Blah Blah

I think some of the response here rahrah illustrates perfectly why the media get away with the lies they do. It doesn't matter how many times you point out the truth, people only want to see what they want to see.

Energy deregulation has not worked well though Jeremy. The big six have essentially price fixed and we are now buying gas we original sold to France at a higher price than we sold it for. And in spite of their profits, we still have to heavily subsidise the building of new power stations.

Starbucks isn't going to close its stores though, Amazon it's warehouses etc.

Indeed rahrah. It's choice between putting all the wealth in the hands of the employer, or in the hands of the employee. When employees are paid better, they spend on local services, products, housing etc - the money stays within the economy and in turn drives growth. When the corporation takes all the profit, it gets squirrelled offshore, not only avoiding paying tax, but taking money out of the economy. This is what McDonnell seeks to address. Yes there's a fine line between incentive and disincentive, when it comes to corporate and busness tax etc, but at the same time, companies like Amazon, Google, Starbucks etc are not going to pull out of any country just because they will make less profit. The corporate mentality is to dominate every market. This is why Starbucks was quite to agree a tax payment deal once called out on it.

DaveR Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The 'our government will...' bit is crap. JC and > JMcD are proper old school Marxist socialists - > they don't believe in entrepreneurs, or really in > the private sector at all. If you think that has > changed you're deluded. But that is also saying that a person can not shift their perspective over a lifetime. Do you still think the way you did, and believe in everything you believed in 20 years ago Dave? (I am assuming on your age but you know what mean). I know I don't. Peter Hitchens was a marxist and trotskyist in his student years. Look at him now!!! I've met John McDonnell a few times. In person, he is very charming and very bright. But I also know there is a raging bull in there too. Pure socialism relies on the state to own and provide everything. Do you really believe that is what John and Jeremy want to turn the eocnomy into? Because I think that is an equally deluded idea too. Our economy is a partnership between state and private business, just as it always has been and always will be. All Jeremy and John are seeking to do, is redress the balance between the two - because that is the ONLY way to generate wealth for the economy outside of income tax. It is also the only way to close equality and pay gaps and all the other things that keep most people struggling to make ends meet. So the pronciple at least is right. We may disagree though on how to achieve it. The one thing I do know for sure though, is that the Tories care nothing for any of that.

Yes, a very fair analysis rahrah.

I wouldn't be too sure about that party support for May *bob*. The tories are just better at hiding their differences than Labour, but Europe has widened an already large chasm within the party. Boris, from his comments over the weekend seems to be up to something, by trying to force action on article 50. I wouldn't be sure his ambitions to be party leader have not gone away either. Yes May would win an election today, but in two years? Labour won four council seats last week, two from the Tories and more interestingly, two from the SNP. Rahrah is right. As much as some may hate Corbyn, policy on education and fracking over the past couple of days are going for that middle ground, and Labour can do well from both those polices. Polls show two thirds of the electorate are against a return to grammar schools for example, and that nationalisation of the railways is a popular idea. This idea that a return to state investment in some areas and ownership in others is fundamentally bad is just nonsense. Most people didn't even know who Jeremy Corbyn was before he became leader. The media have been completely responsible for doing a hatchet job on him. And those problems with the PLP have never been about policy. Personally, I think Clive Lewis is the leader we need. He's on the left but would appeal to middle england. Jeremy gets into trouble on the things he cares most about - defense and foreign policy. Those are things that will lose an election. On domestic policy though, that pay gap has to close. People can not continue to be ripped off by corporations and private landlords etc. The tories have never been interested in doing anything about that.

May was not elected by party members. It never went to a second round election, because Leasedom stepped down. In the first round of Tory party elections, it is the MP's who vote, to narrow it down to two. Only then do the membership have a say. So May is were she is, chosend by a few hundred Tory MPs. No public mandate whasoever in ANY form. Before Miliband, Labour selected it's leaders in the following way. One third of the vote from MPs, One third from Affiliates (unions), one third from Members. It is only since Miliband that one member one vote has existed. Given that those changes were endorsed by both conference and the then NEC, it's a bit rich for those same people to now be calling for a return to the college system because they don't like what the changes they endorsed have delivered.

It might advice you'd be better taking Grok, then there would be no need for I or anyone else to call you out on your attitude would there?

I just think it's better to say nothing at all sometimes Robert, if one can't say something helpful. Assumptions can also be tricky. People are not equally resourceful. Sometimes it's better to be kind than judgemental.

Wow Elphinstone. Please forgive us for not understanding yours and Grok's inability to let people be. Get over yourselves. You don't have a divine right to tell people what to say, write or think, let alone to be rude about it.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets

Pretty sure they can't enforce it as it's not a parking fine.

Drugs taken in combination with others behave differently than on their own. This is why there is no use comparing those who deliberately cheat with combinations of drugs over those being perscribed single drugs for underlying conditions. Asthma, it has to be remembered, kills people. And athletes at that level are putting huge stress on their bodies. Personally, I trust the medical professionals who draw up the rules to make the right call on these issues.

The council leader is always drawn from the elected council. It has always been that way.

The project began under the previous Libdem Council so it's not just Labour councillors who are poor on this. Lambeth council are going much further and ignoring tenant/ leaseholder consultation altogether. The government has promised increased tenant/ leaseholder powers on the process and decisions made and I think the governments ruling on this is the start of that process. It's one thing to regenerate an area or estate, it's another when you lock out sitting tenants and leaseholders from the plans and benefits of that regeneration.

Did you actually read the OP Grok. Where does it say the OP hasn't tried to find a contact? She was simply asking for a heads up on the right person to go to, not asking for people to look up numbers for her. You really are an ass.

Was disaapointed at council leader Peter John's response to the decision on the news last night. On what planet do the council think it ok to not give leaseholders the market value of their homes?

I agree with you both. The centre ground is broadly where the electorate have always stood, or the swing vote that decides elections at least. The Libdems I feel, are going to struggle though, in the short term. More interesting to watch will be UKIP without Farage at the helm. Farage is bigger than UKIP, and a lot of UKIP voters were voting for him rather than the party. I can't personally see him keeping his oar out for long either. As for Labour and the Tories, I think they both have trouble ahead. May is going to struggle to keep her party together through Brexit as much as Corbyn is going to struggle to stay at the helm of Labour. And we have no way of knowing what the electorate are going to make of it all. President Trump is even looking like a distinct possibility now too. I half wonder as well, if this induced crisis over the EU may come to be a bigger crisis than the 2008 crash.

I think you are spot on Jenny. History always repeats and we never learn. UKIP and the SNP have been around for a long time. It's no accident that the swings to them comes in the aftermath of a huge financial crash. In turn, Cameron pampered to those sentiments to win the last election. And it can be argued that by not pampering to those sentiments, Corbyn will never win the next election. It's not reocket science.

DaveR dismissed a view as horseshit without offering any insight into why. He got the reposte he deserved for it. I don't understand why you are seeking to now make something out of it. You are over reacting. Really you are.

It's not like you LM to pick such frivolous fights. DaveR has shown no regard for the impact of this government's policies on the poorest before. I don't thnk Lordship has said anything out of turn.

There is also that saying that any ideology that fails to reign in it's extremes and excesses, becomes a corrupt one. That also is as true for the left as it is for the right.