Earl Aelfheah

Alan Medic Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Should wealth be redistributed is an interesting question. Those > who say it should are probably not wealthy. This is simply not the case. If it were then the Labour Party would not have any wealthy supporters.

You suggested we live in a meritocracy (which implies that those who work hard get rewarded .. the single mum working three jobs and still struggling to get by might disagree). I don't believe we live in a meritocracy. I think that the system is very much stacked in favour of certain people and that there needs to be a degree of redistribution to go some way towards remedying that. And actually, On a more fundamental level I just think that we ought to look out for each other. There but for the grace of god etc. Lots of torys think that they've earned everything they have (even those who've inherited their wealth) and and that there's some sort of divine justice at play where everyone gets what they deserve. It's demonstrably nonsense.

It's the Tory narrative of course. If you work hard then you can succeed. If you work hard you might succeed. If your born in a certain time and place and have a few lucky breaks professionally you can succeed with little effort. It's not a level playing field and there is a lot if luck involved in diced. The idea of our living in a meritocracy is nonsense.

The idea that people 'get what they deserve' is hopelessly naive and ignores the fact that your life chances, if you grow up on an estate in a deprived area of wales say, are hugely limited compared to the kid who goes to a private school in the SE. I have worked with plenty of pretty slow, rather lazy, but successful people. On most objective measures I could consider myself to be reasonably successful, but I don't for one minute think there aren't smarter or harder working people out there who are struggling to get by. This is the problem with the Conservative perspective.

Awful. Thoughts go out to those caught up in it.

Well there it is. Vote Labour and the UK will be like the USSR under Stalin. You can't say you haven't been warned.

I question the idea that we live in a meritocracy where only the brightest and most hard working succeed (and by implication that the poor are somehow mentally or morally deficient and / or lazy and fecklessness). Also the US is classless? Hmmm. Yes, I think it's fair to say that this is a naive worldview.

...kind of just proved my point btw.

Yeah OK. Democracy itself is at peril if Labour get in. 🙄

Lovely Freudian slip from Duncan Smith:

Wow, that is an incredibly naive post.

...and whilst I'm sure some on social media might say that of her, no left wing paper or Labour MP would put that forward as a serious allegation. The mainstream right is ridiculous with the hyperbole when it comes to Corbyn.

...there aren't 'reds under the bed' and despite what the more hysterical papers might say, Corbyn is not any kind of 'extremist'. It's like insisting that May is a fascist.

You're perfectly entitled to your views, but if you think he's going to usher in a communist regime, well I think your mistaken (to put it kindly).

The right are also obsessed with describing anything remotely in the centre or to the left of politics as communist. It's silly really. A mixed economy and a democratic society is nothing to do with communism.

I don't get how Boris is still in front bench politics.

Uncleglen perfectly encompasses the Conservative mindset... 'The money I have, I worked hard for. Therefore anyone with less can't be working hard enough'. It's faulty logic and it's egocentric.

Boris Johnsons behaviour gets more and more bizarre. He is a spoilt bully.

Top 5% in terms of income means those bringing in over 70K. I just point this out because no one ever thinks they're 'well off', but actually if you're being paid that amount or more, objectively, you really are. Personally I think people should pay their taxes and be proud to contribute. I know for a fact that I'm not anymore deserving than the single mum working shifts for minimum wage. People should recognise their good fortune to have been born in a certain time and place and to have got some lucky breaks.

titch juicy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Haven't the Telegraph been fairly critical of May > in recent days, or did I imagine that? > > Also, do the polls allow for the silent Tory > voters. That's historically a thing isn't it? Tory > voters who won't admit to being so until marking > the ballot paper? The Telgraph is a joke. take a look. It's basically a conservative campaign pamphlet.

http://visual.ons.gov.uk/welfare-spending/

Someone is flytipping dog poo?!?!

May's response to being asked about why she's sending Rudd to debate in her place is pure David Brent.

I challenge anyone to watch this clip and then tell me that May is strong and stable: https://mobile.twitter.com/BBCNews/status/869908350019829760/video/1

Most popular whine in Peckham 'Dalston has got so mainstream'.