[Politics] The General Election Thread

[Deadly Danson]

Again, I have no particular political affiliation and I don't claim any in depth knowledge but I have to ask those intending to vote Tory - how on earth do you walk the streets and see the levels of homelessness and lawlessness, see the damage to the NHS, police, education etc and then listen to the utter awfulness that comes out of the mouths of Johnson, Rees-Mogg, Bridgen, Francois etc and think, "Yes that's what we need, another 5 years of that". It's a genuine question. Is it just that the alternatives are worse or is there anyone who genuinely thinks they are good for the country or perhaps it's just Brexit? Again, I have no love for any of the parties but I can't get it in my head why anyone would vote Tory this time round thinking it's a "good thing" rather than just the lesser of evils.

 

[daveinplzen]

Again, I have no particular political affiliation and I don't claim any in depth knowledge but I have to ask those intending to vote Tory - how on earth do you walk the streets and see the levels of homelessness and lawlessness, see the damage to the NHS, police, education etc and then listen to the utter awfulness that comes out of the mouths of Johnson, Rees-Mogg, Bridgen, Francois etc and think, "Yes that's what we need, another 5 years of that". It's a genuine question. Is it just that the alternatives are worse or is there anyone who genuinely thinks they are good for the country or perhaps it's just Brexit? Again, I have no love for any of the parties but I can't get it in my head why anyone would vote Tory this time round thinking it's a "good thing" rather than just the lesser of evils.

Well, the anti Corbyn posse will tell you he would be a disaster, without actually explaining why
The Anti Swinson posse will tell you she would be a disaster, without actually explaining why.
The pro de Pfeffel posse will tell you he is a statesman, despite all evidence to the contrary.
The pro Farage posse are just idiots, so best just to ignore them.

 

[Deadly Danson]

Well, the anti Corbyn posse will tell you he would be a disaster, without actually explaining why
The Anti Swinson posse will tell you she would be a disaster, without actually explaining why.

Exactly this. I don't think I've seen anyone yet say why they think voting Tory is a good thing (other than those who want Brexit sorted perhaps) - without vaguely saying how bad the others might be.

 

[vegster]

If you get the chance, grab a copy of today's Times.
You might not agree, but they give pages and pages on why Corbyn and co. would not only ruin the country's economy but would also pose a threat to the security of the country.
Warnings come, not only from Labour's Jack Straw and Lord Hutton but also Joe Haines, who was Harold Wilson's press chief.
Contrary to your statement, there are plenty of ordinary people in this country, who may not hold as strong political views as many who post on here, who do not want Corbyn as PM.
It is a mistake to say they are all wrong.

This was predicted, and predicted to get much worse. I wonder how much of today's Tory charge sheet will make The Times on Thursday ?

 

[Gwylan]

With there being no Deputy PM (hasn't been one since Clegg) the First Secretary of State is deemed the Deputy PM and would, presumably, be asked to form a Government pending a leadership election (which is an internal party matter).

At time of dissolution, this was Dominic Raab. Sweet Jesus.

There is no FSoS, parliament has been dissolved. The leader of the party is the leader, regardless of the parliamentary situation, but there are no cabinet ministers (the cabinet is the choice of the PM)

And what if Swinson refused to serve with a leaderless party: could she form one with Labour, even if they're not the largest party?

 

[daveinplzen]

Exactly this. I don't think I've seen anyone yet say why they think voting Tory is a good thing (other than those who want Brexit sorted perhaps) - without vaguely saying how bad the others might be.

Its about WINNING dont you know? If Labour or the LibDems win the election, then our mostly brexiteer tory voters will have such a hissy fit, it could send us back to the stone age.

 

[vegster]

Mirror (Labour)
Guardian (Lib-Demish)
Independent (who knows or cares)
Financial Times (definitely establishment but thoughtful)
Star (phwoar!)

Which leaves the Mail, Express, Times and Telegraph as fully paid up Tory cheerleaders... which to be fair they are pretty up front about.

Add The Evening Standard to those.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Are there any newspapers that are not Tory mouthpieces?
Apart from the Morning Star of course.

Well very obviously, there are, yes.

It would be nice if none of them were acting as a mouthpiece for any party, but tried to actually report the news, rather than constantly presenting editorial opinion as fact, and drip-feeding their own flavour of propaganda.

I've just spent a bit of time in Ireland as it goes - very interesting reading and watching their media take on Brexit - entirely nonpartisan and far more informative.

 

[Wardy's twin]

Absolutely. I can't disagree with any of that and I could never vote for Johnson.

Edit: although as we see on here, day after boring day, there are numerous people on both sides of the political spectrum who are incredibly entrenched, and will not change their vote nomatter what.

I am quite happy to be persuaded that leaving is the right thing to do (excuse pun) and have asked 'leave' people on this board to give me 5 to 10 tangible reasons why we as a nation will benefit and surprisingly (not really) I have had no or little response. What I have had back was that one individual was concerned with Europeans making our laws but he could not point to any bad laws that the EU had passed ( and the UK had agreed).

So not a question of being entrenched it is down to the lack of a persuasive argument to change.

I tend to be conservative in my views and with the lack of a persuasive argument believe staying in the EU to be the lesser of two evils.

 

[Beach Hut]

Apparently Tories want to put up taxes; there's no other way to pay for their election promises to date...and who knows what additional extravaganzas are to come. It's where the taxes are levied that matters. A shift from regressive consumption taxes to progressive income taxes would be the way to; especially on those (including companies and corporations) most able to pay.

Least we forget a deputy leader that is an IRA sympathiser

 

[Eeyore]

As a floating voter, i feel it is only fair to bring some balance to the thread.
The loony right wing conservatives are not quite as bad as they used to be.
As proved by this Tory candidate back in 1958.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXZv7lH9Ehc

Although the sad truth is that his views were mainstream at the time. We have to face the realty that if we were of an age in1958 we may have felt little different. Quite frightening really, Shows how easily people are conditioned.

The presenter is ahead of his time.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Least we forget a deputy leader that is an IRA sympathiser

Good point. Much more important to focus on a member of the opposition's interaction with the terrorist threat of thirty years ago, than the government of the last 10 years cosying up to, enabling, and selling weapons to the regime behind the terrorist threat of today.

 

[Baldseagull]

How much money was lost to on-line fraud last year then,Mr.Smuggles?

Not one penny was lost by someone posting a link to a news article.

 

[Louis MacNeice]

Least we forget a deputy leader that is an IRA sympathiser

What does that mean?

Really, 14 years on from the IRA's formal ending of it's armed campaign, who is he meant to be a sympathiser of?

 

[CheeseRolls]

I would dearly love to vote for a hung parliament. One that is so finely balanced that the only way to progress is via political compromise. In an ideal world this would involve the resignation of both main party leaders, to be replaced by more reasonable people. I may be asking a little too much here.

You also have to consider what you are getting locally. Tim Loughton is not going to get my vote ever. Last time I couldn't find a personal manifesto from the LibDem candidate, who I quickly discounted. This time they have a candidate who is active on social media. A quick trawl through his twitter timeline, showed that he is a very young candidate and that he finds spelling very challenging. Having read Peter Kyle's honest accounts of struggling with dyslexia, I don't want to discount him outright, but I remain to be convinced. The Labour candidate looks a safer pair of hands at present.

 

[Louis MacNeice]

I would dearly love to vote for a hung parliament. One that is so finely balanced that the only way to progress is via political compromise. In an ideal world this would involve the resignation of both main party leaders, to be replaced by more reasonable people. I may be asking a little too much here.

You also have to consider what you are getting locally. Tim Loughton is not going to get my vote ever. Last time I couldn't find a personal manifesto from the LibDem candidate, who I quickly discounted. This time they have a candidate who is active on social media. A quick trawl through his twitter timeline, showed that he is a very young candidate and that he finds spelling very challenging. Having read Peter Kyle's honest accounts of struggling with dyslexia, I don't want to discount him outright, but I remain to be convinced. The Labour candidate looks a safer pair of hands at present.

If you're in Hove then surely Kyle is the Labour candidate?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

If you're in Hove then surely Kyle is the Labour candidate?

Do you seriously not know where Shoreham Beach is?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Least we forget a deputy leader that is an IRA sympathiser

Lest we not forget that we have a prime minister who wanted to 'Hang Nelson Mandela'.

Or we could pull our head out of our arse and live in the present day?

 

[CheeseRolls]

If you're in Hove then surely Kyle is the Labour candidate?

Peter Kyle would indeed get my vote, if I was in Hove. Peter recently talked about his struggles with Dyslexia and admitted he has a reading age of 8.5. He also has two degrees and his intelligence and hard work shine through. Us folk in East Worthing and Adur has not been so fortunate with our parliamentary representation.

 

[CheeseRolls]

Do you seriously not know where Shoreham Beach is?

To be fair I re-read my own post and I could have made it clearer.