General Election, June 8th

[Jon the Hat]

6 minutes ago, MattP said:

Outgoing Labour MP really not holding back.

 

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/june2017/2017/04/michael-dugher-interview-remarkable-achievement-jeremy-corbyn-be-doing-so

 

 

It would be funny if the opposition wasn't such a fundamental part of our parliamentary system.

[Foxxed]

The traditional siphoner of Tory votes, UKIP, are tactical voting: they're not contesting tight Tory seats.

 

It's no real wonder. After the referendum many UKIP advisors moved over to the Tories.

 

Not only are Labour's poll rating horrendous, but UKIP are going to hold the Tory party's hand in their inevitable victory.

 

UKIP are amazing now. Their election leaflet says they want to look at your daughter's vagina whenever you come back from holiday.

 

 

The party that wants to look under little girls skirts also wants you to vote Tory.

[Guest MattP]

Just now, Foxxed said:

The party that wants to look under little girls skirts also wants you to vote Tory.

1) That's worse than the "Vote Labour or babies will die" Copeland strategy.

 

2) They also aren't standing against pro Brexit Labour candidates.

[Foxxed]

They are keen on looking under skirts of girls they see as 'at risk' - I wonder who gets to decide that.

 

UKIP have also agreed with the Tories to not fight them in the marginals. 

 

Both facts. Sorry.

[Guest MattP]

1 minute ago, Foxxed said:

They are keen on looking under skirts of girls they see as 'at risk' - I wonder who gets to decide that.

 

UKIP have also agreed with the Tories to not fight them in the marginals. 

 

Both facts. Sorry.

Fake news, not facts. 

 

They won't be standing against pro-Brexit politicians, something they also did in 2015 in some seats. 

 

You really think UKIP won't be gunning for Tory remainers like Anna Soubry?

[The Blur]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/26/jeremy-corbyn-will-not-take-part-general-election-tv-debates/

 

Corbyn has called May's bluff.  Pathetic showing from both of them, if you cannot appear on a live television to debate your policies, you do not deserve to be leading the country at all. 

[Innovindil]

1 minute ago, The Blur said:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/26/jeremy-corbyn-will-not-take-part-general-election-tv-debates/

 

Corbyn has called May's bluff.  Pathetic showing from both of them, if you cannot appear on a live television to debate your policies, you do not deserve to be leading the country at all. 

Or, we could not be reduced to ridiculous American-like TV arguments. How many times have you actually seen a sodding debate, it's just bloated name calling until the time is up. 

 

I'd prefer them to be out on the streets, talking to the people they pretend to represent. 

[Alf Bentley]

6 minutes ago, The Blur said:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/26/jeremy-corbyn-will-not-take-part-general-election-tv-debates/

 

Corbyn has called May's bluff.  Pathetic showing from both of them, if you cannot appear on a live television to debate your policies, you do not deserve to be leading the country at all. 

 

Sounds like the wrong decision by Corbyn. His ratings are so dire that surely this would represent an opportunity to improve them and to get his case across, even if May ducks out.

 

Plus, if she does duck out and he agrees to take part with the rest, it gives him a stick to beat her with - people in chicken suits following her everywhere etc.  

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

20 hours ago, Swan Lesta said:

And what was good exactly about those times?

You wouldn't understand, oh clueless one,

[RobHawk]

1 hour ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

Likewise, I'm struggling to know who to vote for.

 

It won't be Tory or UKIP, Lib Dems seem a bit shallow & the pro-Remain stance a bit simplistic now, so probably not them either.

 

I actually liked the Brexit policy unveiled by Keir Starmer the other day, though some see it as too convoluted and unclear. Seemed a good balance to me.

Also, I'm in Leicester South, where Jon Ashworth seems to be a decent MP and one of the sharper tools in the Labour box - someone who could have an important role to play as a mediator in the post-Corbyn era, which I hope will soon begin.

Then again, Ashworth had a 17,000 majority in 2015, so the meltdown would have to be even greater than expected for him to be in danger of losing his seat.

 

The Greens are under better leadership again now (Caroline Lucas has always been good & this Bartley bloke seems OK). It's about time the environment moved up the agenda & the Greens' challenge to growth taking precedence over quality of life appeals to me....so sounds like a reluctant Lab/Ashworth vote or Green. Can't remember an election where I felt less enthusiasm for any of the parties, though.   

 

 

Agreed Alf, I was all set to vote lib dems but i've been hugely put off by them in the last week, so i'm hoping for a green candidate.

 

I live in the gower constituency though which was the tightest in the last GE just being won by the tory candidate. So do i swallow my pride and vote labour to keep out the torys? Interesting few weeks ahead, but i have very little appetite for it at all! 

[Finnaldo]

2 minutes ago, DANGEROUS TIGER said:

You wouldn't understand, oh clueless one,

 

That doesn't really matter, he just wanted some substance on the magical ye olde world of rainbow and golden brick roads that you always mention but never really develop on.

 

So what was so great about it? The only thing I've ever actually seen you mention in great depth was how you could call black people by racist terms without being pulled up on it.

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

I'm voting Conservative for the first time in my life. Labour are a feckiing joke, the Lib Dems are now almost as bad, and UKIP have served their purpose, as we are getting out of what is fast becoming a European Federal State.

[Buce]

17 minutes ago, DANGEROUS TIGER said:

You wouldn't understand, oh clueless one,

 

No, seriously, DT.

 

You grew up in the fifties(?), a time that few of us on here remember. I have heard many of your generation speak fondly of those times - what was so good about them?

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

1 hour ago, Buce said:

 

Our undemocratic electoral system means that my vote is wasted, whoever I choose to vote for.

Yes, our electoral system is pretty shabby .Proportionate  representation is the only fair way.

[Mark_w]

43 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

Sounds like the wrong decision by Corbyn. His ratings are so dire that surely this would represent an opportunity to improve them and to get his case across, even if May ducks out.

 

Plus, if she does duck out and he agrees to take part with the rest, it gives him a stick to beat her with - people in chicken suits following her everywhere etc.  

I reckon it's probably a good move, last thing we need is for Tim Farron to run rings round him on TV.

[Guest MattP]

These TV debates will be absolutely hilarious if it's just going to be UKIP, the Lib Dems, Scot Nats, Plaid and the Greens.

 

The outrageous promises as they beg for votes will be something else.

[Alf Bentley]

5 minutes ago, Mark_w said:

I reckon it's probably a good move, last thing we need is for Tim Farron to run rings round him on TV.

 

What would the presentational strategy be, then? Keep him away from challenging TV encounters and hope viewers like footage of him at rallies of converts or being a nice bloke in the street?

Then back that up with lots of Facebook memes and Corbynistas volunteering to leaflet and go door to door?

 

He'll presumably have to do at least some TV interviews - and there's the same risk of good interviewers running rings around him.

In fact, he's probably got more chance against Farron (& perhaps even May) than against Neill, Marr, Dimbleby & co.

 

Leadership isn't the only factor in an election, obviously, but it is one of them. He needs to get his personal ratings up a bit, at least, or the result could be even worse than expected.

[Guest MattP]

Can you imagine what it's going to be like when Andrew Neil gets hold of Corbyn for the pre-election interviews? Even the best politicians struggle with him.

 

What did they say on The Thick of It? A lion raping a sheep?

 

Agree with Alf, he should be jumping at his chance to claw back some votes from the SNP, Greens and Lib Dems. It's his only hope of making the election result remotely respectable. I think he's probably happy to duck out, he doesn't like debating - he likes talking to a crowd of people who agree with him and won't argue back.

[Buce]

 

Lib Dems sack anti-Semitic candidate:

 

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39723144

[Guest MattP]

3 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

Lib Dems sack anti-Semitic candidate:

 

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39723144

Right decision, shame it took Eric Pickles to bring their attention to it though. At least the Lib Dems have dealt with it robustly, others should take note. 

 

With him gone and Malia Button ousted from the NUS today it's been a pretty good day in fighting anti-semitism.

[Carl the Llama]

4 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

Lib Dems sack anti-Semitic candidate:

 

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39723144

Farron reacting to being embarrassed at PMQ then.  Corbyn might learn something.

[Buce]

7 minutes ago, MattP said:

Right decision, shame it took Eric Pickles to bring their attention to it though. At least the Lib Dems have dealt with it robustly, others should take note. 

 

With him gone and Malia Button ousted from the NUS today it's been a pretty good day in fighting anti-semitism.

 

6 minutes ago, Carl the Llama said:

Farron reacting to being embarrassed at PMQ then.  Corbyn might learn something.

 

But speaking to BBC News, Mr Ward said: "I am a liberal through and through. How on earth could I be racist or be anti-Semitic?

 

[The Doctor]

3 hours ago, Foxxed said:

 

The party that wants to look under little girls skirts also wants you to vote Tory.

I don't think they're personally planning to look tbf - reads more like having doctors examine children to make sure they aren't being smuggled out of the country to mutilate them. There are plenty of stupid UKIP policies to focus on given they seem to be going to the britain first route now the EU side of it is done, you don't need to distort them.

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

8 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

No, seriously, DT.

 

You grew up in the fifties(?), a time that few of us on here remember. I have heard many of your generation speak fondly of those times - what was so good about them?

To the young people of today, the 1950s will seem like a another age. For us "Oldies" it was an era of childhood that seems like yesterday. From waking up to ice on the inside of the window, washing in tin baths in front of a coal fire, and spoonfuls of cod-liver oil, home life was a million miles away from today.

 

I have wonderful memories of train rides (steam trains, with the distinctive smell of steam and soot),  short trousers, many cobbled streets, the smell of iodine put on bumps and bruises, and kiddies from all backgrounds playing happily together ,. our games would be simple, and boring to kids of today, but they remain happily implanted in my memory, The was so much more open spaces, that became the wild West, or the jungles of Africa. There were our little gangs, that had hideouts, and a girl member to keep it clean.

 

Televisions were a luxury, and as such were far more enjoyable if you had a friend whose parents had one, so we could watch our favourite cowboy, or maybe Muffin the Mule, or Billy Bunter.. The smell of home cooking was awesome. Saturday morning meant the pictures, and for sixpence ( around two and a half pence in todays money) we would have three hours of entertainment. Indoors we would play board games, play with  "Dinky" cars, and read the masses of comics that were around then, swopping with one another.

 

School days meant a breakfast of home made porridge, bread and dripping, or syrup on toast. Believe it or not it tasted wonderful to me. Sunday lunch was usually roast beef, the cheapest meat in those days!

 

Most of the people in the streets would leave a door unlocked when at home, so that any neighbour could just walk straight in for a cuppa, and long conversations would ensue, often to the clicking of knitting needles, making my next school jumper. On school days you woke up quickly when the jolly old feet met cold lino, and there was no central heating.

 

Memories of the war still lingered, with the bomb sights to play hide and seek in, Rationing was still quite common, and I well remember cutting my coupons out of the sweet rationing book, really excited about getting the two ounces worth that were allowed per week.. We still had a fair deal of horses and carts, delivering such things as ginger beer, milk, fruit and veg, and of course the rag and bone man, I loved to dash out and give the horses a carrot, or drop it into the nose bag they would wear. The postman, the milkman, and telegram boy, all wore smart uniforms, which looked very impressive. As kids we would go from door to door, collecting unwanted newspapers, that we would sell to the fishmonger for a "tanner"

 

I could really write a book, about life then, if I had the time, and what I have mentioned is just the tip of the ice burg. We had great respect for adults, whose life was generally bloody hard, compared to most today. Mum's had to hand wash, and use a hand mangle, unless you were rich, and cook for the family, as the only instant sort of food I remember was fish and chips. Vacuum cleaners were a luxury most people I knew could not afford. The radio was usually all most of us had for light entertainment, although watching for the chimneys sweeps brush to appear coming out of the chimney pot, always amused us kids.

 

The war  years brought communities close together, and this remained until the mid sixties. People would help out others, if they could, and life was so much slower, to the point of being serene. The multiple number of leafy lanes, with no cars racing down them, remain so memorable., with the sweet smelling flowers that covered the banks. Everything was so much slower then. Even the dogs couldn't be bothered to chase the cats.

 

Every one I ever saw in my childhood was white, and even at college many years later, because they were not  there. They were in this country in vastly smaller numbers, but I never encountered any of them. There were; none at my places of education, which is why so many people take exception to my talking of the good old days, where they challenge me on race, as if this was the reason. They didn't experience life then, which was sixty years or so ago, and quite frankly they don't care, which is their misguided prerogative, and attitude. Life was honest, fresh and free for me.

 

It was not all sweetness and light, for I lost my entire family in an accident (Mum, Dad, and two older sisters), spending a few years in a children's home, until I was adopted, after which life became rosy once more.

 

Apart from the latte, I would love to experience my life back then, I will forever love my life in the fifties, and reminisce on an era that forever more, will remain, my England. .I dare say you might think that life then must have been as awful as it was hard, but to me my memories are worth more than gold..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stadt]

Sounds awful