General Election 2019

for fans of schadenfreude
https://twitter.com/joswinson/status/1197953834745815042

Nah, you underestimate the racism in this country.

Sad times.

Xenophobia and racism will never be rooted out unless the history of empire is taught in schools as the most shameful thing. The faux british guilt should be replaced by a real one.

https://twitter.com/LeftieK13/status/1197994504432889856?s=19

I realise that this forum is largely biased towards one viewpoint

Oh no, we have both kinds: Fixies and single-speeds.

Ha, but very much from a London viewpoint.

British exceptionalism should be our collective response to righting the wrongs of Empire, something akin to what Cuba does in humanitarian medical aid as an example, rather than this rose tinted view that the British Empire was good for everyone.

I've flip-flopped between LDs and Greens in a safe labour seat but I'm going to vote Labour for the first time just in case. I think Swindon has badly misjudged things with the move to revoke and lost a lot of possible support. Also being so overtly anti corbyn.
I hoped they would be clearly working towards a collaborative position - it is where the country needs to go and realistically there hope of being power brokers. 50 seats is their max (if they'd held a softer line) which would have been able to shift things. Setting out as if they could get a majority was foolish.
Disappointed in a missed opportunity to take a decent hold in the middle and restrict the swings further to extremes.

On those online test things I usually come out Green, followed by Lib Dem then Labour.
I grew up in Dorset, generally Lib Dem vs Tory seats. I’ve predominantly voted Labour.
I feel the lack of cohesion on the left and remain will result in Brexit being finalised. I don’t understand how people who don’t want to leave the EU or a Tory Government can be happy with Swinson getting a mauling. A good Lib Dem return seemed essential to a non Tory government. I think the Lib Dem’s haven’t had the best strategy. The optimist in me hopes that proves more appealing to Tory swing voters than it does to myself.
Laying all the blame with Lib Dems seems churlish as Labour seem equally accountable, also not sure what I think about the Greens in that regard.
I think it’ll be close whether the Tories manage to get a majority or not.
I’ll be voting Labour in a 77%~ labour seat.

I don’t understand how people who don’t want to leave the EU or a Tory Government can be happy with Swinson getting a mauling.

A collapse in the libdem vote may save some marginals from going to Tories. And those ex-Tories disgusted with the way the party has gone aren't going to go back to Johnson because of it (has anyone seen any polls estimating how many of these people there are?).

Also, schadenfreude is a hell of a drug.

It may but it’ll also secure other seats for the Tories. What the end outcome exactly is who knows.
I don’t see it as a case of going back rather not leaving the Tories, hopefully I’m wrong.

It may but it’ll also secure other seats for the Tories.

If we take Swinson at her word, a libdem seat is no different from a tory seat when it comes to blocking labour getting through a second referendum.

Having said that, I'd obviously rather see every tory-libdem battle go to the libdems.

Similar to GoatandTricycle and villa-ru. The online tests gave me 94%/93% for LD/Green with Labour ~75% and everyone else <35%, but this was before Labour's manifesto had been released so I'd expect that to increase their percentage fit.

I'll be voting tactically (Labour) in what was Justine Greening's seat (and she only had a ~1500 majority over Labour in 2017, down from a 10,000 majority in 2015).

I'm hoping for anything that prevents the Tories forming a Government and shoving Brexit through, some days it seems possible, other days not. The fact that the Tories have so much support despite all of the shite that has been going on is the one thing that fills me with despair and a crushing sense of inevitability.

mauling swinson is good because: 1. schadenfreude; 2. she asked to see the manager (legal challenge to be included in the debates) and the manager (joe public) visibly not happy with her on a whole range of issues; and 3. helps focus peoples' minds on the real choice we have at this election. agree it may jeopardise the LDs in some CON/LD marginals; but it will have a similar effect in CON/LAB marginals.

people on the left of the labour party have been saying this for three years: the only route to 1. a referendum; and, therefore, 2. remaining in the EU is through a labour government. all while ian "I actually did brexit" dunt, windmill jolyon, femi FOCOF, led by donky etc have been running around trashing the reputation of the one man who can help get them what they want. this is the labour party to all those people now:

Just seen this on the Guardian website:

Jeremy Corbyn is visiting an Amazon depot in Yorkshire, where he will vow to tackle the “tax and wage cheat culture” of multinational companies who “rip off” workers.

Are they letting him in to give this speech? Or is he picketing outside? It seems bizarre if they've invited him in to trash their working conditions.

Also:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=26qhDNyAvUU

this is a good piece on labour's economic offer:
https://mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2019/11/is-labours-economic-plan-credible.html

I have voted Lib Dem in the past. Swinson did badly in that debate and it annoys me that all they do is talk Brexit. But I guess it makes sense to attract Tory remainers who can’t stand Corbyn. Still - they come across as a party with no vision. If they had a better leader I think now should be a great time for the libdems, hoovering up centrists from either side.

Corbyn came out best in that debate although the grilling about anti Semitism looked terrible. And nationalising broadband is laughable - announcements like that put me off Labour. I live in a safe labour seat so will probably vote green. CSB

nationalising broadband is laughable

Why?

Can’t help but feel there are more important issues around. Also it’ll take absolutely ages to do with fibre. Also I work for a telco and it may make my life harder

Digital exclusion/tech poverty are worth taking very seriously. I have no idea if broadband is the answer. But as the internet has become a utility, it makes sense to treat it like other utilities (or how we would like utilities to be treated).

(I also have found the announcement a bit odd to my ears. But I'm not part of the population that's going to benefit from it).

There are more important issues and it may take a while, neither of those are reasons to not do it though.

I think 5G will be here before full fibre, even in more remote areas. Offering similar speeds without the hassle. Plus all you can eat data. Totally get how annoying not having proper access is, my folks only get a couple of MB In Suffolk. The 4G network there is faster.

AIUI it's just the nationalisation of Openreach, or at least the part of Openreach that is responsible for the laying/maintaining the physical cables/fibre between exchanges and cabinets, and then between cabinet and premises.

This is so that, instead of just focusing on the areas where they're guaranteed to get a good return on that investment (as BT/Openreach seem to do most of the time), they'll hopefully actually start to make progress in areas that have the slowest broadband.

But many will still paint it as if a Labour Govnerment want to actually be an ISP snooping on all of the data. (If this were true then I'm sure the Tories would be straight on to it too.)

Prompted me to go look at their manifesto for the full text:-

"
Digital

Digital and technological advancements bring challenges, but also huge opportunities. In the age of AI and automation, digital connectivity will underpin our future economy. We will need world-class digital infrastructure in which everyone can share.

Labour will deliver free full-fibre broadband to all by 2030.

We will establish British Broadband, with two arms: British Digital Infrastructure (BDI) and the British Broadband Service (BBS). We will bring the broadband-relevant parts of BT into public ownership, with a jobs guarantee for all workers in existing broadband infrastructure and retail broadband work.

BDI will roll out the remaining 90–92% of the full-fibre network, and acquire necessary access rights to existing assets. BBS will coordinate the delivery of free broadband in tranches as the full-fibre network is rolled out, beginning with the communities worst served by existing broadband networks. Taxation of multinationals, including tech giants, will pay for the operating costs of the public full-fibre network. The plan will boost jobs, tackle regional inequality and improve quality of life as part of a mission to connect the country.

We will enforce a legal duty of care to protect our children online, impose fines on companies that fail on online abuse and empower the public with a Charter of Digital Rights.
"