General Election 2015

[spring hall convert]

Probably Germany or Denmark. I'd postal vote.

I have had friends move to both in the last year and visited them, both great countries but Copenhagen is an amazing city. I'm hoping to get out there for a protracted period myself sometime.

 

[Triggaaar]

Why do some many people lazily label people on the left of politics as communists? What Mustafa seems to be advocating for is radical as opposed to representative democracy.

The clue is in the fact the SOTW said 'resident' - ie, it's not just his views in this thread, it's the many opinions he has shared with us over the years.

 

[Simster]

No idea what you were watching... but if that attempt to 'weaponise the NHS' is the best Miliband has got, this election is over already.

That's what Labour always do. I'm sure you'll be equally non-plussed when you hear the Tories bang on about Labour "bankrupting the country".

Oh wait, no. You'll absolutely LAP that up.

 

[spring hall convert]

You have explained that you think there will be much better ways of running the country/world, but no party has been able to present an alternative that the public believe in. Maybe it will happen, but it obviously hasn't yet.

The was interesting in The Grauniad a few months ago. Think of it what you will.

http://www.theguardian.com/sustaina...ystem-will-emerge-from-collapse-of-capitalism

 

[Titanic]

That's what Labour always do. I'm sure you'll be equally non-plussed when you hear the Tories bang on about Labour "bankrupting the country".

Oh wait, no. You'll absolutely LAP that up.

Surely not... after all that nice Mr Brown did 'put an end to Tory boom and bust', didn't he?

 

[Simster]

Surely not... after all that nice Mr Brown did 'put an end to Tory boom and bust', didn't he?

No, because he was useless. But not every Labour politician is useless, just like not every Tory politician wants to destroy the NHS.

I suppose my point is that I am really very, very tired of the way politics has taken a turn in this country. It seems positive campaigning went out of the window around 20 years ago in favour of this tedious scaremongering.

Because of this, no-one dares look at the NHS despite the fact it is in dire need of reform. Equally, we are also being fed this clap trap that a national debt is a bad thing when it clearly isn't and never has been (unless you can make it case for it to never be paid back).

Equally, principled politicians are now a rarity and we now have reams of utterly shithouse bland career-politicians that we have absolutely no idea what they stand for. How about the parties actually rediscover some principles and campaign on what THEY themselves will do to make things better rather than scaring everyone with what will happen if the other lot get in?

 

[beorhthelm]

The was interesting in The Grauniad a few months ago. Think of it what you will.

http://www.theguardian.com/sustaina...ystem-will-emerge-from-collapse-of-capitalism

yeah, the internet which is based on and supported by the existence of capitialism, is going to overturn that system. i've been reading the same dream about the internet transforming everything for as long as i've been on the internet, the main thing its done is add new method to get to markets.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Caroline Lucas will win with an increased majority, the Labour party are barking up completely the wrong tree if they think they are going to get Brighton Pavillion. They'd be far better off focusing their efforts on Kemp Town.

Totally agree.

 

[Simster]

Caroline Lucas will win with an increased majority, the Labour party are barking up completely the wrong tree if they think they are going to get Brighton Pavillion. They'd be far better off focusing their efforts on Kemp Town.

Yep. The Greens will hold off Labour and hove mong and inbred "tireless" campaigning for the local Tory will probably do the rest (as it did 5 years ago)

 

[Buzzer]

Yep. The Greens will hold off Labour and hove mong and inbred "tireless" campaigning for the local Tory will probably do the rest (as it did 5 years ago)

Forgive me for quoting myself but Lord Ashcroft's own polls back this up too.

Lord Ashcroft latest polls for Brighton Pavilion:

Green 38%
Lab 28%
Con 21%
UKIP 8%
Lib Dem 5%
Other 1%

http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2014/1...t-labour-final-marginals-poll-2014/#more-7089
http://lordashcroftpolls.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Brighton-Pavilion-Data-tables-Dec-14.pdf

 

[Titanic]

No, because he was useless. But not every Labour politician is useless, just like not every Tory politician wants to destroy the NHS.

I suppose my point is that I am really very, very tired of the way politics has taken a turn in this country. It seems positive campaigning went out of the window around 20 years ago in favour of this tedious scaremongering.

Isn't this because you can't get a sheet of toilet paper between them on most policy matters - so it ends up being a slanging match based on lazy characterisations, personalities and 'schoolboy yah-boo-sucks politics'?

Thatcher and Foot would be turning in their respective graves.

 

[Triggaaar]

I suppose my point is that I am really very, very tired of the way politics has taken a turn in this country. It seems positive campaigning went out of the window around 20 years ago in favour of this tedious scaremongering.

Because of this, no-one dares look at the NHS despite the fact it is in dire need of reform.

Indeed.

Equally, we are also being fed this clap trap that a national debt is a bad thing when it clearly isn't and never has been

Really? Why is not a bad thing to be spending about £43bn a year in interest? Surely that money would be better spent on things like the NHS, Education etc?

Equally, principled politicians are now a rarity and we now have reams of utterly shithouse bland career-politicians that we have absolutely no idea what they stand for. How about the parties actually rediscover some principles and campaign on what THEY themselves will do to make things better rather than scaring everyone with what will happen if the other lot get in?

I'm sure we'd all like that, but it seems the public are too stupid, and we vote for the party that has been slagged off the least.

 

[Brighton Mod]

ps Andy Burnham is currently demonstrating precisely why we need Labour back to save the NHS

Save the NHS? From what? Whats he going to do?

 

[Simster]

Really? Why is not a bad thing to be spending about £43bn a year in interest? Surely that money would be better spent on things like the NHS, Education etc?

Because it's not the case that you'd be spending that £43bn on the NHS or education.

If I pointed out that you'll end up paying for your house 2.5 times over if you get a 90% mortgage, you'd rightly point out that the alternative was to not own a house at all. You're not thinking "how awful - me borrowing at 3% means I'll pay for it 2.5 times over so I'm not going to do it at all"

It's the same with the national debt. We need roads built. Do we say "fck it, we haven't got £100bn in our bank accounts, so let's use dirt tracks instead", or do we say "those roads will actually cost us £200bn after interest, but the country needs it and will be far more than £200bn more productive so it's an investment worth making".

And there in a nutshell is the great con when talking about this debt problem. Governments have always borrowed money. There are no more than a handful of countries who don't, and they are usually oil rich. The problems only start when it looks like we can't begin to pay it back - and our historic government credit agency rating has shown that we are absolutely MILES from that being the case right now.

 

[Simster]

How does what I said contradict what you wrote here?

https://nortr3nixy.nimpr.uk/showt...oes-pffffhtt&p=4851865&viewfull=1#post4851865

[quote="Mustafa]There is an obscene amount of propaganda in Western media in regards to North Korea because the West fears anything that is undemocratic. Most people including the people in this thread hate the North Korean regime and they're not sure why.

The reality is that North Korean politics is very similar to Chinese and just because it is undemocratic doesn't mean that is it wrong. North Korea might seem hostile, but do you blame it when you consider how it is being treated & threatened by considerably richer and more powerful countries who want to see it dismantled asap - such as Japan, USA and South Korea.

All North Korea wants is to be left alone.

Western propaganda portrays N. Korea as a corrupt, genocidal, breacher of human rights who would nuke South Korea given the chance - but this is simply not true, far from it.

North Korea has always said it aims for a peaceful resolve with the South but without American influence, unfortunately South Korea can't accept those terms as it has become so Americanised and reliant on American trade.

The North Korean people are poor like much of the world- there are infamous pictures of North Korean child starving, but the media neglect to mention this was following a devastating flood and famine which lasted years. But partly thanks to Chinese support, North Korea is becoming an increasingly impressive nation in regards to technology, education and even sport as we saw in the previous World Cup! The people of North Korea are extremely proud and patriotic, and would willingly & literally die for their country - all 25 million of them. The government wants the best for its people, it is equally proud & patriotic - and considering the very limited resources it is doing a very good job of it.

Once the world leaves North Korea alone, it will no longer be a dangerous nation. The "Juche" philosophy is all about self sufficiency and self reliance, of course if it is continually threatened it will retaliate with a war of words, and prepare for an actual war - a war that no army in the world could win (without the use of a Nuclear weapon) and the US & South Korea/Japan knows this, hence the propaganda!

Leave N. Korea alone![/quote]

 

[Hastings gull]

I have absolutely no idea how North Korea is any way relevant to anything in this thread, however seeing as I'm being ACCUSED of "advocating" fascism, cult of personality and so on - I have to reiterate my views.

My opinion on North Korea is one that continuing and harsh sanctions only cause greater excessive suffering to its people. This approach hasn't worked for 60 years and it isn't going to start working now. It would be more sensible to make peace with it in any way we can, if only if it gives us more room to deliver aid, information and free speech.

In regards to the Middle East, I believe that the only solution is a peaceful approach. More bombs lead to more violence, more terrorism and insurmountable suffering to the civilians. In an ideal world, we would not have contributed to the downfall of its secular leaders and the demise to the warzone that it has become... but it's too late for that. I have spoken about how we should approach the current situation in other, more relevant threads.

I recall similar misguided idealism regarding East Germany in the early 70s -if we come to a rapprochement with them, and can influence them in any way, then they will allow more freedoms. The communists got what they wanted in terms of recognition, but very little was done by them to allow their captive population more freedoms. I do recall a West German documentary showing a news-stand in East Berlin with some western magazines on sale, and a stasi presence very close by checking who was buying them. No one did! If you bolster the regime, yes, more aid might get in, but how do you know that it would even get to those most in need. Somehow I doubt it as the regime will seek first to buy off its supporters. They won't allow eager young idealistic americans in to distribute it, but the local communists will and guess who will get most? It will only keep the dictatorship going, as they keep some of the population that shade happier. Its not only in that dreadful capitalist world that the rich get richer!

I presume you mean that in an "ideal world" we would have kept Saddam Hussein in power. Whilst the interventions in Iraq have sparked much controversy, and clearly grave errors were made, I hardly think that keeping that tyrant in power would constitute an "ideal world". I am sure that we all believe in a peaceful solution, just not sure that these fanatical and blinkered maniacs of ISIS think as we do.



]

 

[Stat Brother]

...

 

[Simster]

That was me playing Devil's Advocate to some degree.

No, that was you talking bollocks. There are loads of examples of your North Korean delusion - I could have picked about ten.

And you're clearly WRONG about lifting sanctions and leaving them alone. It's so, SO obvious. Sanctions against despotic regimes are the alternative to war, and I know what I prefer. North Korea isn't like Cuba (undemocratic, but with a good record on health and a relatively good human rights record). It is ruled by a hereditary personality cult, with death camps that some people have even been born into, and Stalinesque paranoia everywhere.

It's a totally shit country that will fall apart if the Chinese ever decide that the price (of several million miserable Korean lives and deaths all at the whim of a depostic lunatic) for having this buffer state between them and western culture is a price no longer worth paying.

 

[Buzzer]

I have absolutely no idea how North Korea is any way relevant to anything in this thread, however seeing as I'm being ACCUSED of "advocating" fascism, cult of personality and so on - I have to reiterate my views....Hope this helps, and I would appreciate if in future you would not speak for me, especially when you are talking such absolute nonsense.

As others have proven (and I see you are now back-tracking from) you're happy for North Korean people to be left as they are with the current regime (cult of personality). You've also many times expressed a preference for Assad and his government...

It really pisses me off - Syria was a beautiful, secular country...It's not too late to help Assad to restore peace, but we won't.

Note the words 'restore peace'. Kind of implies that you want Syria to return to how it was a few years ago...and under any type of definition of the word 'fascist' Assad fits it. Secret police, suppression of opponents, military control of large parts of the structure of government... that's the man you want running Syria. You've also recently expressed support for anarcho-syndicalism which does away with the concept of nationhood, money, personal possessions but also want Piketty's global wealth tax which can only happen when you have effectively turned the world into one giant government (which is the polar opposite of the idea of anarchism).

So there you have it. You support totalitarian regimes in Asia, fascist regimes in the Middle East and all sorts of flavours of government for the West. I don't think it's me that's talking absolute nonsense, matey.

 

[melias shoes]

ps Andy Burnham is currently demonstrating precisely why we need Labour back to save the NHS

Burnham is precisely why we Don't want Labour back.