Current Affairs 2017 General Election

[Old Blue 2]

That is a daft argument, though.

The deterrent exists, the majority (vast majority) of Parliament support it and its renewal, as does his party. The system doesn't rely on him "pushing the button", indeed its specifically designed to minimize the involvement of the political leadership (unlike the American system, which requires explicit authority to launch). Whether or not he would launch is an utter irrelevance as long as the system exists in the form that it is in, so to criticize him for things that would never happen is bizarre.

Agreed. As I put in my post #5001, if push came to shove, if the USA was attacked, it would be THEM telling us to let loose with everything to supplement what they were (already) doing.

All this crap about what Corbyn would or would not do is a red herring. He would kept out of the military game...

 

[davek]

Quite agree. And I think their misjudgement is on two fronts.

First: Not realising the voting base in the early part of the century and in the 2010 election has moved on a decade or so in age, and a certain proportion are now around the 60 mark. To alienate that part of their voting pool is a risk that I do not think they have taken into account.

Second: The grey-haired old gets like me are now a lot more computer-savvy than we were a decade or so ago. Not only do we hear views on the TV, but we can tap in a whole raft of additional information on the internet. Now cynical old sods of my generation, myself included, can see politicians and their views a whole lot clearer, and ALSO, via forums that hold discussions such as this one, glean a lot more information. This is also an unknown variable in the forthcoming election.

It will be most interesting next week - God give me the strength to stay up as long as I can on Thursday night/Friday morning to see the results roll in! I believe it will be closer than many suggest...

I think a slim Tory majority that allows them to inherit the full Brexit disaster is the LP's (and the country's) best result. Let them reap the whirlwind while the LP continues to expand in membership numbers and the left tightens their grip on the party and turns it even further away from the Blairite zombies who infest the party and who are continuing, even now, to drag it down.

A crisis and an election in three years time, IMO.

 

[Clint Planet]

I think a slim Tory majority that allows them to inherit the full Brexit disaster is the LP's (and the country's) best result. Let them reap the whirlwind while the LP continues to expand in membership numbers and the left tightens their grip on the party and turns it even further away from the Blairite zombies who infest the party and who are continuing, even now, to drag it down.

A crisis and an election in three years time, IMO.

They can cause an awful lot of damage to the schools system and NHS in that time, sadly.

 

[Walken]

By the time today's youngsters decide to bother to turn up and vote they'll be middle aged Tories. That's how life progresses, at least for many.

IMO the young don't vote because they haven't learnt the life lesson... that actions are far more important than words. Being ideological and opinionated is all well and good, but its also hypocritical if you can't actually be bothered to go to the voting booth to cast your vote and then blame those who did for wrecking the country because they have actually learnt some important life lessons. Youth is wasted on the young.

Genuinely never once witnessed this, seen obvious closet racists and morons turn to UKIP, but never once witnessed anyone turn tory, if anything I've only seen it the other way round, when people realise there is more to life than being a selfish money grabber, or that the media has pulled the wool over their eyes

 

[ClausThomsen]

Agreed. As I put in my post #5001, if push came to shove, if the USA was attacked, it would be THEM telling us to let loose with everything to supplement what they were (already) doing.

All this crap about what Corbyn would or would not do is a red herring. He would kept out of the military game...

A red herring indeed. PM's do not have the authority to take military action without Parliament's consent do they? As such would there not be a predetermined variety of military responses according to the nuclear scenario? More a constitutional (not sure if that's the right word) process which is taken out of parliaments hands than a democratic one?

 

[davek]

They can cause an awful lot of damage to the schools system and NHS in that time, sadly.

I know. It's not ideal. But if the LP inherited this they might minimize the rougher edges of it but still be blamed for incompetency and they'll be out of power for a lot longer than the next three years, which is what i think this Tory omni-shambles has left ahead of it.

 

[Walken]

My apologies to any younger forum members,but the young do their politicking on social media,when the time comes to actually put their mark on a ballot paper something more important usually pops up...or it's raining.

Social media has only really existed for the past two general elections, and the youth vote was up in both of them.

Thats a paddling

 

[ToffeeTim]

My opinion is that the LP are going to take a lot of votes in the north and midlands and seats with it.

YouGov predicting hung parliament territory after their CON 42%-LAB 38% poll today.

I dont think so. The Tories can still get a decent majority but it''ll be seen as failure.

The LP left comes out of this campaign as the big winners, IMO. They'll have reinforced their right to go with a left agenda in the LP as they will have avoided a landslide thumping that a centre-left/right candidate of Labours would have suffered.

I expect a slightly increased tory majority tbh. And yes a lot of tories will be demanding 3 figure majorities and out to get Theresa when she doesn't deliver, but a majority of say 50 is still not a victory for Labour in any way. Clutching at straws to claim it is.

The other issue for Labour is that there is no way on earth that the tory party will let such a woeful campaigner as May lead the party into another election. This might actually have been there best chance of getting back into power. All ifs and buts at this stage tho.

 

[davek]

I expect a slightly increased tory majority tbh. And yes a lot of tories will be demanding 3 figure majorities and out to get Theresa when she doesn't deliver, but a majority of say 50 is still not a victory for Labour in any way. Clutching at straws to claim it is.

The other issue for Labour is that there is no way on earth that the tory party will let such a woeful campaigner as May lead the party into another election. This might actually have been there best chance of getting back into power. All ifs and buts at this stage tho.

Brexit reality will kill whatever party is in power for years to come. Changing May for some other leader wont stop that.

 

[tsubaki]

They can cause an awful lot of damage to the schools system and NHS in that time, sadly.

... and the rest. Prison deaths are up 100% since 2010, the probation service is in absolute meltdown with violent criminals "missing", in London more police stations are going to close and be sold off and there will be less officers to do more work, and the NHS (and especially the Ambulance services) are very near to the point where a couple of major incidents at the same time and in the same area would break them.

 

[tsubaki]

Agreed. As I put in my post #5001, if push came to shove, if the USA was attacked, it would be THEM telling us to let loose with everything to supplement what they were (already) doing.

All this crap about what Corbyn would or would not do is a red herring. He would kept out of the military game...

Indeed. We actually share "our" missiles with them.

 

[ToffeeTim]

Brexit reality will kill whatever party is in power for years to come. Changing May for some other leader wont stop that.

I don't think that will be the case personally.

 

[ClausThomsen]

Genuinely never once witnessed this, seen obvious closet racists and morons turn to UKIP, but never once witnessed anyone turn tory, if anything I've only seen it the other way round, when people realise there is more to life than being a selfish money grabber, or that the media has pulled the wool over their eyes

I've seen it. A lad I knew went from being a Socialist Labour sort to utter Tory. His girlfriend's rich dad found out she was pregnant and realised she wasn't packing him in so he gave him a good job to stop her being shacked up with a "loser". He's since been given various do-nothing roles where he can't do the firm any harm.

He's completely deluded himself that he's pulled himself up by the bootstraps when the reality is he's basically his Father-in-Laws beneficiary. It'll be interesting to hear his political views if his missus ever bins him off.

 

[ClausThomsen]

It isn't that unusual - of all the people at our work, only a couple of people have explicitly said who they are going to vote for.

I don't think that's the gist of it. The poll asks if you've decided who you're going to vote for.

70% said Yes, they know who they're voting for.
21% said No, they haven't decided who to vote for.

Both understandable stances. However, 9% said they don't know whether they've decided or not. How can you not know if you've decided or not? It's a yes/no question.

 

[Clint Planet]