Zack Polanski

[nekomatic]

The candidate for Green Party leader, the one with the amusing story about breast enlargement hypnotism. Him.

He posted this video this morning. I follow 262 accounts on Bluesky - not all of them lefties - and so far I have seen it reposted in my timeline more than 90 times. Some of those will be repeats of the same repost where someone else commented on it, but that’s still a lot.

Like some others here I have same issues with the Greens but I’m going to hazard a guess that he’ll win the leadership, and it’ll be interesting to see what he does with it.

[Fishnut]

He and the other candidate were on last week's Pod Save the UK and I have to say he impressed me more than the other one (whose name I can't remember and CBA to google)

[nekomatic]

Well, I wasn’t wrong.

[bob sterman]

The candidate for Green Party leader, the one with the amusing story about breast enlargement hypnotism. Him.

Wouldn't normally link to this rag - but for those not familiar with this incident from 2013...

https://XXX.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/79803 ... bs-bigger/

HAS the time come when we can burn all those uncomfortable push-up bras?
Hypnotherapist Zack Polanksi reckons so. He says he can boost your cup size using the mind alone. “This is an extremely new approach, but I can see it becoming popular very quickly, because it’s so safe and a lot cheaper than a boob job,” says Zack.

[Formerly AvP]

Just been watching the C4 news interview with Zack Polanski
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PM8hThap5e4

What the actual? Form a military alliance with Mexico (militarily insignificant) and Brazil (member of BRICs) against the US? Impossible to reform NATO, so we should leave? With a war with Russia actually on Europe's borders? Was just about to vote on the local elections, with Greens as a strong option but we are swerving sharply away from this.

[TopBadger]

The greens have a good social position (which they've used to beat Labour) but their positions on other things can be a bit weird.

If they pull Labour back to the left that will be a good thing.

[monkey]

Just been watching the C4 news interview with Zack Polanski
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PM8hThap5e4

What the actual? Form a military alliance with Mexico (militarily insignificant) and Brazil (member of BRICs) against the US? Impossible to reform NATO, so we should leave? With a war with Russia actually on Europe's borders? Was just about to vote on the local elections, with Greens as a strong option but we are swerving sharply away from this.

Foreign policy is always going to be a weakness for the greens. In that video he came across as not really having a properly fleshed out one, instead having a few incoherent ideas strung together.

Luckily, I don't think that voting for a green town councillor is going cause the collapse of NATO. You can vote someone else for Westminster.

[Lew Dolby]

They're not any better at home other that purely green issues.

Just recently, he was saying local councils should have the power to set rent-caps. Great with a left-ish council, but if you have a Tory council where half the councillors are landlords - you're stuffed.

If you think rent-capping is a good idea, then do it nationally even if allowing for regional variations.

[Formerly AvP]

Just been watching the C4 news interview with Zack Polanski
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PM8hThap5e4

What the actual? Form a military alliance with Mexico (militarily insignificant) and Brazil (member of BRICs) against the US? Impossible to reform NATO, so we should leave? With a war with Russia actually on Europe's borders? Was just about to vote on the local elections, with Greens as a strong option but we are swerving sharply away from this.

Foreign policy is always going to be a weakness for the greens. In that video he came across as not really having a properly fleshed out one, instead having a few incoherent ideas strung together.

Luckily, I don't think that voting for a green town councillor is going cause the collapse of NATO. You can vote someone else for Westminster.

No, that's not the way it works for me. I'm not voting at any level for a party with such a barking mad and dangerous idea which I think is existentially threatening to Western Europe, even if an individual local councillor is unlikely to pull us out of NATO. And I'll do my level best to persuade those in my family and social media circle not to vote for the Greens either, until this ludicrous policy is disavowed. It's a bit like saying because a council candidate standing for Reform is individually not crazy, one might consider voting for them. Well, no, even at council level, I still consider the national level policies as relevant. A vote at any level is a tacit endorsement. It's such a shame, and I deeply regret it, but - leaving NATO and allying with Mexico and Brazil? In the current situation?

[Sciolus]

Did somebody say existential threat?

I for one am considerably less worried about what Polanski might -- but let's be serious, won't -- do than what Reform are already doing and what they are very likely to do in the near future.

[Tristan]

Well well well, turns out old hypnotits has been telling porkies about apologising for the Sun article in which we claimed he could grow women's breasts through hypnosis. He claimed he was misrepresented by the article, but it seems a week later he doubled down in his claim to the BBC!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn9enygvezeo

He's such a charlatan.

[Bewildered]

Yes. I know it’s unsurprising to see attack stories trying to drag Polanski down now, but unfortunately while it’s a kind of trivial offence I think this does speak to his character and is also reflected in many of his policy positions where he seems to be winging it and spouting things he doesn’t understand. It’s sad. I want a universal basic income and we need a candidate pushing this. I want nuclear disarmament since in a long enough time horizon they will be used and MAD is an unstable dangerous game that will eventually decay leading to that assured destruction. I just want those policies from someone who isn’t also a fraud*. Someone who doesn’t get his economic policies from Gary Stevenson of “Gary’s economics YouTube channel - also a fraud*. Who doesn’t have pulling out of NATO as a policy when we find ourselves back in a situation where NATO actually makes sense again and could be needed for security.

*to be clear I do not mean he has done anything illegal or even unscrupulous, I mean fraud in the sense of portraying himself as something he is not. though for Gary Stevenson I think more a self deluding one who really believes he is some special messiah who can “make predictions”, knows better than the economics lectures whose courses he dropped out of of because he knew it better than them and doesn’t need to specify any model behind his predictions or even offer supporting data to his arguments and allow his claims to be scrutinised scientifically.

[Bewildered]

Yes. I know it’s unsurprising to see attack stories trying to drag Polanski down now, but unfortunately while it’s a kind of trivial offence I think this does speak to his character and is also reflected in many of his policy positions where he seems to be winging it and spouting things he doesn’t understand. It’s sad. I want a universal basic income and we need a candidate pushing this. I want nuclear disarmament since in a long enough time horizon they will be used and MAD is an unstable dangerous game that will eventually decay leading to that assured destruction. I just want those policies from someone who isn’t also a fraud*. Someone who doesn’t get his economic policies from Gary Stevenson of “Gary’s economics YouTube channel - also a fraud*. Who doesn’t have pulling out of NATO as a policy when we find ourselves back in a situation where NATO actually makes sense again and could be needed for security.

*to be clear I do not mean he has done anything illegal or even unscrupulous, I mean fraud in the sense of portraying himself as something he is not. though for Gary Stevenson I think more a self deluding one who really believes he is some special messiah who can “make predictions”, knows better than the economics lectures whose courses he dropped out of of because he knew it better than them and doesn’t need to specify any model behind his predictions or even offer supporting data to his arguments and allow his claims to be scrutinised scientifically.

I discovered today I am out of date with the NATO thing and the policy is not to leave it, but to reform. So I take that bit back. But the rest I stand by.