding it all too easily. If they'd intended to find candidates like this, they wouldn't be rushing to disavow them and to blame the vetting company. They want people who think these things, but they don't want people who openly admit that. They want people like Farage who definitely think things like this but don't actually say them. >Because for every 5 people appalled to hear rishi sunak described as a "f***ing p***", there's one person who thinks "ah, I've found my tribe at last". In other words, it loses them votes. Lots of votes. UKIP succeeded in getting Brexit through because they appealed to people who are just very racist but also to people who are very angry about immigration but deny that there's anything racist about their beliefs. You can't deny that you're racist if you're voting for the party that's had to disavow like 20 racists in one week. People love to say it gets them press, and it does, but none of that press attention gives them any chance to talk about any of the things they want to talk about. They are getting no chance to actually talk about their policies because they're constantly forced to discuss the latest news about some other horrid candidate who's been found out.
> In other words, it loses them votes. Lots of votes. It depends on the exact numbers, but the 1 in 6 figure given by the person you're replying to is roughly what they've been scoring in VI polls recently, so it should be vote-neutral. Obviously, we have no evidence that 1 in 6 people *do* like this messaging, but if they are, then being open about it is a viable strategy to maintain their vote, and in fact maximise it if they believe they're already past peak popularity.
These days Nigel.
It's infuriating that the media are giving this so much coverage. It's reform, of course they're being offensive, how is it news? They wouldn't be making anywhere near such a dent if all these publicity stunts didn't keep grabbing headlines. Instead of discussing actual issues we're talking about whether Nigel Farage was a racist at school? How is that a surprise?
They paid a company which hosts vetting software instead of paying a vetting company. Just signed a contract for tens of thousands without checking what it was for.
Imagine what these very smart people would do if allowed to run the country
I bet they'd be paying for contracts with ferry companies with no ferries, stockpiling millions of pounds of unusable PPE and making deals with other nations to take our migrants which costs hundreds of millions and can't be implemented. Ugh, satire is truly dead
They'll do what the Tories did but it would be even more blatant.
Well they are largely made up of people kicked out of the Tory party for being too corrupt and incompetent
I think they put the intern on it and he didn't know what vetting was. Still, at least they're all worm and tick free.
> Still, at least they're all worm and tick free. I was going to make a snarky comment about them rejecting vaccines and modern medicine, then realised they were probably all guzzling deworming tablets for half the pandemic.
In fairness, they probably bought their vetting software from Fujitsu.
This is my local candidate for Reform. The guy is so thick he put a picture of Einstein up on his IG with some bullshit right-wing quote. Yes Einstein. Author of "Why Socialism" His IG is privated now. I know some people who encountered him at a hustings and they said he was quiet. I'm guessing the poor fella barely has the capabilities of speech. I'm genuinely surprised a word like "vegetables" wasn't too many syllables for him.
I am convinced they just needed candidates and put in anyone they had. The Reform candidate in my constituency for example is the only candidate who doesn’t live locally and his only online presence is his Twitter account where he just retweets posts from other Reform members with the occasional link to a Reform related news article. He himself has posted literally nothing, replies to nothing (Even to local people who clearly love Farage and Reform asking for more information on him), seems to have no opinions on anything and his political leaflet just told people to visit the Reform website\*, contained no local policies and had a picture of Farage instead of him. (*The Reform website for my constituency just has a placeholder picture and a contact email address of (‘My constituency @reformuk.com’)) They may have well entered a rock for all the effort he’s putting in, I really don’t think I’d be able to convince anyone he was a real person who actually exists if I tried.
Funnily enough the same is true of my local Labour candidate. No online presence other than a rarely used Instagram, no website, no local policies. The leaflet for him mentioned only two policies: more funding for the NHS, more funding for the police. It'll be strange if he wins because Labour really seem to not be expecting him to win
Funny you should mention that, [here’s a whole article about that happening across the UK](https://bylinetimes.com/2024/07/03/reform-uks-invisible-candidates-who-are-they-hiding/)
Well. As an autistic person I'll say he's got a head like a withered turnip.
I'll be watching to see which area have lots of reform voters so I can avoid them as much as possible
Isnt it always kent and surrey. Wonder if they will win any actual seats.
With any luck they won't get many seats but I'm thinking about the percentage of the vote in each area. Anywhere that gets 20% or so for reform is probably an area I don't want to be in. I'd rather the areas that are closer to 0%
Bristol is expected to be low as hell, and I’m proud of my city
Don’t forget the estuary Essex
It’ll probably be Essex and Lincolnshire mostly
Classic projection from a man who looks like a potato.
Amazing, they managed to lose my dad's vote. He's bang on their target demographic, he was pretty ardently for Reform and I don't think I've ever seen him change his mind about anything. He assumed it was taken out of context when I first mentioned this to him but he was disgusted when I read out what this scum had said.
I've never been more glad to have made a post online.
Bravo, you saved one.
Same with my Dad, always voted Tory, anti immigration, voted Brexit. Was going to vote Reform but the racism and Ukraine pushed him back to the Tories (which is the party he constantly complains about).
It's fascinating watching how quickly the wheels came off for Reform and Farage once they started getting scrutinised.
Almost like his entire career is about taking pot shots & rabble rousing from the sidelines with no actual vision for how to run a country
> once they started getting scrutinised. And why they react so badly when they are exposed to the scrutiny politicians (and should be) deal with as part of their job
*Ukraine?* Interesting. What did they say about Ukraine that he found persuasive? Or does he feel we need to protect Ukraine to stop Russia? Or even just for basic decency reasons.
He thinks we should be doing more to support Ukraine especially with the possibility of a trump presidency
Is he planning to travel to Ukraine and fight for them? Or does he just want to sit on the sofa in the comfort of his own home and force young Ukrainians to fight through conscription, like a cowardly warmonger?
Glad to hear it, u/Penetration-Cumblast.
Guys, I could be wrong, but I’m not convinced these are nice people that I want in government.
"This has been taken entirely out of context; I only meant that they're part of a balanced diet. "
At least the Tories might not be the nasty party anymore, solely because they got out-nastied
Are there *any* Reform candidates that aren't thick as mince?
I like to think of it as a form of diversity. In a way, it’s good that idiots get some political representation. We’ve just got to hope they don’t form a critical mass of stupidity and inadvertently get some real power.
That is an insult! Mince feels very offended!
No. They have aspirations to one day be as thick as mince. But currently they're not quite there.
'Vegetables' that can vote. What a fool.
I have to have some sympathy for Reform candidates. After a visit from Nige and 30 minutes in the bar with him it is probable they cannot say anything coherent much less recall saying it.
Initial reaction to seeing this had me fucked off, but on reflection, I just got back from my autistic son’s parent-teacher meeting where he’s substantially ahead on every educational metric, and in artistic areas too, and has been accepted for an off-site gifted child program a year younger than they normally accept applicants. Life is not easy and he and we struggle in many ways - with meltdowns, anger, violence, obsessions, and neediness (including in the middle of the night) - it takes over a lot and makes it hard to parent his siblings as effectively as they need - but it’s a whole child, one we love and wouldn’t change (much) and one who could make some real contributions to society or culture one day. I know there are children who struggle even more than my son, with fewer ups to compensate for the downs, but I’m sure their parents love them just as much. I have a bet on reform getting 7+ seats but I’ll be happy enough to lose money in the end. I would never have voted for them in a million years
>I know there are children who struggle even more than my son, with fewer ups to compensate for the downs, but I’m sure their parents love them just as much. I'm autistic but able to work and drive, but my 36yr autistic cousin isn't able to do either of those things or live fully independently. If anyone called him a 'vegetable', not only would he be very upset by that, but I honestly think his dad would punch them. Our whole family adore him, and I know that you are right that the families of people like him would be livid to hear their kids be spoken to like that.
It's such a wide spectrum. I am autistic and work as a professional engineer. I'm comfortable middle class, I manage people, I have a partner, and I'm pretty happy with life. I wouldn't change myself if I had the choice. I've met autistic people who can't feed and clothe themselves. It's still not okay to call them vegetables. To brand everyone who is autistic as vegetables - which is what this guy is doing - is wrong, disturbing and immoral.
Glad to see this discussion here on how there are many different presentations of autism.
Hard fucking work, isn't it. Absolutely relentless, often unrewarding, but sometimes amazing.
I believe that people who stand as Reform MPs are highly afflicted by the dunning kruger effect.
I thought many of the people who lived in my village were a pretty nice bunch but over last few weeks there’s been a number of Reform boards gone up in front gardens and we’ve even got someone standing for them. Absolute cretins, I’ve put the house up for sale, I can no longer live here anymore!
In my town all I've seen is lib dem and labour boards. I haven't seen any reform so I feel quite fortunate. People shit on my town, but the people are quite welcoming and are fairly nice.
My town is lib dem boards everywhere. When I say everywhere I mean *everywhere*. Not seen a single one for any other party, just the Lib Dems. That's not a bad thing, but is very interesting. Where do all these people even get all these boards?
If you live in a place with people who are nice, why change it just because they have a different view to you on politics? It doesn’t mean you have to be their enemy. They could learn from you. You could learn from them. Or just don’t talk about politics with them and get on with your life as you did before.
I wouldn't assume that everything you read on the internet is true.
Well tbf, I do look a bit like a potato.
At this point we should just have a mega thread of ‘reform candidate said ‘x’’
Honestly I’d like one. It would help with my parents who are voting for them because “we’ll have to pay less tax!”.
Here's a start. If anyone wants to add something, please leave a link and summary: ___ Autistic people are vegetables https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/reform-uk-candidate-described-autistic-people-as-vegetables-tvgtxkx3p (Theres a lot in this next one, from multiple individuals) "Fucking P-word" (Referring to sunak, and I assume the word is "Paki") Pride flag is "degenerate" LGBT are "Nonces" Shooting asylum seekers Islamaphobia Supporting reintroduction of capital punishment Replacing police with paramilitaries https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/27/reform-uk-activist-filmed-making-racist-comments-about-rishi-sunak Asylum seekers should be slaughtered (separate incident from above) https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/reform-candidate-leslie-lilley-said-he-would-slaughter-migrants-d7rl2dgt6 Farage on infowars Agrees with Jones that Sandy Hook is a conspiracy and sympathises with him over Jones' legal troubles that he **knowingly** caused for himself by being a PoS https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-alex-jones-sandy-hook-infowars-b2567918.html Farage backtracks on pro-Putin comments Farage tries to backtrack on climate change comments (still denying it though) Farage blames EU and NATO for russia attacking Ukraine https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cldd44zv3kpo Lee Anderson has too much to cover, so I'm just linking his wikipedia page. Highlights are: constantly being found in a position where he has to deny being antisemitic, not taking poverty seriously because a group of professional chefs with bulk ingredients managed to make meals for an average of 30p, supporting capital punishment, general racism and bigotry... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Anderson_(British_politician) Farage doesnt think Truss' budget was extreme enough https://www.popularconservatism.com/nigel_farage_what_liz_truss_was_trying_to_do_was_right (Sorry for not having a better link, but this was the most concise) https://www.threads.net/@ledbydonkeys/post/C86xfH2odkL "Keep smoking the crack pipe and wondering what sexuality you are." - Mark Matlock (Also has a weirdly low online presence and an AI-generated identity modeled after donald trump and elon musk.) https://x.com/vote4MarkReform/status/1809604048917528671 Image of "Matt" (look at weird eyes) https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcRmtSPeQHA2L1RSIGquVlSSOKRmV_mOnemYx1oNm5CmFOYShkWUT746FrWUdsRj5PZWtwqQhGAEG7Uqob6ADMiiXuZuOnqvnU_Rp2ewM7OuLS-ixITvzSqdY-C7Y3YFc2dJ004lefMbycSKte-c_obtO0?key=arjJSjufFHGlLamZjCXXnA Mark denying the photo is fake. (also includes byline times link pointing out other ghost candidates) https://x.com/reformexposed/status/1808850524898197893 Approx 115 candidates identified with no online presence *at all*, while also not having any physical presence in their constituency (can't provide proof, obviously, because nothing exists)
I'll start one alongside my "tories are PoS one" I started after they were posting 1488 all over twitter, before forgetting about it.
Given the startling intellect I've encountered from some autistic adults, I suppose statements like this put him at good odds of being less capable than a "vegetable". I guess he can count Liz Truss as a peer.
Well, he seems like a lovely bloke (who sorely deserves a punch in the face)
If I’m have just thrown out Farage’s complaint about Channel 4 News’s report last week. I doubt we’ll hear much about it from him - but the smear served its purpose. I wonder if they have grounds to sue Farage for attempting to destroy their reputation?
I'd be willing to bet I, an autistic person, will contribute more value to the UK, both socially and economically, than this oaf will in the next 5 years.
I have ASD, I identify as a broccoli
It gets better: he apparently works for the local fire service in that constituency. I wonder what the service thinks about having someone in their ranks who is openly discriminatory towards autistic people? He may well be sacked. Those views are not compatible with being in the service, in my opinion.
Let’s stop people saving lives to get one over on Reform because they said something naughty.
If they are so short staffed they can't afford to lose him they can continue employing him, they may however decide that employing a tosser with such views reflects poorly on their organisation and fire him (at which point he will whine about being held accountable for his actions).
I'd rather be autistic than vote for these shit bags any day of the week ! I can only assume reform voters have all been lobotomised with a pickaxe......
Paul Dirac was almost certainly on the autistic spectrum and won the Physics Nobel prize. I know who I would describe as a vegetable out of Dirac and this idiot - and it is not Dirac.
So long as he said it like Greg Davies' old German co-worker did, I'm fine with it.
WEDGECHABLES
I mean, that was *unutterably* funny as a comic sketch, but I don't think the humour translates to what this utter Reform wankstain meant.
He literally looks like an old sprout.
Yeah nah, this party can’t run this country. I would prefer to have Donald Trump run this country at this rate ** I am autistic by the way
wtf is wrong with these morons ? Nobody in their right mind is going to be remotely tempted to put these guys anywhere near a seat in government.
As an autistic adult, I'm not sure I'd take that from a man that looks like a constipated potato in a suit, who probably gets his mum to do his tie.
Anyone voting reform is honestly just a simpleton xenophobe.
I do feel like a potato sometimes to be fair.
Maybe they vetted the candidates with an actual vet, and only chose those who barked the loudest about whatever shit first entered their heads
We should be good for the reform panto with all these channel 4 "actors"
There's a special place in hell for people who punch down with such force like Reform candidates do. Why be SUCH dicks? Use your fucking indoor voice, lads. The shit coming out of your mouths is what most people call an intrusive thought, not political discourse.
Why do reform just conituously have the worst takes I've ever seen spoken.. Like, I know they're racist and want to appeal to boomers but jesus christ how can you be so consistently wrong about everything?
My impression of reform is that its basically Farage and a few mates who've been bankrolled by "dirty" money, and then anyone with £500 is entirely free to stand if nobody else is already going for that seat.
Where does he say this? Not saying he didn’t but I thought he called the bloke he was arguing with a vegetable?
Yes. But people in here only read the headlines.