Anything Political

[DJ360 6,767]

3 hours ago, Brew said:

Fair enough but there will never be a perfect system,

 

This is the crux.  Almost every time I have voted in my 75 years, it has been for Labour. I've occasionally voted Green or Lib Dem in local elections, especially where I knew the candidate and was sure they could be trusted to work for the benefit of the community, not just themselves.

 

The thing is, I doubt I've ever been in total agreement with what Labour have proposed, but I have been convinced that they are the party closest to my views, and most likely to be of benefit to society at large. In a Representative Democracy, that is about the best any of us can expect.

 

 

[Oztalgian 3,398]

6 hours ago, letsavagoo said:

I have absolutely no confidence in any current party. If I can’t vote with conviction then in my opinion the honest thing to do is not vote. 

 

5 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

I have every right to state my view on the ballot paper. Of course, it won't make the running of this country any better but neither will the parties who are likely to win.

 

4 hours ago, letsavagoo said:

It will be the first time in a general election that I won’t vote.

 

5 hours ago, Brew said:

Currently, you are fully entitled to withhold support from policies or personalities that fail to convince you, but do you not think that withholding your vote rather negates your option to complain or criticise?

To me the views expressed above show the dire need for a box on the ballot paper that says "None of the above", or something similar. Thus, allowing voters to formally express their views. Unfortunately the politicians will pay no heed to the lack of turnout by disillusioned voters and trumpet loudly that they won by a landslide and therefore have a mandate. If Joe Public had a way of formally expressing their dissatisfaction of the candidates, the parties or the way they have been operating then they might just change their ways. Sadly in the UK and here I only see more of the same.

As Shakespeare said in Romeo and Juliet "A pox on both your houses"

[DJ360 6,767]

Meanwhile, that lowlife Spiv Farage has decided that he really doesn't want to face yet an other UK election humiliation and is abandoning Reform to their fate...

Furthermore.. he at least seems to think that Trump has offered him a job, working for his re-election in the US.  Talk about 'Birds of a Feather'. Two self-obsessed, Far Right, Racist, Delusional, Walking Personality Disorders.  Should be fun.

[Jill Sparrow 10,413]

Politicians and diapers (nappies) must be changed often and for the same reason!  Mark Twain 

[Brew 5,484]

37 minutes ago, Oztalgian said:

 If Joe Public had a way of formally expressing their dissatisfaction of the candidates, the parties or the way they have been operating then they might just change their ways.

 

Oh if only Oz.

Despite being illegal we have not had a secret ballot for decades, it's worse now.

Under the new UK voter ID it is much easier to identify those who will not play nicely and who knows what consequences that could lead to?

The door is open for some seriously dangerous voter manipulation and when a party has a decent majority voters can be largely irrelevant.

 

The recent election of a new East Midland mayor and the amalgamation of the four local councils show that votes actually count for very little. They twisted the results of a tiny minority and called it a majority vote in favour - it wasn't and with no opposition (only three non Labour councillors), nothing was said.

Leicester wisely refused to join.

It was the closest thing to gerrymandering since Shirley Porter.

[Brew 5,484]

Forgot to mention the consequences of opposing the ruling council Labour party.

The duly elected Labour party councillor, The Sherrif of Nottingham no less had the temerity to vote against a council proposal.

For this he was punished and suspended from the Labour group and the party as a whole.

When you hold all the cards you can do as you like. Pretty much like Blair and Thatcher

[mary1947 2,107]

This is not a topic I like to post in but here goes?

 

QUESTION:
Where did this statement come from and who wrote it?

 

It was the best of times, It was the worst of times. it was the age of wisdom. it was the age of foolishness. it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light,it was the season of darkness,it was the spring of hope,it was the winter of despair.

I will give you the answer in a few days.

[letsavagoo 969]

Dickens famous opening paragraph to his novel, A Tale of Two Cities. 

[mary1947 2,107]

5 GOLD STARS  letavagoo   

 

Her's me thinking no one would know the post, 

 

to carry on 

Charles Dickens wasn't writing about the 1970,s but he could have been

 

Callaghan, Thatcher, Major. Blair, Brown, realised that Goverments  don't create wealth or tax revenue -----

Individuals and Businesses do 

Individuals ____ workers like me and you. 

[DJ360 6,767]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/24/uks-environment-agency-chief-admits-regulator-buries-freedom-of-information-requests

[Brew 5,484]

 As per the Guardian The Information Commissioner’s Office, which oversees the law on the Freedom of Information Act, says we have a right to know, but...

FOI is directed at and applies to statutory bodies of which the Environmental Agency is one. It should respond.

However it is a non departmental agency so in effect self-governing and can do pretty much whatever it wants.

 

Hiding the information is pretty disgusting, but there are no penalties for refusal to comply and nothing anyone can do about it unless they have a court order.

 

It's a shoddy state of affairs but I seriously doubt it will be different under a Labour government,

 

[philmayfield 6,289]

I heard that Kier Starmer was going to be interviewed on Times Radio at 7am today so I asked Alexa to turn on at that time. He startled to ramble on and the next thing I heard was the alarm waking me at 8am!

Soporific Starmer!

[Brew 5,484]

A mass exodus is reported on the Beeb, mainly Tories and looks a lot like rats leaving a sinking ship, though not quite as bad as 2010 when 100 Labour MPs deserted Gordon.

[philmayfield 6,289]

Will there be a queue of Tory candidates in line to replace them? I doubt it. The minor parties will pick up some votes from those who won’t vote for Labour and there could likely be some wins for the Lib Dem’s who will gain a few more seats.

[Brew 5,484]

Be interesting to see how Corbyn does as an independent.

[Oztalgian 3,398]

I see the rats are queuing to get down the gang plank, 78 not standing again at the last count.

 

I came across this article in today's Gridiron 

Make this the punishment election – damning the Tories for 14 years of cruelty and lies | Jonathan Freedland | The Guardian

If it is even half true then the Conservative Party should be voted out of existence at this general election.

Here is a somewhat opposing viewpoint

BORIS JOHNSON enters the election fray and declares: There's no doubt that Keir Starmer would be the most dangerous and Left-wing prime minister since the 1970s | Daily Mail Online

 

If I were there I know which way I would be voting.

[philmayfield 6,289]

I see the Tories are proposing compulsory national or public service for 18 year olds. How about compulsory euthanasia for the over 70’s. That would solve the problems in the NHS. Over 70’s are just grumpy old buggers who are neither use nor ornament. (speaking personally of course!)

[Jill Sparrow 10,413]

Compulsory euthanasia for politicians?  They're all pretty useless.

[Brew 5,484]

2 minutes ago, philmayfield said:

I see the Tories are proposing compulsory national or public service for 18 year olds. How about compulsory euthanasia for the over 70’s.

 

A bit like an episode of Startrek. A planet had a policy of euthanising everyone on their thirtieth birthday - except to the ruling classes of course

[philmayfield 6,289]

They really are. Labour’s idea of charging VAT on private school fees will release lots of children into the public sector where places are already limited.

Our politicians really are a bunch of utter morons. Who thinks of these absurd ideas?

[DJ360 6,767]

On 5/23/2024 at 2:41 PM, Brew said:

Surprisingly I'm in agreement with most of Col's post

 

I'm still trying to process that!

 

On 5/23/2024 at 2:41 PM, Brew said:

I'd be reluctant to call those with little to no interest in politics 'lazy', it would apply to a considerable percentage of eligible voters, many simply disillusioned with the sorry state of the political situation and more importantly, politicians.

 

I didn't call anyone 'lazy'. I said that concluding that: 'They're all the same'..represents lazy thinking. I stand by that... 

 

It not only points to wilful ignorance and lack of analysis, but also to another very common trait.. the one which sees Politics as somehow separate from life and society.  It's not 'show business' and it's not a popularity contest. It is the only, albeit very flawed, method by which most of us can influence the way the country runs. I say 'most of us', because the very wealthy obviously have their own way of influencing Govt... and that has little to do with voting....

 

I don't think we can necessarily conflate 'lack of interest' and 'disillusionment'. I'm also disillusioned with the state of our Democracy, and by extension with our politicians, our political processes and our Government.  But I'm not about to give up. I will continue to support , vote and argue for anything which I believe will help us out of this mess.

I think it is worth trying to ascribe not only competence, but also intention  to anyone you're considering voting for.

 

On 5/23/2024 at 2:41 PM, Brew said:

Water... agreed

 

It's a start..

 

On 5/23/2024 at 2:41 PM, Brew said:

Potholes, maybe councils should spend money for its intended purpose...

 

A bit of a sweeping statement there Jim.  It's actually not easy to 'drill down' to Local Authority funding for Highways, but it does seem to me to be pretty much all 'ring fenced', or 'defined' funding streams., which are delivered via the Department of Transport and have been severely reduced since 2010, with the exception of a few small recent pothole fixing 'bribes' from Central Govt. Worth saying also that fixing potholes is only ever a temporary solution. Roads needs properly re-surfacing.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9975/

 

 

On 5/23/2024 at 2:41 PM, Brew said:

The PO, has little to do with regulation and more to do with criminal activity by senior management

 

Surely both?  The Post Office is effectively a 'wholly owned subsidiary' of the Dept of  Industry and Trade. I.E. it is owned by Govt. and therefore Govt. is ultimately responsible and ought to be able to monitor more closely than they can 'non Govt.' entities.

 

On 5/23/2024 at 2:41 PM, Brew said:

Grenfell, the regulations were there but ignored

 

Which still means that regulation failed.

 

On 5/23/2024 at 2:41 PM, Brew said:

NHS is in a crisis. Mainly caused by paying millions in interest on Labour initiated PFC schemes

 

Another sweeping statement. I'm sure that PFI payments don't help, but they are not even mentioned in any historical funding data I can find. Bigger issues in my view arise from deliberate Govt. neglect of NHS pay, which has led to recruitment and retention issues. Govt expects toi 'plug the gap', by allowing increased Legal Migration, which brings other problems.

 

On 5/23/2024 at 2:41 PM, Brew said:

There is a shortage of council houses, why?  It makes no sense to me for councils of all shades to hand over their housing stock to associations whose prime motive is profit. 

 

You miss the main reason.  Thatcher's 'Right to Buy', which some may have welcomed, was accompanied by legislation which prevented Local Authorities from spending the receipts from Right to Buy on further building.  I.O.W. it was a deliberate attempt to eradicate 'social housing', which largely worked. 'Housing Associations' ? Makes no sense to me either. but were L.As given any choice? Were conditions created by Central Govt. which made it impossible for LAs to continue as before?  It all looks suspiciously like yet another version of Privatisation/Outsourcing to me..and of coure the Tories massively cut funding to Assoxciations in 2010, further reducing new build of Social Housing.

 

On 5/23/2024 at 2:41 PM, Brew said:

Define crumbling schools 

 

Schools are struggling to acquire funding for routine repairs, much less the increasing emergence of safety issues around 'RAC' concrete.

https://ifs.org.uk/publications/annual-report-education-spending-england-2023

 

From which:

 

Quote

Education spending has also fallen as a share of national income, from about 5.6% of national income in 2010–11 down to about 4.4% in 2022–23. This is about the same share of national income as in the early 2000s, mid 1980s and late 1960s. There has been no long-run increase in the share of national income devoted to public spending on education, despite large rises in education participation over the long run. 

 

 

Right, I fancy a bit of Egg and Bacon.. I'll respond to the rest later...

[Jill Sparrow 10,413]

The whole thing is absolutely risible. The headlines every morning from now until election day will be, "I'll do this....". "I'll do that..." in a puerile attempt to win votes. Why not just admit it, "I'll stand on my head in a bucket of **** if you'll vote for me!"

As Mark Twain said, "If voting made any difference, they wouldn't let us do it!"

[Brew 5,484]

1 hour ago, DJ360 said:

Another sweeping statement. I'm sure that PFI payments don't help, but they are not even mentioned in any historical funding data I can find.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/25/nhs-hospital-trusts-paying-hundreds-of-millions-in-interest-to-private-firms

----------

Thatcher's right to buy didn't create a housing shortage, they're still there but the subsequent legislation did. the right to buy rules need modifying. Removing 'hope value' on land makes building by councils easier and possibly cheaper yet few have taken advantage. It does not appear to a priority for some.

-----------

 

3 hours ago, DJ360 said:

Which still means that regulation failed.

 

Actually it doesn't. Regulations are simply  documents, they don't DO anything. It's a set of rules which people are supposed to follow, if those regulators in charge of overseeing compliance fail to do so, or in some case criminally ignore their responsibilities, it is not a failure by the regulations. It's failure by those supposed to heed and follow them. The government (any) can hardly be blamed for their failure to do so.

-------------

 

2 hours ago, DJ360 said:

It's actually not easy to 'drill down' to Local Authority funding

 

The government, via the 'Pothole Fund' established in 2020, has allocated £500 million annually until 2025 specifically for repairing potholes.

But according to the latest Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance survey, English and Welsh councils spent just £143.5m filling potholes in the past 12 months.

Now my point. The money is not ring-fenced and councils are free to spend it as they wish. (All-Party Parliamentary Group for Better Roads)

----------

 

2 hours ago, DJ360 said:

Education spending has also fallen as a share of national income, from about 5.6% of national income in 2010–11 down to about 4.4% in 2022–23.

 

Spending as a percentage of national income is both irrelevant and misleading.

Cherry picking from the ifs report - 

Quote:

School spending per pupil in England fell by 9%

Quote:

School spending per pupil is about 21% higher

 

A significant amount of the shortfall in spending power is, as in the report, due to far higher than inflation pay awards.

 

The link you provide is not only contradictory but obfuscates by continually quoting 'in real term' going back over forty years in some examples. It is highly biased and written by those with an axe to grind. It is also too long and full of irrelevant comparisons as they emphasise the negative aspects.

They may as well say in real terms since 1947 we have spent untold billions. It would be accurate but meaningless.

 

[Brew 5,484]

Sunak wants a form of national service that Starmer is calling a gimmick - and votes for 16yr olds isn't?

[Brew 5,484]

Israel is ordered to stop fighting in Rafah by the IJC, but Hamas can carry on regardless?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckrr0e3y29po