Election Time - 2024

[Sephiroth]

Finally 

 

Don't let the door hit ye on the way out lads

[malumbu]

Damn, I was about to start a thread with a countdown.  It's 44 days but I'd prefer a tracker in seconds to around 03.00 on 5 July.  Good news is some of the nonsense legislation they were trying to rush through will be stopped.  Does it mean that the infected blood products compensation scheme will be put back, and similarly post office sub-postmasters stuff will go on hold as well?  I expect the latter is still dependent on the outcome of the inquiry, which I feel Sunak should not have upstaged this in the day that Paula Vennels gives evidence.

I'm hoping that the new government will do a lot more to support the environment, cleaner rivers, air etc.

[SpringTime]

This is very concerning. Please, who do I need to speak to about my holiday to Rwanda? 🇷🇼 

[Sephiroth]

Springers, I can only express sympathy if your holiday in Rwanda is affected

You can however, celebrate Liberation Day in Rwanda which is held on same day as the U.K. election !

[SpringTime]

Uncanny, Seph! 👏 

[malumbu]

Hope this helps: https://www.arsenal.com/visit-rwanda

[KidKruger]

13 hours ago, Sephiroth said:

Finally 

 

Don't let the door hit ye on the way out lads

The end of a decade and a half of gaslighting, they must be exhausted. Oh boy, are we going to hear some coercive BS in the next 6 weeks.

For some reason they don’t seem to be boasting about how well we are doing in education, crime and policing, fishing, agriculture, health, prisons, trade, trade agreements, immigration, transportation, utilities (including water), amongst other things.

They seem to be focussing on exporting individual ‘illegal’ immigrants to Africa for more than it costs to take a journey into space. And rainbow-coloured lanyards for use within the civil service. I wonder why?🤔

 

 

[John OShea]

 

20 minutes ago, John OShea said:

Vote for me!

Edited May 24 by John OShea

[Spartacus]

Don't be silly John, this will be the new PM (his policies make as much sense as anyones) 

 

[malumbu]

Anything nutty today? - I'm expecting bringing back hanging, and corporal punishment. 

[malumbu]

Oooh something I thought I'd like from the Tories, getting rid of Mickey Mouse degrees - hopefully starting with PPE

Cameron, Truss, Suank, Hunt, Hilton, Hague and the like

But looking at the wiki list, there are many Labour and other MPs and some I actually have some respect for.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_Oxford_people_with_PPE_degrees 

Have a look at the list, it may surprise you

[Earl Aelfheah]

He looks like he'd be rather in favour of Mickey Mouse degrees

[Spartacus]

After watching the two main contenders on itv tonight, abandon all hope is my only comment 

Neither could answer a straight question with conviction IMHO.

 

[Sephiroth]

More than the 2 contestants, the format and production was the main fault last night - allowing 45 seconds for an answer will get you those responses from any 2 candidates

Awful show

[HeadNun]

It was an absolute shit show. And so much anger coming from both sides, not becoming at all (was surprised how riled cool Rishi was getting). 

Agree about the format, it was lazy, whatsherchops wasn't asking pertinent questions, she was just going for binary yesses or nos. The producers didn't force either side to drill down on anything, just make commitments so they got good soundbites. 

If I hear 'my father was a tool maker' / my wife's a nurse / my father was a GP one more time... as if any of those things qualify anyone to fix / understand anything. 

[Sephiroth]

"If I hear 'my father was a tool maker' / my wife's a nurse / my father was a GP one more time... as if any of those things qualify anyone to fix / understand anything. "

 

yeah but that's not the point here - many (most?) of the people watching last night are the voters who tend not to pay much attention to Westminster and may well buy the "they are all the same - born into money and detached from real life" - so Starmer's story, as overplayed as it is to you and me will be news to many

[HeadNun]

Surely you'd have to have been living under a rock for the last four years not to know that Starmer's father was a toolmaker. It's so tired and reeks of desperation. If he had any dynamism or big ideas, he wouldn't have to fall back on it time and time again. 

Having said that, I do completely understand that big ideas are nigh impossible when he's going to be inheriting problems that are, frankly, beyond any government's ability to fix. Or fix any time soon. 

Also, I don't believe for a second that, if one of Starmer's nearest and dearest was critically ill, they wouldn't go private. Anyone who has the means would, if it were a choice between life and death. The public isn't stupid, I just don't think it buys this kind of nonsense. It wants honesty, surely now more than ever. 

Edited June 5 by HeadNun

[Angelina]

And Sunak is a tool

[malumbu]

Rather puerile comment.  And I'm not sure what the comment about Starmer and critical care was about.  If you are in a life threatening situation it's 999 whoever you are https://www.mytribeinsurance.co.uk/knowledge/is-there-a-private-a-e-in-the-uk

Edited June 5 by malumbu

[diable rouge]

''Would you go private to save a loved one's life'' is a typical journalistic gotcha type question.

Instead, the question should be, why has  the NHS been run down to such an extent  that people are put in that predicament in the first place?...

[Earl Aelfheah]

On 05/06/2024 at 10:24, HeadNun said:

It was an absolute shit show. And so much anger coming from both sides, not becoming at all (was surprised how riled cool Rishi was getting). 

Not sure were you're getting 'cool rishi' from. I thought he had quite a reputation for being tetchy.

[HeadNun]

1 minute ago, Earl Aelfheah said:

Not sure were you're getting 'cool rishi' from. I thought he had quite a reputation for being tetchy.

Yeah you're right. I realised later that he does flap and is clearly v sensitive to criticism. 

[Spartacus]

Loving the escalation of promises that the parties are spouting at the moment. 

The sound bites are great, todays are more prison places or more funding for mental health but as always the devil is in the detail.

How exactly are they going to deliver each election promise? 

Throwing money at something is the start but then they have to build or train or recruit to make it happen which is where the real work to deliver occurs. 

Personality i'm taking anything each party says with a huge pinch of salt and then looking at how they will deliver to understand if its achievable or not.

For example saying we will fix the NHS by giving it x billion doesn't explain where they will get the staff from to make change happen, Dr's and Nurses can't be trained in a week 😉  so where's the details of the plans behind the soundbites? 

Regardless the next 4 years, no matter who wins, are going to be hard and interesting. 

[malumbu]

Just wondering when the main parties will own up and say not just COVID and Ukraine that has put us in the precarious financial position but also Osbourne's unnecessary austerity and Brexit 

[HeadNun]

It doesn't really matter anymore how we got here, everyone's far too fixated on blaming one thing / one party / one person. (I notice Mal you haven't mentioned Truss in there). 

What matters is how the next government is going to get us out. And, as Spartacus says, it's likely that no government can, not in the next term anyway. Labour will win this election and, as they won't be able to make any meaningful dent in the country's problems (which are also about poor infrastructure, outsized by population and slow growth), the Tories will be back in in five years.