[Politics] The General Election Thread

[BLOCK F]

I agree with you.

He is the Devil, though.

Not sure about the Devil, but he is dodgy!
By the way, are you on strike today, Comrade?

 

[Two Professors]

Countless examples of Johnson outright lying to the public. No shame, no respect, no truth. Lie after lie all quoted or videos posted with just pure content. All showing Johnson and the Tory’s as incompetent liars.
You come up with this. A bad pun about being a wanker.
Well done.

Glad you liked it,and cor bin is a complete and utter .Where is your proof of Johnson lying-not your personal opinion,or fake twatter crap from momentum.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

and James Cleverley, everytime I switch the TV on there he is defending the latest Tory balls up.

Please use his middle name - Notso

 

[Guinness Boy]

Don't give up the day job, GB! and I can take it you have no aspirations towards 'Poet Laureating"

Only at sixth form level.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Same here, sadly I enjoy election nights. There’s an added element of uncertainty in recent elections, with the 10pm exit poll results NOT telling, the swingometer designed for a binary party system not the be all. Gets interesting when the real results start, with Sunderland S & N, give a feel for the movement.

My main entertainment will be seeing whether Duncan Smith and Raab get booted out or not.

 

[Lower West Stander]

We've been lied to for the last 3 years by every politician under the sun.

Its easy to pick out one thing one person has said when there are so many to choose from....from all parties.

Hence we go back to the issue of which party has the most credible policies and what do you want on Brexit.....

 

[The Clamp]

Glad you liked it,and cor bin is a complete and utter .Where is your proof of Johnson lying-not your personal opinion,or fake twatter crap from momentum.

“We will leave the EU on the 31st October or I’ll be dead in a ditch”.

“This isn’t being covered by the media”

Just two of the more obvious lies. I am certain a quick google search could list many many more.

 

[Stat Brother]

[tweet]1198918374455226373[/tweet]


There's going to be hell to pay when the press catches up with this...







...oh.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

There was a lady from Yorkshire interviewed yesterday who said "I know he lies and can't be trusted, but I still like him".

I actually laughed for a second, then realised that this is reflective of the electorate as a whole. I don't think many care about being lied to.

Indeed. Charisma is a gift. And being lied to can be unimportant if the perceived benefits are sufficient. And our perceptions are treacherous, especially when they feed our id with all those lovely feelings we like so much - laughter, warmth, the promise of better.....

I have a colleague at work who lies all the time. When I call him out he absolutely doesn't care. And he always greets me so warmly that I always forgive him. Thing is, he has no influence over my career. And a lot of things he does are for the general good. I have had a professional connection with him in the past that he destroyed when he couldn't any longer lead on it (he destroyed it rather than let me lead on it). That said a lot. And yet I still like him. Would I do business with him again? Absolutely not. He was even fishing for an Albion ticket a while ago

Motivation is an interesting thing. In the case of my colleague, we can't work out what drives him on. Pride in his work certainly isn't it. He has always stated he never wanted to be a medic and opted for science via PhD. Really? His (now ex-) wife told me (when they were still happily married) that he was in tears for three days when he was not offered a graduate entry place into medical school. Fancy that. Those who know him think money and prestige are his motivator. That's OK, and it may work well in business, but being a researcher is a noble pursuit and if you are happy to bend the data and the facts to suit your agenda then you are no longer a scientist.

Perhaps bending the facts and data to suit your poilitical agenda is justified - because the name of the game is to get into power - all the promises and carefully costed programmes are worth nothing when all you are trying to do in the first instance is get elected. Of course our knowing that election promises are moveable feasts can inculcate cynicism....and all those silly aphorisms like 'whoever you vote for, a politician will get in'. No, that's unfair. But until the person actually gets into power we don't know what they will deliver.

Being a persuasive charming liar is, however, is not for me. Yes, even I can laugh at Boris' jokes, just as I can have a warm chat with my work colleague (who, incidentally now has a CBE and is president elect of my research society - the neediness never stops for him). However, a track record is all we have to go on until Boris is actually running the government. But we have seen Boris in action as leader in London. OK this is a very easy job in many respects. Nevertheless I have seen it said he had no interest in detail, was easily bamboozled, and just used the job as a massive ego trip (and opportunity to lay an encouraging hand on the young thigh of a gushing ingénue).

My colleague, like Boris, is one for almost randomly signing up to populist causes. Without giving away his id (and consequently mine) my colleague has had a public profile in pursuit of noble cuases, but het has pursued other absurd causes based on unfounded assumptions and tenuous extrapolations, for the sole purpose of being seen to be the champion of the cause. It is a great strategy - when the cause is lost he just moves on without blinking, the brass neck of a Farage (oh, yes, I nearly forgot, he is a keen Brexit supporter - almost unheard of in my sector).

My colleague is not in any position to do real harm, yet. He is very manipulative but he has no pernicious agenda (for my research society) and is a very good front man. There, you see, I am making excuses for him because I like him. See how easy it is to fall for charm?

The government of the UK, however, is anothe kettle of fish. Boris avoided catastrophe as mayor of London. But so did Red Ken Lininspart. I can only dread the prospect of Boris running the country. Because he has a short attention span he'll delegate all the work to his underlings. People like Priti Patel and Dominic Raab. The former sounds like a guffawing right wing zealot, whereas Raab sounds sooooo reasonable - a syrupy liar with reptilian self control. And pulling the strings, the antichrist version of Peter Mandelson, the foul-mouthed alcoholic, Dominic Cummings.

If Boris gets a clean pair of heels with a working majority, it will be ghastly. His brother knows, FFS. If your brother, who loves you (as Boris' brother obviously does) knows you are not fit to be PM, owing to personality....the country needs to take heed.

 

[Guinness Boy]

We've been lied to for the last 3 years by every politician under the sun.

Its easy to pick out one thing one person has said when there are so many to choose from....from all parties.

Hence we go back to the issue of which party has the most credible policies and what do you want on Brexit.....

I can't imagine you'll find a single example of Caroline Lucas lying, unless you're a climate change denier, in which case there's no hope for you anyway - they might as well all be flat earthers.

Corbyn is, if anything, too honest. He's stated a Brexit policy that has been unpopular, never covered up his links with the likes of Gerry Adams, is far too OTT on Israel fo rmany people. But he is exactly what he purports, an aging socialist who has always voted with his principles, whatever you think of them.

I don't think you'll find examples of Bercow* lying either. Just trying to keep an increasingly duplicitous House to order.

As for some of the others, they've been lying for a lot longer than three years.

And what do I want on Brexit? For it to be over. The past four years or so have already ruined the country. Friends divided, neighbours and family at war, North v South, Rich v Poor, Leaver v Remain. It's toxic and the standard of debate in this country is at toddler level - a shame, given that social media allows us all a voice whenever we fancy it. And, yes, I count myself as part of that. No amount of "taking back control" can make up for the massive schism or the mistrust in politicians that you've expressed above, without really thinking about it. We won't even have less immigration, just a different type.

So, no, this election for me is 100% NOT about what I want on Brexit. It's about electing a decent local politician who will look after his own people when it all goes inevitably tits up.

*I am pondering switching my Election night coverage to Sky from the Beeb just because they have Bercow on though

 

[The Clamp]

There is a school of thought that says some people place value on being lied to. The theory being that they must be important enough to hide the truth from. There’s more to it than that, but that’s the thrust of it.

 

[Bakero]

Glad you liked it,and cor bin is a complete and utter .Where is your proof of Johnson lying-not your personal opinion,or fake twatter crap from momentum.

There's a website dedicated to Boris's lies which has been posted on this thread multiple times. Presumably you've chosen to ignore it.

 

[Bozza]

“We will leave the EU on the 31st October or I’ll be dead in a ditch”

He didn't say that though. Again, I'm sorry as this doesn't fit your narrative, but just making things up puts you in the same place as the person you are being critical of, and I'm sure you wouldn't want that in this instance.

Boris Johnson actually said “I’d rather be dead in a ditch” when asked about extending the Brexit deadline which is completely different to what you are claiming he said.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Not sure about the Devil, but he is dodgy!
By the way, are you on strike today, Comrade?

I'm certainly not on strike. My local branch voted to not strike. I have always voted against and have even crossed the picket line if I have teaching. I shall explain why:

1. If I cancel a class for a strike I need to reschedule. That takes me twice as long to organise as the original scheduling.
2. Exam papers are written in December (I run a second semester course that starts in January). If an assessment is affected (a lecture is missed that can't be rescheduled, and the topic had been part of the summer exam) this causes mayhem. It takes a very long time to write an exam paper (it has to be verified and approved by an external examiner, and I have to avoid overlap, recycling etc etc). If I miss a lecture, one hour of striking will cause me 5 or 6 hours of extra work.
3. If a strike affects a practical, the written work that follows (contributing 25% to a course unit) is lost, soI have to provide an alternative assessment. It also destroys the practical training element of the course. Extra work, extra marking; I'd say one missed day in the lab will probably give me three days' extra work.


Etc Etc.

The bottom line is that if I do go on strike the only people adversely affected are students and me. If we refused to deal with the consequences of missed teaching the strike would have more traction and bite. But this will adversely affect the students and I am not here to **** up young lives - that's anathema to me.

So we are over a barrel all the time. I think people like me (so-called public servants, and especially folk like police, medics, military) should not be put in a position where they feel forced into striking....but if you don't believe in a public sector then you aren't going to do much to sustain it are you? If I were a tory I'd be actively seeking to privatise these organizations, which means squeezing them - making people work to targets, performance related pay, keep the workers lean mean and keen....the British Way (which is different from the German way).

Another thing, parts of my union are rotten. Our leader resigned a while back and was bitterly criticised by some local branches. One of the issues is the 'gender pay gap'. Let me make this clear. There is no gender pay gap. We are all paid the same according to where we are on the scale. It is illegal to do otherwise. That said at the professorial level, where you bargain a salary yourself, outside any scale, women are said to earn less than men. It is probably true. This is not due to institutional sexism, however. I haven't even heard a sexist comemnt at work for 25 years. My HoD is a woman. The one before was a woman. Indeed in most areas there are increasing numbers of female professors - and they are the ones doing the pay bargaining for younger people when they get a chair (as it is called). There may be reasons why women ask for less than men do at the professorial promotion stage, but institutional sexism is not the reason, and urging members to strike over the issue as has happend is idiotic, and simply undermines arguments about the attack on pensions that are real and problematic. People conflating issues because they think it helps them pursue their agenda whereas it achieves the opposite - who knew?

Incidentally I am faffing about at home this morning, but I did 5 hours of work over the weekend....and I have still done a couple of hours today. So no guilty feelings.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

There is a school of thought that says some people place value on being lied to. The theory being that they must be important enough to hide the truth from. There’s more to it than that, but that’s the thrust of it.

Says a liar
Regards
DF

 

[BLOCK F]

I'm certainly not on strike. My local branch voted to not strike. I have always voted against and have even crossed the picket line if I have teaching. I shall explain why:

1. If I cancel a class for a strike I need to reschedule. That takes me twice as long to organise as the original scheduling.
2. Exam papers are written in December (I run a second semester course that starts in January). If an assessment is affected (a lecture is missed that can't be rescheduled, and the topic had been part of the summer exam) this causes mayhem. It takes a very long time to write an exam paper (it has to be verified and approved by an external examiner, and I have to avoid overlap, recycling etc etc). If I miss a lecture, one hour of striking will cause me 5 or 6 hours of extra work.
3. If a strike affects a practical, the written work that follows (contributing 25% to a course unit) is lost, soI have to provide an alternative assessment. It also destroys the practical training element of the course. Extra work, extra marking; I'd say one missed day in the lab will probably give me three days' extra work.


Etc Etc.

The bottom line is that if I do go on strike the only people adversely affected are students and me. If we refused to deal with the consequences of missed teaching the strike would have more traction and bite. But this will adversely affect the students and I am not here to **** up young lives - that's anathema to me.

So we are over a barrel all the time. I think people like me (so-called public servants, and especially folk like police, medics, military) should not be put in a position where they feel forced into striking....but if you don't believe in a public sector then you aren't going to do much to sustain it are you? If I were a tory I'd be actively seeking to privatise these organizations, which means squeezing them - making people work to targets, performance related pay, keep the workers lean mean and keen....the British Way (which is different from the German way).

Another thing, parts of my union are rotten. Our leader resigned a while back and was bitterly criticised by some local branches. One of the issues is the 'gender pay gap'. Let me make this clear. There is no gender pay gap. We are all paid the same according to where we are on the scale. It is illegal to do otherwise. That said at the professorial level, where you bargain a salary yourself, outside any scale, women are said to earn less than men. It is probably true. This is not due to institutional sexism, however. I haven't even heard a sexist comemnt at work for 25 years. My HoD is a woman. The one before was a woman. Indeed in most areas there are increasing numbers of female professors - and they are the ones doing the pay bargaining for younger people when they get a chair (as it is called). There may be reasons why women ask for less than men do at the professorial promotion stage, but institutional sexism is not the reason, and urging members to strike over the issue as has happend is idiotic, and simply undermines arguments about the attack on pensions that are real and problematic. People conflating issues because they think it helps them pursue their agenda whereas it achieves the opposite - who knew?

Incidentally I am faffing about at home this morning, but I did 5 hours of work over the weekend....and I have still done a couple of hours today. So no guilty feelings.

It was only a light hearted aside, Harry!

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

It was only a light hearted aside, Harry!

I know.

I still feel guilty when I don't strike so sometimes a bit of rightous self-justification makes me feel better

 

[Lower West Stander]

I can't imagine you'll find a single example of Caroline Lucas lying, unless you're a climate change denier, in which case there's no hope for you anyway - they might as well all be flat earthers.

Corbyn is, if anything, too honest. He's stated a Brexit policy that has been unpopular, never covered up his links with the likes of Gerry Adams, is far too OTT on Israel fo rmany people. But he is exactly what he purports, an aging socialist who has always voted with his principles, whatever you think of them.

I don't think you'll find examples of Bercow* lying either. Just trying to keep an increasingly duplicitous House to order.

As for some of the others, they've been lying for a lot longer than three years.

And what do I want on Brexit? For it to be over. The past four years or so have already ruined the country. Friends divided, neighbours and family at war, North v South, Rich v Poor, Leaver v Remain. It's toxic and the standard of debate in this country is at toddler level - a shame, given that social media allows us all a voice whenever we fancy it. And, yes, I count myself as part of that. No amount of "taking back control" can make up for the massive schism or the mistrust in politicians that you've expressed above, without really thinking about it. We won't even have less immigration, just a different type.

So, no, this election for me is 100% NOT about what I want on Brexit. It's about electing a decent local politician who will look after his own people when it all goes inevitably tits up.

*I am pondering switching my Election night coverage to Sky from the Beeb just because they have Bercow on though

So how will Jezza vote on Brexit then? He whipped his MPs to block every single Commons vote with the express intention of forcing the Government out. He's like every other opposition leader - wants to be in Government and will adopt strategies and tactics accordingly to try and achieve this.

And its pretty hard to deny links with the IRA when you share a platform with them......

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

Where is your proof of Johnson lying.

very good

 

[ManOfSussex]

My main entertainment will be seeing whether Duncan Smith and Raab get booted out or not.

Steve Baker, John Redwood, Philip Davies and Zac Goldsmith are all vulnerable too I read earlier.