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Post Info TOPIC: General election/politics


Tennis legend

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General election/politics


Given that a few posts have popped up in various threads on the general election, I thought it deserved it's own thread on the chat section.

The Tories surprisingly got in with a small majority and every other leader in parliament resigned, so it will be same as for the next 5 years.

IMHO the reason why the Tories got in(yes they did have more votes than anyone else across the whole of the UK)

1. The election was focussed on the economy and the Tories have a track record in managing the economy

2. Labour seem to have lost their image as a left wing party since Tony Blair arrived and are now centre or centre right in some cases also a fear that SNP would control them in parliament

3. Lib Dems suffered as part of the coalition and failure to get their big promise on university fees through and the fact it was likely to be a hung parliament, their followers switched to tactical voting for the Tories or Labour as they new they couldn't win

4. UKIP - kept changing their policies and have lots of unscrupulous people within their ranks. They are a one man band in reality.

5. The Greens were way out left and wacky policies including increasing the debt massively

6. SNP - i'm not sure why the Scots voted for the SNP in the UK elections. Once the English votes for English issues goes through, they will have no power whatsoever

 

 

 



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I disagree slightly with point 2, Miliband was definitely trying to take Labour back to the left which would have scared quite a few potential voters. Blair won all his elections because he took quite a few Conservative votes. During his reign there was very little to choose between the 2 big party's in terms of policies.

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sadly the Earls Court Exhibition Centre is no more. the owners (Capco) decided to demolish it and build residential and retail units. lots of local opposition including mp's but in the end it was the power of the Mayor of London (a Mr Boris Johnson) who approved the plans for redevelopment.

could this man be the next prime minister some ask

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8c4MjKnlbU



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Tennis legend

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Re paulisi's original post :

1) Certainly agree with Phil here. There is a pretty wide ( I am pretty sure correct ) perception that it was Ed Milliband moving Labour away from the centre ground towards the left that lost them much ground in England. Maybe not radically enough for some that don't quite 'get it', but to the left nevertheless and mention of 'New Labour' I think was practically banned. Many folk may struggle, but still see themselves as aspirational. Labour lost them as a detached bystander in New York ( David Milliband ) commented.

4) Scottish MPs will still be able to participate and vote on matters that there is no intention at all of devolving such as foreign affairs and defence and I believe a few others plus there will be cross-over matters and knock-on effect matters that will need sorted out as to their particiapation situation. Think they have a few views on defence, eg. trident.

Yes, with the Tories having anh overall majority, in the areas where thery will be participating and voting on, there influence will be a bit limited.

Nicola Sturgeon was either very silly or being two faced and crafty for long term SNP interests in making so clear that she wanted the Tories out and to 'help' Labour. To me this was always likely to put off many English voters with an image of Labour being too much influenced by the SNP. But a Tory government probably is in the longer term interests of the SNP in probably being more likely to disillusion Scots and make them more consider the SNP and independence. Hmm ...

Myself, if there was to be a majority government I am much happier that it is Tory rather than Labour. But I would have actually preferred another Con / Lib Dem coalition. I think it worked pretty well with the Lib Dems moderating the Tories and helping to put through some decent changes. Unfortunately they never really recovered from the tuition fees broken promise. 



-- Edited by indiana on Friday 15th of May 2015 03:49:55 PM

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Tennis legend

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Hmm, Indy, points 1) and 4) ?? Try 2) and 6) respectively. Problem with numbers have you ?

Otherwise terrific post

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Grand Slam Champion

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indiana wrote:

 

Myself, if there was to be a majority government I am much happier that it is Tory rather than Labour. But I would have actually preferred another Con / Lib Dem coalition. I think it worked pretty well with the Lib Dems moderating the Tories and helping to put through some decent changes. Unfortunately they never really recovered from the tuition fees broken promise. 



-- Edited by indiana on Friday 15th of May 2015 03:49:55 PM


 The Lib Dems certainly suffered the consequences of having been in government with the hard choices involved; think they made a bad error in trying to somehow pick and mix which aspects of 2010-2015 to take credit for and which to distance themselves from. Helping save the country from imminent bankruptcy should have had its reward if the cards had been played more effectively. It's hard to see the Lib Dems reclaiming their strongholds in the SW of England now they have been lost unless the economy goes badly awry over the next 5 years.

Scotland may yet be a happier hunting ground for them: I see that (I assume) there was much tactical voting going on in constituencies like Gordon and Edinburgh West with Con trying (but failing) to help LD beat SNP and even voting Lab to help them win in Edinburgh South; basically I'm guessing the 3 pro-union parties, if they are serious about deflating the SNP balloon are going to have to agree to coalesce around the most likely candidate in any given constituency. Easier said than done: as witnessed in Gordon this time! Maybe the lesson will have been learnt for next time in which case those several constituencies which had Con or LD second to SNP this time will not stay SNP; time will tell...

 

   



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County player

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emma wrote:

sadly the Earls Court Exhibition Centre is no more. the owners (Capco) decided to demolish it and build residential and retail units. lots of local opposition including mp's but in the end it was the power of the Mayor of London (a Mr Boris Johnson) who approved the plans for redevelopment.


Why is that sad? An old and redundant events venue gets turned into stuff for which there's a very high demand, thereby reducing London property prices. Sounds good to me.



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sad is an emotion you experience when a venue at which you have experienced many joyful events is knocked down, I have particularly fond memories of going to the motor show as a kid and indeed also enjoyed the penultimate event there, the British music awards.

i am somewhat puzzled by your inclination to suggest it may in anyway reduce Londons property prices, i can't see it having a significant impact.

Anyone for tennis?

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County player

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if you increase the supply of a commodity in a free market, then the price will fall. Hence building more housing in London will cause the price to fall.

I think it's true to say that most economists agree that the problem of unaffordable housing in London is best solved by building more of it, for example on the site of redundant commercial property like Earl's Court. Politicians of course tend to prefer non-market based solutions such as subsidies and rent controls. One only has only to look at Venezuela to see where this can end up - ie, no lavatory paper.

So fair play to Boris for preferring logic to sentiment.

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Tennis legend

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"if you increase the supply of a commodity in a free market, then the price will fall. Hence building more housing in London will cause the price to fall"

If demand continues to be greater than supply then the price will continue to rise. Only when supply is greater than demand will prices fall. So in the example in London demand continues to be greater than supply and the government seems to be trying to promote re-location to try and reduce demand i.e BBC to Manchester

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Tennis legend

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Just wondered if Boris/UK politicians/Trump and a whole heap of others would like to hear the words of Ardern and think on:

We are living in an increasingly polarised world, a place where more and more people have lost the ability to see one anothers point of view. I hope in this election New Zealand has shown that this is not who we are.

That as a nation we can listen, and we can debate. After all, we are too small to lose sight of other peoples perspective. Elections arent always great at bringing people together. But they also dont need to tear one another apart."

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mobile.twitter.com/davidlammy

The way David Lammy deals with this called, Jean, is impressive. I like Lammy a lot. Well worth a listen and then a long hard think.

And the point re the census is spot on- how can we not have a question that allows someone to identify at Black and English? Ridiculous and it makes us all need to stop and think about the society we live in .

 

edit - scroll to the videos from 29/30 March to see what I mean. I cant seem to link the specific tweet.



-- Edited by JonH comes home on Wednesday 31st of March 2021 11:37:26 PM

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Tennis legend

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In some jobs in regulated sectors, having a CCJ would disqualify you from the role. Just saying.

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In plain sight, Boris Johnson is rigging the system to stay in power

Weakening the courts, limiting protest, hobbling the elections regulator. If another country did this, what would we call it?

BoJo has set his sights early on a bill to reform judicial review, the process by which courts can overturn unlawful decisions by the government and others. Its taking action against the courts, shrinking their ability to hold the ruling party to account, curbing citizens right to protest and imposing new rules that would gag whistleblowers and sharply restrict freedom of the press. Its also moving against election monitors while changing voting rules, which observers say will hurt beleaguered opposition groups

I am not a hugely interested in politics, IMO too many posh, rich old boys, chumocracy  and not enough diversity (could also apply to the LTA hmm) but Keir Starmer has the reputation amongst his peers of being a decent, honest person. Wonder if BoJos would say the same? He cant even be honest about the number of children hes has! So Labour need to get their act together to become a viable alternative.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/01/boris-johnson-rigging-the-system-power-courts-protest-elections



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Tennis legend

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www.politico.eu/article/12-times-boris-johnsons-tories-party-during-lockdown/

An excellent little summary of the list of parties (and counting) .....

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