2015 Election season ..........stuff it in here.

[Guest Bilo]

Many empty promises imo. Not sure how they can guarantee, a word Ed loves to use, all of these apprenticeships and GP appointments in 48 hours. 

 

I think people are being sold unrealistic aims, by all parties i admit, but more so by Labour.

 

My vote is currently undecided but all of the above screams unsustainable over spending in the public sector once again by a Labour party, it's as if they never have a long term outlook.

 

This will happen over the course of the Parliament, so a five year spell.

[MooseBreath]

Surely they're not still calling for a freeze on energy prices after energy prices have fallen?

[Footballwipe]

I love the attitude "load of bollox it was."

 

Well how about we invest and improve it then? So, you know, it's not bollox anymore?

 

Just because it was crap for you, doesn't mean it should stay crap forever more and castigate a party for trying to improve it?

[BlueSi13]

Surely they're not still calling for a freeze on energy prices after energy prices have fallen?

 

I'm pretty sure the policy was largely buried after it was estimated by some that it could actually cost the country billions to implement anyway.

[BlueSi13]

Improved vocational education and careers advice for 18 year olds as well as numerous positive changes to education, more apprenticeships and technical degrees, increase the minimum wage, scrap the bedroom tax, cap annual rail fare increases, freeze energy bills for two years, guarantee an GP appointment within 48 hours, more priority for the treatment of mental illness in the NHS, 20,000 more nurses and 8,000 more GPs, deliver Winter Fuel Payments early to pensioners who are off-grid, extension of free childcare and Sure Start, give football fans the right to buy shares in a club if ownership changes and strengthen things like FCCs and extend the voting age to 16.

 

Also, unlike the Greens, it's actually fully costed.

 

Absolutely no chance of most of those ever being mentioned again after Sturgeon guides Miliband through the doors of Downing Street   .  Besides most of them seem like unquantifiable 'aims' anyway....more apprenticeships and more technical degrees? positive changes to education?  Improved vocational education and careers advice?  More treatment for mental illness?  How will any of those be measured?  Doesn't every political party want most of what you typed anyway?  

[Guest Bilo]

I love the attitude "load of bollox it was."

 

Well how about we invest and improve it then? So, you know, it's not bollox anymore?

 

Just because it was crap for you, doesn't mean it should stay crap forever more and castigate a party for trying to improve it?

 

Correct.

 

Apprenticeships are vital not only for the careers of those who choose not to go to university, but to fill the gaps in trades. 

 

It strikes me as strange that (not necessarily on this forum) the people who complain about immigration, largely workers who are filling these gaps, are often the same people decrying plans for more and better apprenticeships. 

[Strokes]

I enjoyed my apprenticeship, there was a lot of unneeded crap but aren't all academic things like that too? I see more and more apprenticeships being offered, I hope they improve the quality but ultimately, it tells a future employer about your character. Regardless of the quality.

[Jimothy]

Whatever your political leaning you have to agree that Elizabeth Truss is ****ing appalling. She's shockingly bad at debating on QT.

[Webbo]

I love the attitude "load of bollox it was."

 

Well how about we invest and improve it then? So, you know, it's not bollox anymore?

 

Just because it was crap for you, doesn't mean it should stay crap forever more and castigate a party for trying to improve it?

It was " you need to get a job" or " if someone offers you a job you should take it" what else can they say? It's pretending to do something, it's look how much money we've spent aren't we great and it won't make a scrap of difference.

[johnny the fox]

Whatever your political leaning you have to agree that Elizabeth Truss is ****ing appalling. She's shockingly bad at debating on QT.

Truss by name truss by nature..

[theessexfox]

It was " you need to get a job" or " if someone offers you a job you should take it" what else can they say? It's pretending to do something, it's look how much money we've spent aren't we great and it won't make a scrap of difference.

What else can they say? I think you're underestimating how useful careers advice can be if done rightly, I'm getting a lot of it at the moment. 

[Charl91]

The tide of public opinion he's got a few point in some tinpot poll. The only people taking part in it are holidaying teachers and the unemployed, of course labour have picked up a few points

 

You really love teachers don't you!

[Webbo]

I'd much rather we had a govt that allowed businesses to get on and create jobs rather than pay a failed drama teacher to advise you how to get a job that they've no experience of and probably doesn't exist.

[theessexfox]

Lucky then that none of the career advice I've had so far (there's been a fair amount, and a wide range of it) has been from a failed drama teacher. Again, if your careers advice was crap, then perhaps it is worth investing in it to make it better for young people. Personally I feel that what I've received has been good so extra funding isn't necessary, but then again I go to a good school - others across the country may not have got good careers advice and so funding may be needed. 

[Webbo]

I enjoyed my apprenticeship, there was a lot of unneeded crap but aren't all academic things like that too? I see more and more apprenticeships being offered, I hope they improve the quality but ultimately, it tells a future employer about your character. Regardless of the quality.

I did an apprenticeship too, it took me 3 years. This isn't party political, Cameron was announcing apprenticeships from Starbucks earlier this week. Honestly, if it takes you more than a week to learn how to make coffee you shouldn't be allowed out on your own anyway.

[leicsmac]

A psychotic North Korea has them, an increasingly unstable Pakistan has them, a desperate Russia has them by the barrel full and anti-semetic Iran will get them.  

 

Why the debate about us renewing Trident?  It's an absolute no-brainer for me.  

 

As was said on the previous page:

 

If the time ever comes (all of the powers in the Universe forbid) that we need to use nuclear weapons, we won't be standing alone to do it - we WILL be allied to another nuclear power who will also likely be targetted or respond on our behalf. And in any case, if it comes to that the world is (including us) fvcked anyway - nukes or no nukes.

 

The nuclear game has changed in the last 10-15 years. The threat of full-scale nuclear holocaust is pretty much over (Putin may be a ****, but he's a smart, reasonably rational **** and he knows the rules of MAD still hold): instead the new threat is a small group of ideological nutters somehow getting their hands on a viable bomb and sticking it in a city. Trident can't really respond to that - who would it retaliate against?

I'm for keeping some kind of nuclear deterrent just in case the world changes again, but I do think in this day and age Trident seems awfully obsolete.

 

All of those states that you mention are despotic and ruthless, but they are at least rational enough to know if just one nuclear explosion occurs that can be traced back to its source, it's all over.

[ozleicester]

Has Murdoch decided who is going to win this yet?

[Webbo]

Has Murdoch decided who is going to win this yet?

We've come out of the worse recession in 80 years to the fastest growth in the western world. We have record levels of employment, 80% of the new jobs full time. The rich are paying a higher proportion of tax than they did under Labour , tax avoidance and evasion has been reduced and thousands of the poor have been taken out of tax altogether. And yet the party that has performed this economic miracle has a better than 50% chance of being thrown out of office.

If the evil right wing media are fixing the election they're hiding it well.

[Alf Bentley]

Although Murdoch is clearly right-wing in his politics, he also has a reputation for siding with those who are going to win so as to sell his papers and increase his profits. He certainly cosied up to Blair when he was dominant.

 

If the election remains close, the Tories continue to run an unimpressive campaign and Miliband continues to look a more reasonable option than people expected, I wonder how hard Murdoch will want to go in, kicking the left? He did do so in the close 1992 election, admittedly, though I suspect it was the "Labour's tax bombshell" message that won it for the Tories. 

 

I wonder how much influence Murdoch has these days, anyway? The papers sell a lot fewer copies than they did back in 1992. Even "right-wing" Sky does not have the same strident approach as a Fox News (and how many people sit around watching Sky News?)

 

To the extent that they pay attention to the campaign, most voters get a lot of their information from other sources - terrestrial TV and the Internet, notably - and those sources are probably more balanced, taken as a whole.

[Rincewind]

I'd much rather we had a govt that allowed businesses to get on and create jobs rather than pay a failed drama teacher to advise you how to get a job that they've no experience of and probably doesn't exist.

Much like an MP in an education post that has never been a teacher. (all parties)

[Jon the Hat]

I still think we will see Dave and Nick in for another 5 years. 

 

Labour always make good noises in an election campaign, but when it comes to putting that X in the box, Milliband comes across as a prat, and people don't want to see a prat in Downing Street.

Much like an MP in an education post that has never been a teacher. (all parties)

 

Here we go again... If we only let people run things who have done every job in the field, our talent pool is really ****ing small Ken.

[Guest Bilo]

 

 

Here we go again... If we only let people run things who have done every job in the field, our talent pool is really ****ing small Ken.

 

It's something that bothers me a lot less than their ideology. Most of Labour's education secretaries weren't teachers, it's more about how you liaise with the profession than your own CV in my opinion.

[ozleicester]

We've come out of the worse recession in 80 years to the fastest growth in the western world. We have record levels of employment, 80% of the new jobs full time. The rich are paying a higher proportion of tax than they did under Labour , tax avoidance and evasion has been reduced and thousands of the poor have been taken out of tax altogether. And yet the party that has performed this economic miracle has a better than 50% chance of being thrown out of office.

If the evil right wing media are fixing the election they're hiding it well.

 

Murdoch is indisputably right wing and his media interests reflect that, however that doesnt mean he only supports the Tories, as with any bussinesman he looks to how he can best profit from whichever government is in.

 

Having said that, its interesting that at least the last 5 (and i cant remember before then) british prime ministers have had the Murdoch seal of approval.

[Alf Bentley]

I still think we will see Dave and Nick in for another 5 years. 

 

Labour always make good noises in an election campaign, but when it comes to putting that X in the box, Milliband comes across as a prat, and people don't want to see a prat in Downing Street.

 

 

Maybe people not wanting to see a prat in Downing Street was part of the reason why Cameron didn't get a majority last time, despite the state of the economy after the crash and despite Brown's unpopularity?

 

You and I obviously have our respective biases, Jon, but what if voters see it as a choice between a pair of prats? 

 

Part of me suspects that you may be right and expects a late swing and a repeat of 1992 (good psychological preparation, anyway). But that was after the Tories had been the dominant force for years. This time, they only scraped back in despite Labour's unpopularity in 2010 - and I think that a hell of a lot of people don't feel that any "recovery" is benefiting them.

 

The polls suggest significant improvements in Miliband's personal ratings. I'm not suggesting that he's suddenly a massive asset, but maybe a lot of people are thinking, at least "he's not as much of a prat as I thought he was".

 

Still looks like a hung parliament with neither Con nor Lab anywhere near a majority and quite close in seat numbers - and that makes a Lab-led government the more likely option, as the Tories have fewer coalition/minority govt options.

[RobHawk]

Maybe people not wanting to see a prat in Downing Street was part of the reason why Cameron didn't get a majority last time, despite the state of the economy after the crash and despite Brown's unpopularity?

 

You and I obviously have our respective biases, Jon, but what if voters see it as a choice between a pair of prats? 

 

Part of me suspects that you may be right and expects a late swing and a repeat of 1992 (good psychological preparation, anyway). But that was after the Tories had been the dominant force for years. This time, they only scraped back in despite Labour's unpopularity in 2010 - and I think that a hell of a lot of people don't feel that any "recovery" is benefiting them.

 

The polls suggest significant improvements in Miliband's personal ratings. I'm not suggesting that he's suddenly a massive asset, but maybe a lot of people are thinking, at least "he's not as much of a prat as I thought he was".

 

Still looks like a hung parliament with neither Con nor Lab anywhere near a majority and quite close in seat numbers - and that makes a Lab-led government the more likely option, as the Tories have fewer coalition/minority govt options.

Good response this! I personally have been impressed with Milliband as late, The labour campaign has been vastly superior to that of the conservatives to date and Cameron doesn't seem to have really come out fighting for this election without resulting in personal insults. He certainly isn't leading the campaign as such an impressive politician and prime minister that some of here make out he is.