General Election 2024

Presumably ‘on holiday’ is toryspeak for someone else is paying and the person paying has either landed a big fat public contract, a very specific tax break or is a foreign spy?

To be fair the poor bloke looks like he could do with a holiday.

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Nick Robinson giving Rachel Reeves a right grilling on radio 4 right now.

lucky nick

Look. This is a safe space, so I'm just going to say it.

Have I been watching the election coverage too long or does Emily Thornberry have a really sexy voice?

Me...

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This is a safe space, so I'm just going to say it.

I'm not sure it's so safe a space that making any politicians objects of sexual desire is something that is advisable. Not because there are rules against it, but more because every politician will let you down given enough time and opportunity, and forums are forever citable.

Excerpt from the latest election communication from Steve Tuckwell, elected last year as MP for Uxbridge & South Ruislip, on an anti-ULEZ ticket.

Of course, Boris Johnson was never resident in the constituency.

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I love how the Conservatives are so confident that their own marketing no longer has their party name, and the colours frequently aren't the party colour.

There does seem to be a bit of controversy going on with the get voting recommendations as they appear to recommending voting Labour in some Scottish races where its between Labour and the SNP and the tory's are nowhere.

Stop the Torys have made it clear that where there are 2 progress party's (yeah I know citation needed etc.... yawn) they won't be providing a recommendation. There stated aim being to remove the Tory's as there the biggest blocker to a fairer voting system.

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she whispers, white van. England flag

The trouble with that is that the media and the Tories would run heavily with electoral conspiracy and labour are so weak they are not even standing in these seats stories.

In particular, could you imagine how much hay they could make if Labour withdrew to give Corbbyn a clear run (who, incidentally, is still using the same line that got him expelled from the Labour party in recent interviews).

I heard that. Disproportionate to the kind of questions he puts to Tories 🙄

Confirmed - I am right in my political compass echo chamber here. Phew.

I heard that. Disproportionate to the kind of questions he puts to Tories 🙄

Careful now - it sounds like you're accusing the former President of the Oxford University Conservative Association of not being impartial.

Yep, last refuge and all that.
Steve Tuckwell was an ineffective councillor,
trusted only with being vice-Chair of the Registrations and Appeals committee of LBHillingdon.

I'm guessing the Tories are hoping to just about cling on the Uxbridge & South Ruislip,
(the predecessor seat of 'Uxbridge' never went Labour even in 1997), with the students from Brunel dispersed back home.

Almost every policy in relation to transport, environment, taxation, or crime and punishment in relation to those who impact cyclists.

Yes I include myself.

I just don't see how you can't at least be around the horizontal axis when you support removing choice for anything you deem negativity impacts society. And definitely not close to the bottom of the whole box.

You know what, give 4 policies people here think are important and are broadly supportive of, which don't require state control to implement?

Sunak's CAR CRASH on LBC on food banks.

He must have been told by now that this is a really bad look, right?
Getting tetchy with the interviewer and the public when they ask
difficult questions and reacting as if we are all thick for not
understanding how brilliant he is.

https://x.com/sturdyAlex/status/1803346411989176676

"How can you empathise when you're richer than the king?"

"I love people who work in foodbanks".

The final caller asks why Sunak made a joke about his sugar
consumption when sugar is a serious problem, responsible for an
increase in child tooth decay.

Sunak says he will not apologise for eating Twixes.

who, incidentally, is still using the same line that got him expelled from the Labour party in recent interviews

Two things:

1. he was right. The scale of antisemitism in the party was way overstated for political reasons
   
2. he wasn't expelled from the party, rather he had the whip withdrawn, which is not the same thing. Ultimate expulsion from the party came when he announced he was running as an independent
   
   

Sunak says he will not apologise for eating Twixes

Damn something I can finally agree with.

According to the guardian, she followed up his answer with

I think it’s an absolute lie that you supported people during Covid. I supported food banks myself, but with a mortgage increase of £700 pounds a month as a health professional, I’m going to struggle to help other people. I don’t think that you understand what it’s like to be on the shop floor to speak. You’re richer than the king. I don’t believe that you understand how hard it is for people to support food banks.

There's really no answer available to him over his wealth and whether he should be anywhere near public service.

Skimming through the posts about political compass tests and all, reminded me of a online questionnaire to help voters on the water elections in the Netherlands. It's the only elections I could vote in when I moved here, so I took a look to see which of the 427 parties aligned most with my views.

The thing is, the questionnaire was hard. I only remember a few bits of it, but it had stuff like:

• there are loads of water rats. Nothing wrong with them per se, but it costs us a bit to manage our infrastructure because they do eat through stuff. Would you rather let them be and pay up (yes, it's nature, let's go) or use some resources to control the population and have extra funds for other stuff (yes I guess that could be ok too, dunno?)
  
• do you think all waters should be swimmable? Like, yeah, sure. I mean, all of them? Erm, dunno. If not all, should it be closer to urban centres (yay, clean water for people) or remote (yay, clean water for animals)
  
• in times of scarcity, should water access be prioritised for human consumption (of course), food production (of course), or animals (oh, of course)
  
  

What was interesting is the way that each question had consequences to it, implied or explicit. Like, to do X will require Y, so pretty soon you get the sense that uh oh I'm not sure ALL of it can be done, so what is actually important to me, and what do I need to be comfortable with my choices? Framing choice from a pov of scarcity was useful, particularly when each question had an explanation of how each party positioned themselves in that issue, and why.

It seemed so adult. Of course political discourse seems to be going to shit here like everywhere else because humans suck, but anyway, just thought I'd share.