General Election June 2017

Fuck me I wish they would.

You might want to re-phrase that (or add a comma).

I'll add a semicolon if you'd like.

Fuck me in the colon, I wish they would.

ftfy?

You're saying lots of politicians are in it for themselves rather than the greater good?

Seems unlikely.

Shocking if true

Labour are open to it, they are doing it here in Brighton, Labour won't run in Brighton Pavillion to support Caroline Lucas and the Greens won't run in Brighton Kempton in the hope Labour can retake it from the tories who only have a 1,500 majority. Think a similar deal might be going on in Bristol as well. Tim Farron is having no part in the progressive alliance because of Labour not opposing Brexit.

Is that so? Fucking hell, we're halfway there already. Come on Tim.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/06/labour-tax-80000-general-election-promise

Anyone finding themselves suddenly drawn to the Tories?

Can't comprehend the reaction of some Blairites to this. Less than 4% of workers earn more than £80k a year, the bulk of whom vote Tory anyway. And they think it's a vote loser?

The problem is not those who earn more than £80k but those who aspire to earn more than £80k. That is a significantly larger number.

Most with those aspirations will never come close but won't stop them voting against their best interests

I showed this (relatively old) video to my Politics students on Friday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7lsRbDKOXg

A lot of them were just outraged that people are so unwilling to countenance other views (it's Tottenham, they're almost all either Labour or undecided, with the seemingly obligatory token young Conservative from an atypical background who still believes they're a meritocratic party and that we are a meritocracy).

One of them came up with the idea that voters choose their party based on policies alone, and don't get to find out which party they have voted in until the next day, like a kind of blind date scenario, which I quite liked.

I wonder who most people in the country agree with across a range of policies, rather being swayed by the big single issues, family, social and local voting patterns, and the personality/perceived image of the parties and candidates. I think I've still just about got enough faith in human nature to think it would be Labour.

This is the problem. The media will spin it your way: labour crushes aspirations. Whereas the promise actually makes 95% of people better off than they'd be under the lib Dems. Its all about the spin. :(

Maybe Alastair Campbell wasn't such a cunt after all.

.

i know your taking the piss, but i have a hard time convincing my in-laws. they think i am a conspiracy theorist.

My ex-mother-in-law lost most of her savings/pension during the 70s when Harold Wilson was in... I used to enjoy getting into political debates with her, she'd go absolutely purple with rage after only five minutes of lively discourse... She is the archetypal middle Englander, wouldn't listen to reason if her life had depended on it... #csb #missyou

The issue with voting on policies, is that, once in power, a lot of policies just go out the window!

Time to catch up on the casebooks

'

If Le Pen wins due to voters abstaining what does that mean for Brexit? Presumably she will issue article 50 rapidly as it's one of her core issues?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy

Wasn't this the last season of homeland?

So the vote in the locals was a pretty equal split: 45% Tory&UKIP, 45% Labour&LibDem.

All that needs to happen is they get together and agree to only stand one candidate between them everywhere.

It's really tricky this. The lib dems have an easier choice to make over brexit- they can simply oppose and regain their pro EU base. But alot of labour voters voted to leave. This alliance, though it seems to make sense to gang up against the tories, could actually lose labour alot more votes to the tories as labour/ leave voters decide Corbyn is trying to reverse brexit. Many are very critical of Corbyn and his team's eqiuivocal stance, myself included, but he really has no other choice, or no better choice. Perhaps a more skillful spin / PR team would have helped, to make his slightly vague stance sound like a clear message.

This scares the crap out of me.

Wasn't there a big crisis those days and Wilson negotiated joining the EU and loans?

But maybe he cocked something up causing problems for your mother in law?

#curious

Private eye disproved this.

Or said that Cambridge analytica weren't all that.