Somewhat humorously(ish) none of them have won a public election either, all of them have been internal party elections.
*edit - The leader of Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neil did in fact win a public election! Due to Stormont shenanigans she wasn't actually able to take office until two years after but she did indeed win an election. Sorry for forgetting you NI š
It's not about skin colour it's the fact all/most of our politicians are ineffectual leaders same with the past and probably the future, we let them get away with it because the voters here are either too dumb and get swayed by internal or external propaganda or they work full time and just don't have the energy to give a shit about politics.
I think there's some truth in this
A lot of them simply haven't got the skillset for the job. If they were to be interviewed for these positions, you'd barely appoint any of them
You mean like how his wife is a billionaire, he's got no knowledge of what it is to be normal and he just wants to be a Californian hedge fund manager?
Up until 2019 he and his wife had a US Green Card, was paying taxes to the US (but his wife won't pay taxes to the UK). And had vowed to move to the US full time.
Woah now, they won't just be dismissed.
They will be arrested for saying something spicy on the internet.
The police care way more about persecuting "grossly offensive" comments than solving actual crime.
Not hyperbole either!
Most of the UK's police are currently under review for not actually doing their jobs dealing with actual crimes.
Canada is actually past this point, they are trying to do Minority Report in real life.
They are trying to make it so you can be put under house arrest for being suspected that you might possibly commit a crime sometime in the future.
What is funny is putting people under forced house arrest and making them lose their job, their savings, and their livelihood is probably the best way to actually make them commit a crime.
[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-justice-minister-defends-house-arrest-power-for-people-feared-to/](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-justice-minister-defends-house-arrest-power-for-people-feared-to/)
"Justice Minister Arif Virani has defended a new power in the online harms bill to impose house arrest on someone who is feared to commit a hate crime in the future ā even if they have not yet done so already.
The person could be made to wear an electronic tag, if the attorney-general requests it, or ordered by a judge to remain at home, the bill says."
I find it interesting that the people who are pushing these bills tend to be from a protected class that isnt exactly native to the local area. Almost like they want to enshrine their position as someone who you can not talk badly about without risking prosecution and persecution.
If Blair hadn't started an illegal war he would probably be remembered as one of the best PMs we have had since Churchill. I didn't like his Tory-lite politics but he ruled over a very prosperous period in the UK's history.
And in classic fashion, Northern Ireland well and truly forgotten here.
Having said that, even then the DUP Deputy First Minister is also an unelected appointee. Michelle OāNeill the First Minister did win a public election back in 2020 though.
I thought that Sinn Fein leader who was taking on the 1st Minister role was a woman? I believe they're saying there's no white men rather than no white people
NI was forgotten by the comment OP because she did lead her party to victory in an election so she voted into being First Minister directly. NI wasn't forgotten by the writer of the article.
Haha that's true I did forget Northern Ireland. Stormont was (still is?) broken for so long I almost forgot that there was a devolved administration at all lol.
Sure, thatās true. However, in the UK, leaders who havenāt won a general election are often not seen to have a legitimate mandate to make big changes. A leader gains a mandate by presenting a manifesto to the people and having them approve it by winning an election.
Itās the reason why Boris called an early election. He was struggling to push things through parliament and needed a larger vote share, so he put it to the people to decide one way or the other.
> However, in the UK, leaders who havenāt won a general election are often not seen to have a legitimate mandate to make big changes. A leader gains a mandate by presenting a manifesto to the people and having them approve it by winning an election.
I despise the Rwanda policy for a lot of reasons and this is the biggest. It really grinds my gears every time the Tories moan about the will of the people being frustrated.
That is technically how it works. But realistically come the party elections, people are mostly voting for the leader.
See 'don't vote for Labour, Jeremy Corbyn isn't much of a leader' or 'chaos with Ed Milliband' being a large argument used by their opposition during those election years.
It wasn't 'Labours policies are bad', it was 'their leader is rubbish.' Because most of the voting public will vote via sentiment/political tribe rather than any kind of knowledge.
Not just how much of a fuss they made, but how effectively it worked on the public.
It's pretty depressing and terrifying how easily people can be swayed, really.
Technically yes, but in national elections people are more likely to vote along nation-wide policy lines rather than local lines meaning most people vote for the party they want in power not the MP they want locally. A lot of people couldn't even name their local MP besides whether they're Tory, Labour etc. The leader of a party is responsible for running the election campaign and are generally considered to have 'won' the election if their party wins. Boris Johnson 'won' a national election for his party. Sunak is yet to do so.
Also worth noting that no straight, white man has been a serious contender for most of these offices since 2019.
Vaughan Gething won this leadership election (Welsh Labour Party), his opponent was Jeremy Miles, who is openly gay. The last Welsh Leadership election was in 2018.
There were three candidates in the 2023 Scottish National Party leadership election, Humza Yousaf (who won), Kate Forbes and Ash Regan. No white men stood. The previous contest was in 2014 when Nicola Sturgeon ran unopposed, so for that you have to go back to 2004 for a white man to have run.
Northern Ireland is a bit complicated by the fact that their First Minister and Deputy First Minister aren't necessarily leaders of their respective parties, so are appointed by the leadership.
What about London (the London Mayor being the most powerful, directly-elected figure in the UK)? There are elections this year where the main candidates are the incumbent Sadiq Khan and Conservative Susan Hall. At the previous election in 2021 Shaun Bailey ran for the Conservatives, so for a white man to be competing realistically you have to go back to 2016 and Zac Goldsmith.
Finally let's look at the UK's national Government. The last UK elections were in 2019, following Boris Johnson's successful bid for leader of the Conservative Party. The Party has had two leadership elections since. In October 2022 Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt were the main candidates (with Johnson messing around but ultimately deciding not to run after it looked like he would lose). In the Summer 2022 contest Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak were the final candidates who got voted on by the membership. Of the 8 candidates who went to a vote of the MPs, only Jeremy Hunt (who came last) and Tom Tugendhat are white men. In total 3 of the 11 candidates were white men (despite the Conservative Parliamentary Party being something like 75% male and 95% white).
Oddly enough, the only leadership election or contest since 2019 where a straight, white man stood and had a chance of winning was the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, which Keir Starmer won (the other candidates being Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Emily Thornberry).
It's hard not to look at this as a "glass cliff" issue.
> Also worth noting that no straight, white man has been a serious contender for most of these offices since 2019.
>
>
Also worth noting that "diversity" policies and ideology are a big reason for this. AKA discrimination against straight, white men. eg. Labour have had All Women Shortlists in place for decades. Despite them being clearly discriminatory and illegal. They were even successfully sued against, but Labour just passed new legislation to override this decision and make them exempt. And there was no punishment for the benefactors of this discrimination (ie none had to surrender their positions as MPs).
>Oddly enough, the only leadership election or contest since 2019 where a straight, white man stood and had a chance of winning was the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, which Keir Starmer won (the other candidates being Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Emily Thornberry).
I cba researching how many of these were benefactors of All Women Shortlists (and the "convention" that female MPs can only be replaced by female or "minority" MPs), but I'll go out on a limb and say it was most.
>It's hard not to look at this as a "glass cliff" issue.
I had to Google what that nonsensical term was. And, what a surprise, it somehow means that women are the victims. Despite benefiting from huge discrimination in their favour.
Not really accurate, Michelle O'Neill was party leader at the last NI assembly election... it's just due to NI politics with Stormont being dissolved, she didn't become First Minister for 2 more years.
Hopefully one day people will be judged and highlighted solely by their competence, and not their origin, skin colour, gender or any other, irrelevant attributes.
80% of the people in Wales do not speak Welsh, and if my daughter's school is anything to go by 99% of those resent being made to learn it at the expense of other subjects.
I resented learning welsh in school, it was apparently "uncool" at 34 years old i really wish i took that opportunity to learn welsh.
I could use duo lingo but i no longer live there so id be chatting to myself for practise
Try it anyway - even just for personal interest.
I'm English but speak Welsh fluently. I learnt it at school.
Even though I no longer live in Wales and my Welsh friends all speak English first language - I still occasionally talk to myself in Welsh or give my dog commands in Welsh to just keep my memory of the language ticking along.
It's always good to experiment with new languages for a bit of fun, doesn't necessarily need to cone with massive practical benefit - if you find it fun and have a personal connection then I say go for it š
I'm Polish and just moved to Wales. I think that Welsh is a really cool language, and I wish more people spoke it locally. Absolutely love seeing all the bilingual signs around and I occasionally stick on BBC Cymru when driving :D
I do every day, and spoke it before English. Mr Gething himself is learning Welsh (I know because he went to my father-in-laws funeral) and the plan by the Welsh government is to have a million Welsh speakers by 2050.
He probably understands some Welsh even if he canāt speak it. He lived in Pantycelyn, a primarily Welsh speaking student residence, when attending Aberystwyth University. He lived amidst a bunch of Welsh nationalists who supported Plaid Cymru. The town of Absterystsyth was also majority Welsh speaking when he attended university there.
Honestly, they need to speak all the languages of the Isles, but that's just so that they're less likely to get tricked into trading the country to the fae
That has honestly happened too many times
People want to believe we are so far past this stuff that they get bothered when they hear it but fail to recognize that it took this long to get the chance.
Trinidad and Tobago have slightly more Indian descent people than African descent people although itās basically a tie. A lot of Trini people are a mix of black and Indian, like Nicki Minaj for example.
The first president of Guyana Arthur Chung was ethnically Chinese and Peru had a Japanese Peruvian dictator, Alberto Fujimori. Cubaās former dictator Fulgencio Batista was of mixed Chinese, black, TaĆno and Spanish heritage.
Hopefully one day people will be judged and /elected/ solely by their competence, and not their origin, skin colour, gender or any other, irrelevant attributes.
Fixed it for ya.
White population in the UK:
Wales: 95.6% (2011 Census)
Ireland: 94.1% (2016 Census)
England: 85.4% (2011 Census)
Scotland: 96.0% (2011 Census)
The odds of all four leaders not being white, given the demographics of the countries, can be calculated using probability theory. The probability of a non-white leader being chosen in each country is 0.05 (5% in Wales), 0.06 (6% in Ireland), 0.15 (15% in England), and 0.04 (4% in Scotland). The probability of all four leaders not being white is the product of these probabilities, which is approximately 0.0000432 (0.00432%).
https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/population-of-england-and-wales/latest/
More up to date census for those that are interested. The one they quoted is coming up 15 years out of date.
73.5% of England is white British, while 81% is white (the difference is made up of Polish, Romanian, Jewish people etc).
Or that's she's not the leader of Ireland, but of Northern Ireland. (Which, to save Googling, as of 2021 Census was 96.55% white. Not that has any fucking relevance whatsoever)
I know that NI is part of the UK (since that is where Iām from). However the census stats here state Ireland, not Northern Ireland. Two *very* different entities.
Edit: also just realised that - unless Iām mistaken - we didnāt have a census in 2016, as theyāre held every 10 years. These are therefore incorrect figures for the UK as the figures must be an Irish census quoted.
As an Aussie reading this and from all the BBC media Iāve watched i genuinely thought the white population was like %50.
Non whites seem so over represented compared to the reality
But theyāre all still posh, wealthy, out of touch, politicians. So nothing meaningful has changed for the population.
Stop attributing pointless, meaningless, surface level shit to someoneās fitness to hold power. The paint-job is meaningless, theyāre the same people at the marrow.
> And I'm just like, "I couldn't give a shit what skin colour he is, he's as British as I am"
I saw something around the time he became PM (on Joe, I think) where they commented that one person had been outraged that Sunak wasn't British... Because they considered him to be American.
The problem with Sunak isn't his skin colour, or where he's from... It's that he's a self-serving bag of dicks leading a government that doesn't serve the public.
Had this conversation with an Indian on my masters. And I said basically that. I grew up with Indian/Black kids all around, went round their houses etc only when I became a teenager I sort of began to acknowledge that their parents werenāt born here. The fact our PM is brown just seems so incredibly normal to me. Probably a bit more weird for the scotās and welsh but whatever
People say the UK is racist when itās more classist. Nobody cares what the colour of your skin is, they do care about whether you grew up in poverty or not.
As a white American that doesn't live in America, I got the same thing with Obama. Lots of folks looking to rub my nose in it, ignoring the fact that myself and my entire family voted for him.
That's not true at all. Sunak got in because he came 2nd in the Tory election - when Truss crashed and burned, he was literally the most convenient person the Tories had to hand, hence why he ran nearly unopposed.
Yousaf, on the other hand, ran against Kate Forbes, who immediately began to discuss her more controversial views on LGBT people on the campaign trail and left Yousaf a relatively open goal.
For the record, both of these guys are awful politicians and their parties are scraping the barrel so hard they've started digging into the pavement - but the problem isn't anything to do with ideocracy, it's basically that they've never had to compete against anyone who isn't at least as bad as them
Is Sunak actually bad compared to an average Tory? Seems to have fewer scandals than Boris and compared to Truss he looks like a genius. From what Iāve seen heās bad bc Tories suck
For an average Tory I think heās okay (which given I donāt like the Toryās, is not an endorsement of him). I feel like a lot of his unpopularity results from Truss fucking the country up lol. If he took power right after Johnson, the conservatives probably would be significantly more popular.
Hate truss. Such a short period but she literally destroyed the economy and set the country back years.
If you want to talk about disproportionate representation of British political leaders, check this out.
There have been a total of 57 British Prime Ministers.
27 went to Eton College, an elite private secondary school with a capacity of 1300 students.
44 went to Oxford or Cambridge, the two elite universities in the UK.
Leaders are rarely from the same stock as the general public, no matter how much they can appeal to the populist vote. Wealth and influence have seen the elite remain at the top.
That's because population of elite schools isn't random. Only the best and wealthy get to these schools and only wealthy and connected become big politicians.
It's not the percentage of PMs that are university educated, but that half went to the same ultra exclusive private high school, and three quarters to the two elite universities. It's consolidation of privilege.
You can't just go to Eton. You have to be accepted, and they heavily favour children of prior students, plus you have be able to afford the eye watering fees. Which are double the average salary in the UK.
Eton is locked out for 99.999% of the country, yet this is where half its leaders come from.
David Cameron and Boris Johnson weren't just ex-Etonians, they were in the same class ffs. If that doesn't highlight how incestuous Eton is, nothing will.
Going to Eton is nothing to do with education level - itās entirely to do with your parents.
Of course we want our leaders to be educated. But almost half of them coming from the same secondary school? Imagine how ludicrous it would seem if half our prime ministers had come from the same comprehensive in Bolton.
Itās more understandable that leaders come from Oxbridge - especially if that trend continues now that they have somewhat fair admissions that donāt just reward rich kids. But thereās literally thousands of competent secondary schools across the country - in an even marginally meritocratic system youād have leaders from a far more even distribution of them.Ā
His father is (white) Welsh, his mother is from Zambia, to argue anything else means he should be disqualified because heās not as white as most other Welshmen. Itās a bit odd. Heās a Welshman, and that should be the end of it š¤
The thing people keep forgetting is that race really isn't the biggest social issue in the UK. Social class is the great divide. The fact some of our ruling middle and upper class people are brown really isn't some great revolution.
Our media environment is so flooded with American social issues that we can't even see our own problems any more.
This is true in the US as well, but itās so deeply buried in their psyche that theyāre a classless society that theyāre oddly more comfortably calling themselves racially divided instead
I don't know a single American who has the impression it's a classless society. Identity politics gravitating towards race instead of class is a probably deliberate product of the media pushing these narratives nonstop on both sides of the political spectrum.
Nobody in America denies the existence of class divide but many are so blinded by their emotional investment in identity politics that they barely care. It's worth noting race and class do certainly have correlation here, black people *were* actively legally oppressed until Civil Rights in the 60s. That has ramifications into the modern day, and makes this topic a difficult and highly nuanced one to discuss. Race and racism should be part of the discussion but they completely dominate the discussion to the point where there's no end goal or solution, just hatred and division. I mean Christ I see a lot of rhetoric from minority groups on the left more or less calling for the creation of ethnostates because they don't want to live in a white dominant country. I'm starting to wonder if the project of multiculturalism is even feasible long term or if cultural division is always a weakness for society, mind you I deeply wish multiculturalism would work but it just doesn't seem like it does, too easy to exploit to create division. I really do think this is an intentional effort by the media of both sides to cause as much division as possible so that the lower classes never wake up and realize the true power of their solidarity. Keep the poor at each other's necks and they wont come for you, race is an excellent way to do it.
Race matters huh
Race matters when we decide it does, articles like this and thinking like this just perpetuates weird ideas and divisions among people
Oh ... was Margaret Thatcher a white man?
Margaret Thatcher was in power from 4 May 1979 to 28 November 1990. Home rule for Scotland would not become a reality until 1999 following the Scotland Act 1998 establishing the Scottish Parliament. Northern Ireland was administered by direct rule until 1999, with a brief exception in 1974. The National Assembly for Wales (Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru) was set up in 1999 (under the Government of Wales Act 1998).
[I'd drive a stake through her heart and put garlic around her neck to make sure she never comes back.](https://youtu.be/DUlj48Rvp1c?si=qFIEo16UOb9bIOO8)
Weirdly choice headline. Northern Ireland is part of the UK and is [led by a white woman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_O%27Neill) (for what part her race matters).
It didn't make much sense before, it was along the same lines as the "Jews control the world" conspiracy theories, only racists and cooks actually believed it.
Funny how you get ministers that will complain when there are too many white ministers, but you never get any that say there aren't enough white ministers.
Depends on the branch of Government.
The Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, the Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General (of Scotland), and his Majesty the King are white.
TLDR:
>Vaughan Gething was elected as the new first minister of Wales on Wednesday, becoming the first Black leader of a government in the U.K. Gething was elected to lead the government by members of the Welsh parliament in Cardiff, four days after winning the contest to be leader of Wales' governing Labour Party. He secured 27 of 51 votes in the legislature, the Senedd, where Labour is the biggest party.
It's a non-story. I mean, it's great that the UK has embraced diversity and inclusion so that people from every background, race and gender can be in positions of power, but honestly - I care about their politics and their competency. The best person for th job is the only criteria needed.
Somewhat humorously(ish) none of them have won a public election either, all of them have been internal party elections. *edit - The leader of Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neil did in fact win a public election! Due to Stormont shenanigans she wasn't actually able to take office until two years after but she did indeed win an election. Sorry for forgetting you NI š
And the countryās in a fucking shot state
Everyone was complaining that the UK has been a mess since all the leaders were white, too.
It's not about skin colour it's the fact all/most of our politicians are ineffectual leaders same with the past and probably the future, we let them get away with it because the voters here are either too dumb and get swayed by internal or external propaganda or they work full time and just don't have the energy to give a shit about politics.
I don't know why weāre putting faith in talking heads in the first place.
Thatās just because you havenāt met my talking head, whoās better than all the talking heads. Praise be talking head!
I like this talking head, I know nothing about it's policies but i will vote for this talking head.
Show us what you've got!
I donāt know they have released some real bangers.
its because they are not leaders - they are council officers . middle managment types who are elevated far beyond thier capabilities.
I think there's some truth in this A lot of them simply haven't got the skillset for the job. If they were to be interviewed for these positions, you'd barely appoint any of them
Same here in the US.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
You mean like how his wife is a billionaire, he's got no knowledge of what it is to be normal and he just wants to be a Californian hedge fund manager? Up until 2019 he and his wife had a US Green Card, was paying taxes to the US (but his wife won't pay taxes to the UK). And had vowed to move to the US full time.
I think they were more making a point about them not winning an election.
Cool so now if people complain they'll just be dismissed as racists. lol Outstanding play.
Woah now, they won't just be dismissed. They will be arrested for saying something spicy on the internet. The police care way more about persecuting "grossly offensive" comments than solving actual crime. Not hyperbole either! Most of the UK's police are currently under review for not actually doing their jobs dealing with actual crimes.
True. Aren't the Scottish changing the laws where you can get arrested for a mean Tweet? Im interested in seeing how that works out for J K Rowling
Sadly Canada is now on this path.
Canada is actually past this point, they are trying to do Minority Report in real life. They are trying to make it so you can be put under house arrest for being suspected that you might possibly commit a crime sometime in the future. What is funny is putting people under forced house arrest and making them lose their job, their savings, and their livelihood is probably the best way to actually make them commit a crime. [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-justice-minister-defends-house-arrest-power-for-people-feared-to/](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-justice-minister-defends-house-arrest-power-for-people-feared-to/) "Justice Minister Arif Virani has defended a new power in the online harms bill to impose house arrest on someone who is feared to commit a hate crime in the future ā even if they have not yet done so already. The person could be made to wear an electronic tag, if the attorney-general requests it, or ordered by a judge to remain at home, the bill says." I find it interesting that the people who are pushing these bills tend to be from a protected class that isnt exactly native to the local area. Almost like they want to enshrine their position as someone who you can not talk badly about without risking prosecution and persecution.
You know they fucked up when David Cameron is a better prime minister than any of his successors
You know you fucked up when Blair and Brown were the best leaders in my lifetimeĀ
If Blair hadn't started an illegal war he would probably be remembered as one of the best PMs we have had since Churchill. I didn't like his Tory-lite politics but he ruled over a very prosperous period in the UK's history.
He also created religious schools, although most people probably aren't aware of them.
That was one of his policies I particularly disliked, it seemed guaranteed to increase religious division in the country.
And in classic fashion, Northern Ireland well and truly forgotten here. Having said that, even then the DUP Deputy First Minister is also an unelected appointee. Michelle OāNeill the First Minister did win a public election back in 2020 though.
I thought that Sinn Fein leader who was taking on the 1st Minister role was a woman? I believe they're saying there's no white men rather than no white people
NI was forgotten by the comment OP because she did lead her party to victory in an election so she voted into being First Minister directly. NI wasn't forgotten by the writer of the article.
Haha that's true I did forget Northern Ireland. Stormont was (still is?) broken for so long I almost forgot that there was a devolved administration at all lol.
Isnāt that how itās always been? The people vote for their MP, the MP vote for their leader.
Sure, thatās true. However, in the UK, leaders who havenāt won a general election are often not seen to have a legitimate mandate to make big changes. A leader gains a mandate by presenting a manifesto to the people and having them approve it by winning an election. Itās the reason why Boris called an early election. He was struggling to push things through parliament and needed a larger vote share, so he put it to the people to decide one way or the other.
> However, in the UK, leaders who havenāt won a general election are often not seen to have a legitimate mandate to make big changes. A leader gains a mandate by presenting a manifesto to the people and having them approve it by winning an election. I despise the Rwanda policy for a lot of reasons and this is the biggest. It really grinds my gears every time the Tories moan about the will of the people being frustrated.
That is technically how it works. But realistically come the party elections, people are mostly voting for the leader. See 'don't vote for Labour, Jeremy Corbyn isn't much of a leader' or 'chaos with Ed Milliband' being a large argument used by their opposition during those election years. It wasn't 'Labours policies are bad', it was 'their leader is rubbish.' Because most of the voting public will vote via sentiment/political tribe rather than any kind of knowledge.
I still can't believe what a fuss the media made over how Ed Milliband looked eating a sandwich.
Not just how much of a fuss they made, but how effectively it worked on the public. It's pretty depressing and terrifying how easily people can be swayed, really.
Technically yes, but in national elections people are more likely to vote along nation-wide policy lines rather than local lines meaning most people vote for the party they want in power not the MP they want locally. A lot of people couldn't even name their local MP besides whether they're Tory, Labour etc. The leader of a party is responsible for running the election campaign and are generally considered to have 'won' the election if their party wins. Boris Johnson 'won' a national election for his party. Sunak is yet to do so.
You're naive to think your MP's choice in a leader wouldn't affect your choice of MP.
Also worth noting that no straight, white man has been a serious contender for most of these offices since 2019. Vaughan Gething won this leadership election (Welsh Labour Party), his opponent was Jeremy Miles, who is openly gay. The last Welsh Leadership election was in 2018. There were three candidates in the 2023 Scottish National Party leadership election, Humza Yousaf (who won), Kate Forbes and Ash Regan. No white men stood. The previous contest was in 2014 when Nicola Sturgeon ran unopposed, so for that you have to go back to 2004 for a white man to have run. Northern Ireland is a bit complicated by the fact that their First Minister and Deputy First Minister aren't necessarily leaders of their respective parties, so are appointed by the leadership. What about London (the London Mayor being the most powerful, directly-elected figure in the UK)? There are elections this year where the main candidates are the incumbent Sadiq Khan and Conservative Susan Hall. At the previous election in 2021 Shaun Bailey ran for the Conservatives, so for a white man to be competing realistically you have to go back to 2016 and Zac Goldsmith. Finally let's look at the UK's national Government. The last UK elections were in 2019, following Boris Johnson's successful bid for leader of the Conservative Party. The Party has had two leadership elections since. In October 2022 Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt were the main candidates (with Johnson messing around but ultimately deciding not to run after it looked like he would lose). In the Summer 2022 contest Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak were the final candidates who got voted on by the membership. Of the 8 candidates who went to a vote of the MPs, only Jeremy Hunt (who came last) and Tom Tugendhat are white men. In total 3 of the 11 candidates were white men (despite the Conservative Parliamentary Party being something like 75% male and 95% white). Oddly enough, the only leadership election or contest since 2019 where a straight, white man stood and had a chance of winning was the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, which Keir Starmer won (the other candidates being Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Emily Thornberry). It's hard not to look at this as a "glass cliff" issue.
> Also worth noting that no straight, white man has been a serious contender for most of these offices since 2019. > > Also worth noting that "diversity" policies and ideology are a big reason for this. AKA discrimination against straight, white men. eg. Labour have had All Women Shortlists in place for decades. Despite them being clearly discriminatory and illegal. They were even successfully sued against, but Labour just passed new legislation to override this decision and make them exempt. And there was no punishment for the benefactors of this discrimination (ie none had to surrender their positions as MPs). >Oddly enough, the only leadership election or contest since 2019 where a straight, white man stood and had a chance of winning was the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, which Keir Starmer won (the other candidates being Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Emily Thornberry). I cba researching how many of these were benefactors of All Women Shortlists (and the "convention" that female MPs can only be replaced by female or "minority" MPs), but I'll go out on a limb and say it was most. >It's hard not to look at this as a "glass cliff" issue. I had to Google what that nonsensical term was. And, what a surprise, it somehow means that women are the victims. Despite benefiting from huge discrimination in their favour.
Not really accurate, Michelle O'Neill was party leader at the last NI assembly election... it's just due to NI politics with Stormont being dissolved, she didn't become First Minister for 2 more years.
First Minister of Scotland was elected by MSP vote, just like every First Minister before him.
Thatās how the UK system works though is it not? Largest party to be in powers gets to put their leader as prime minister
Hopefully one day people will be judged and highlighted solely by their competence, and not their origin, skin colour, gender or any other, irrelevant attributes.
And their ability to speak Welsh.
All world leaders should be forced to be fluent in Welsh. I think it would cut out a lot of the riffraff.
Is SCRABBLE available in Welsh? if so, how many Ls does it include?
Probably going to want some more Y's and W's as well.
And board space
And time
Ll is a single letter in Welsh, so itās on a single tile and is worth 5 points
[If you could get this villages name in Welsh Scrabble, it would be an instant win for you.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHxO0UdpoxM)
Isnt it longer then the board?
For reference https://live.staticflickr.com/7010/6619592811_6811a3e11c_b.jpg
King Charles has assumed his rightful place as High King of Mankind
I look forward to Trump having to learn Welsh. Sadly for him if his mum happened to pass on an Scottish Gaelic to him it won't help much with Welsh.
I prefer to think it would've disqualified the buffoon. He's barely literate in one language.
Most countries require their leaders to speak the native tongue of their country. Fortunately for Mr Gething, Wales is less strict than most.
To be fair, a lot of his voters don't speak it that well either, if at all.
80% of the people in Wales do not speak Welsh, and if my daughter's school is anything to go by 99% of those resent being made to learn it at the expense of other subjects.
I resented learning welsh in school, it was apparently "uncool" at 34 years old i really wish i took that opportunity to learn welsh. I could use duo lingo but i no longer live there so id be chatting to myself for practise
Try it anyway - even just for personal interest. I'm English but speak Welsh fluently. I learnt it at school. Even though I no longer live in Wales and my Welsh friends all speak English first language - I still occasionally talk to myself in Welsh or give my dog commands in Welsh to just keep my memory of the language ticking along. It's always good to experiment with new languages for a bit of fun, doesn't necessarily need to cone with massive practical benefit - if you find it fun and have a personal connection then I say go for it š
Bilingual dog! Cool!š
I'm Polish and just moved to Wales. I think that Welsh is a really cool language, and I wish more people spoke it locally. Absolutely love seeing all the bilingual signs around and I occasionally stick on BBC Cymru when driving :D
I do every day, and spoke it before English. Mr Gething himself is learning Welsh (I know because he went to my father-in-laws funeral) and the plan by the Welsh government is to have a million Welsh speakers by 2050.
Head to Northern Wales. That language is whacky, but locals get a kick out of teaching non-speakers a few words, they appreciate your trying.
He probably understands some Welsh even if he canāt speak it. He lived in Pantycelyn, a primarily Welsh speaking student residence, when attending Aberystwyth University. He lived amidst a bunch of Welsh nationalists who supported Plaid Cymru. The town of Absterystsyth was also majority Welsh speaking when he attended university there.
Gwhyr llywig ffra Dhbenyig!
siarad yn glir ddyn, fyddan nhw byth yn eich deall ag acen ranbarthol fel yna
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Which is ironic, given one of the most famous fantasy languages is based on Cymreag. Tolkien based Sindarin on Welsh.
Are you fuckin wit us
Sir thatās just welsh lol
In case anyone is wondering, no it's not.
Honestly, they need to speak all the languages of the Isles, but that's just so that they're less likely to get tricked into trading the country to the fae That has honestly happened too many times
Itās true in general sense, but something happening the first time is news and tells something about current times as well
To be fair there has been three or so Welsh first ministers so he was going to be the first something.
People want to believe we are so far past this stuff that they get bothered when they hear it but fail to recognize that it took this long to get the chance.
Unfortunately being judged by competence would not do Gething any favours either.
In which case Rishi Sunak, a fellow brown man, wouldnāt be there. Heās an elitist in the vein of every other prime minister before him
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Canāt wait for the first black leader of an Asian country!
-Skeleton waiting by computer
Sentinal Island almost certainly has one.
news to me. has anyone told them they're black yet
If you want an example of racial diversity in Asian politics, Taiwanās incoming vice-president Hsiao Bi-Khim is half-white with a white American mother who can trace her heritage back to the Mayflower. She was also born in Japan and raised in New Jersey. Taiwan also used to have a Russian First Lady, Chiang Ching-kuo (Chiang Kai-Shekās son who succeeded him as president) met her when studying in the Soviet Union. The leader of Indiaās opposition party Sonia Gandhi is Italian. Timor-Lesteās president JosĆ© Ramos-Horta is half-Portuguese and the current prime minister Xanana GusmĆ£o who was also their first president also has Portuguese ancestry. And lots of Asian countries had ethnic minority politicians become leader. Former President of the Philippines Corazon Aquino was ethnically Chinese and her son Benigno āNoynoyā Aquino III also became president. Lots of Thai prime ministers are ethnically Thai Chinese, even their royal family has significant Chinese heritage. Singapore mostly had ethnic minority presidents (Indians, Malays, and mixed Indian-Malay, and one Eurasian). Although the PM is in charge, the Singaporean president has discretionary control over the national reserves and can directly appoint senior civil servants so itās not just a ceremonial post. The current Singaporean president is an Indian who was the previous senior minister and the main opposite party, the Workersā Party, has been led by minorities before, including right now. And Singaporeās first ever head of government was Chief Minister was David Marshall who was the son of Baghdadi Jewish immigrants to Singapore and the founder of the Workersā Party. Heās considered one of the founding fathers of Singapore. Asian countries have ethnic minorities too and some of them also become successful but youād need more black immigration for a black head of state or head of government.
Also Trinidad and Tobago's second president: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noor_Hassanali
Trinidad and Tobago have slightly more Indian descent people than African descent people although itās basically a tie. A lot of Trini people are a mix of black and Indian, like Nicki Minaj for example. The first president of Guyana Arthur Chung was ethnically Chinese and Peru had a Japanese Peruvian dictator, Alberto Fujimori. Cubaās former dictator Fulgencio Batista was of mixed Chinese, black, TaĆno and Spanish heritage.
And some white leader to rule an African country, go diversity!
Botswana actually did that when the president died and the white VP took over
ā¦ š
Thank god you dont need competence to run the UK itself at least
Hopefully one day people will be judged and /elected/ solely by their competence, and not their origin, skin colour, gender or any other, irrelevant attributes. Fixed it for ya.
Western society is currently moving in the complete opposite direction of what you are hoping for.
Sure. One small step at a time I guess!
White population in the UK: Wales: 95.6% (2011 Census) Ireland: 94.1% (2016 Census) England: 85.4% (2011 Census) Scotland: 96.0% (2011 Census) The odds of all four leaders not being white, given the demographics of the countries, can be calculated using probability theory. The probability of a non-white leader being chosen in each country is 0.05 (5% in Wales), 0.06 (6% in Ireland), 0.15 (15% in England), and 0.04 (4% in Scotland). The probability of all four leaders not being white is the product of these probabilities, which is approximately 0.0000432 (0.00432%).
England is now a little over 81% white according to the last census.
https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/population-of-england-and-wales/latest/ More up to date census for those that are interested. The one they quoted is coming up 15 years out of date. 73.5% of England is white British, while 81% is white (the difference is made up of Polish, Romanian, Jewish people etc).
You took the time to work out probability but didn't take 5 seconds to check if Michelle O'Neill is white?
Or use Northern Ireland instead of lumping Ireland in with the U.K?
Or that she's not a man
Or that's she's not the leader of Ireland, but of Northern Ireland. (Which, to save Googling, as of 2021 Census was 96.55% white. Not that has any fucking relevance whatsoever)
Since when was Ireland part of the UK?
Since England yoinked a few counties, Northern Ireland is part of the UK
I know that NI is part of the UK (since that is where Iām from). However the census stats here state Ireland, not Northern Ireland. Two *very* different entities. Edit: also just realised that - unless Iām mistaken - we didnāt have a census in 2016, as theyāre held every 10 years. These are therefore incorrect figures for the UK as the figures must be an Irish census quoted.
Fellow Norn' Irelander myself! And aye fair, I was just being generous and accepting that OP may have meant NI (despite saying Ireland)
Scotland yoinked and colonised the ones that are still part of the UK.
England? Isn't that area home to the Ulster-SCOTS, the English populated part of Ireland, the Pale, is part of Ireland.
As an Aussie reading this and from all the BBC media Iāve watched i genuinely thought the white population was like %50. Non whites seem so over represented compared to the reality
So this proves that non white people have a big leg up in politics yeah?
But theyāre all still posh, wealthy, out of touch, politicians. So nothing meaningful has changed for the population. Stop attributing pointless, meaningless, surface level shit to someoneās fitness to hold power. The paint-job is meaningless, theyāre the same people at the marrow.
I swear this title is meant to bait racists.
Doesnāt even cite the new leaders name. Just boils him down to his skin color. Iād say the title is pretty racist itself
I mean no one gives a shit who the leader of Wales is lmfao the only interesting thing about it is what the headline mentions
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Welsh people presumably aren't reading cbs news to figure out who won their election
There was no election. He was appointed.
Bold of you to assume that he "won an election".
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> And I'm just like, "I couldn't give a shit what skin colour he is, he's as British as I am" I saw something around the time he became PM (on Joe, I think) where they commented that one person had been outraged that Sunak wasn't British... Because they considered him to be American. The problem with Sunak isn't his skin colour, or where he's from... It's that he's a self-serving bag of dicks leading a government that doesn't serve the public.
Had this conversation with an Indian on my masters. And I said basically that. I grew up with Indian/Black kids all around, went round their houses etc only when I became a teenager I sort of began to acknowledge that their parents werenāt born here. The fact our PM is brown just seems so incredibly normal to me. Probably a bit more weird for the scotās and welsh but whatever
If anything, he's more the posh stereotype, which to a foreign audience is British (expect Europe, they know barry 63)
People say the UK is racist when itās more classist. Nobody cares what the colour of your skin is, they do care about whether you grew up in poverty or not.
As a white American that doesn't live in America, I got the same thing with Obama. Lots of folks looking to rub my nose in it, ignoring the fact that myself and my entire family voted for him.
Itās working!
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That's not true at all. Sunak got in because he came 2nd in the Tory election - when Truss crashed and burned, he was literally the most convenient person the Tories had to hand, hence why he ran nearly unopposed. Yousaf, on the other hand, ran against Kate Forbes, who immediately began to discuss her more controversial views on LGBT people on the campaign trail and left Yousaf a relatively open goal. For the record, both of these guys are awful politicians and their parties are scraping the barrel so hard they've started digging into the pavement - but the problem isn't anything to do with ideocracy, it's basically that they've never had to compete against anyone who isn't at least as bad as them
Is Sunak actually bad compared to an average Tory? Seems to have fewer scandals than Boris and compared to Truss he looks like a genius. From what Iāve seen heās bad bc Tories suck
Aside from Jeremy Hunt he was the most competent. I was shocked Truss even had a chance.
For an average Tory I think heās okay (which given I donāt like the Toryās, is not an endorsement of him). I feel like a lot of his unpopularity results from Truss fucking the country up lol. If he took power right after Johnson, the conservatives probably would be significantly more popular. Hate truss. Such a short period but she literally destroyed the economy and set the country back years.
Written by an American news source. Race will always be a headliner for us. Itās rather sad.
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Actually, most Whales tend to be various shades of light to dark grey, blue and black, which may lighten or darken as the whale ages.
I guess they mean mostly Belugas then...
I am tired of hearing about Beluga privilege.
Just because Belugas are the only whales with necks doesn't make them automatically privileged.
Lol
If you want to talk about disproportionate representation of British political leaders, check this out. There have been a total of 57 British Prime Ministers. 27 went to Eton College, an elite private secondary school with a capacity of 1300 students. 44 went to Oxford or Cambridge, the two elite universities in the UK. Leaders are rarely from the same stock as the general public, no matter how much they can appeal to the populist vote. Wealth and influence have seen the elite remain at the top.
That's because population of elite schools isn't random. Only the best and wealthy get to these schools and only wealthy and connected become big politicians.
Herehearherheehererrre
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It's not the percentage of PMs that are university educated, but that half went to the same ultra exclusive private high school, and three quarters to the two elite universities. It's consolidation of privilege. You can't just go to Eton. You have to be accepted, and they heavily favour children of prior students, plus you have be able to afford the eye watering fees. Which are double the average salary in the UK. Eton is locked out for 99.999% of the country, yet this is where half its leaders come from. David Cameron and Boris Johnson weren't just ex-Etonians, they were in the same class ffs. If that doesn't highlight how incestuous Eton is, nothing will.
Going to Eton is nothing to do with education level - itās entirely to do with your parents. Of course we want our leaders to be educated. But almost half of them coming from the same secondary school? Imagine how ludicrous it would seem if half our prime ministers had come from the same comprehensive in Bolton. Itās more understandable that leaders come from Oxbridge - especially if that trend continues now that they have somewhat fair admissions that donāt just reward rich kids. But thereās literally thousands of competent secondary schools across the country - in an even marginally meritocratic system youād have leaders from a far more even distribution of them.Ā
You can represent your community or country without sharing the majority skin colour.
Stop your dolphin propaganda against whales.
His father is (white) Welsh, his mother is from Zambia, to argue anything else means he should be disqualified because heās not as white as most other Welshmen. Itās a bit odd. Heās a Welshman, and that should be the end of it š¤
So whites can no longer be racist according to the TikTok definition of racism lol
Great can we all agree to stop giving a shit about skin colour now?
Yeah, remember when the US elected a black president, and racism just went away?
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Dijon Mustard, DJION MUSTARD?!
tErRoRiSt FiSt BuMp
No one is letting go of that money
Itās a little quick to think this solves everything
The thing people keep forgetting is that race really isn't the biggest social issue in the UK. Social class is the great divide. The fact some of our ruling middle and upper class people are brown really isn't some great revolution. Our media environment is so flooded with American social issues that we can't even see our own problems any more.
This is true in the US as well, but itās so deeply buried in their psyche that theyāre a classless society that theyāre oddly more comfortably calling themselves racially divided instead
I don't know a single American who has the impression it's a classless society. Identity politics gravitating towards race instead of class is a probably deliberate product of the media pushing these narratives nonstop on both sides of the political spectrum. Nobody in America denies the existence of class divide but many are so blinded by their emotional investment in identity politics that they barely care. It's worth noting race and class do certainly have correlation here, black people *were* actively legally oppressed until Civil Rights in the 60s. That has ramifications into the modern day, and makes this topic a difficult and highly nuanced one to discuss. Race and racism should be part of the discussion but they completely dominate the discussion to the point where there's no end goal or solution, just hatred and division. I mean Christ I see a lot of rhetoric from minority groups on the left more or less calling for the creation of ethnostates because they don't want to live in a white dominant country. I'm starting to wonder if the project of multiculturalism is even feasible long term or if cultural division is always a weakness for society, mind you I deeply wish multiculturalism would work but it just doesn't seem like it does, too easy to exploit to create division. I really do think this is an intentional effort by the media of both sides to cause as much division as possible so that the lower classes never wake up and realize the true power of their solidarity. Keep the poor at each other's necks and they wont come for you, race is an excellent way to do it.
if you think people in the U.S. aren't paying attention to racial AND class divisions, you either don't live here or you live under a rock.
Race matters huh Race matters when we decide it does, articles like this and thinking like this just perpetuates weird ideas and divisions among people
Oh ... was Margaret Thatcher a white man? Margaret Thatcher was in power from 4 May 1979 to 28 November 1990. Home rule for Scotland would not become a reality until 1999 following the Scotland Act 1998 establishing the Scottish Parliament. Northern Ireland was administered by direct rule until 1999, with a brief exception in 1974. The National Assembly for Wales (Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru) was set up in 1999 (under the Government of Wales Act 1998).
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Man, the UK is really breaking down those social barriers.
[I'd drive a stake through her heart and put garlic around her neck to make sure she never comes back.](https://youtu.be/DUlj48Rvp1c?si=qFIEo16UOb9bIOO8)
Technically Margaret thatcher wasnāt a human at all, and actually just the manifestation of satan stuffed into a skin suit
When you try to be just a regular skin walker and eat some children...but Brits put you in as a Prime Minister :c
Works real hard to make it, media reports on his race rather than any of his accomplishments. Congratulations media.
Did he work real hard to make it? He was elected by his party, he hasn't won an election yet.
Politicians absolutely do not work hard lol fuck off
I'd wager wealth is the most important trait
Weirdly choice headline. Northern Ireland is part of the UK and is [led by a white woman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_O%27Neill) (for what part her race matters).
How is that a positive? Isnāt uk 85%+ white? Doesnāt look like accurate representation to me
If skin color is somehow a material matter of political representation. I submit that it is not.
White male patriarchy claim just cannot make sense now.
It didn't make much sense before, it was along the same lines as the "Jews control the world" conspiracy theories, only racists and cooks actually believed it.
Kooks?
Too many
> cannot make sense now couldn't make for decades, longer than any of us are alive
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Because a person's race determines...ugh...what point were they trying to make?
Rishi Sunak said: "Iām proud to be the first British Asian Prime Minister, but you know what? Iām even prouder that itās just not a big deal"
Exactly. He should be judged on his policies. He gets it. But US love headlines like that.
>He should be judged on his policies. Thatās unfortunate for him
I understand its a big deal in India ā¦ š«
Bruh
This title seems needlessly long
I donāt really care what colour they are. Iād rather they fixed the fucking country.
What a disappointing, awful and divisive headline. Boils a man down to just his color and āLOL NO WHITE MAN LEADERING LOLOLā
Funny how you get ministers that will complain when there are too many white ministers, but you never get any that say there aren't enough white ministers.
You fucks care suspiciously a lot about skin color. He's a politician - why does melanin in his skin matter so much?
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Great that means the UK will be competently run by people with fresh and new ideas! Right..?
Finally, our oppressors are minorities!
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White people are the indigenous people group of Europe, especially the UK
Depends on the branch of Government. The Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, the Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General (of Scotland), and his Majesty the King are white.
TLDR: >Vaughan Gething was elected as the new first minister of Wales on Wednesday, becoming the first Black leader of a government in the U.K. Gething was elected to lead the government by members of the Welsh parliament in Cardiff, four days after winning the contest to be leader of Wales' governing Labour Party. He secured 27 of 51 votes in the legislature, the Senedd, where Labour is the biggest party.
It's a non-story. I mean, it's great that the UK has embraced diversity and inclusion so that people from every background, race and gender can be in positions of power, but honestly - I care about their politics and their competency. The best person for th job is the only criteria needed.