Current Affairs The General Election

[peteblue]

How did the financial crash cause austerity Pete? Run this one by me.

A crash that originated in the financial sector, that led to record debts being transferred to the government caused the poorest in society to pay the price because the debt figure was too high.Now with that debt figure over double the number in 2010 we actually don't need to make cuts, we can borrow tens of billions to spend according to Javid.

Pander me a little, if I were thinking of voting Tory, but said I can make no sense of that reasoning, could you suggest anything that could my mind at ease? I try to be objective as possible, but I can't make any sense of the Conservative fiscal policy. I'm open to conversion.

Nor can I. This is blatant disregard for fiscal prudence. It is an obvious attempt to meet spending promises made from Corbyn. May got trashed with Corbyn’s magic money tree, and now Boris is playing the game. The only thing in the Conservatives favour is that they won’t spend as much and they will grow the economy....

 

[peteblue]

He was probably involved in hundreds of cases and there are certainly mistakes. The CPS around rape is appalling (and has actually got worse since he left).

He clearly has top level experience though in a high pressure job. He would seem a lot more qualified to me to lead a party on the back of that.

His judgement is questionable and he has zero charisma, he would struggle to take people with him in my opinion....

 

[Disgruntledgoat]

I remember reading this little summary about his time in the CPS which I thought said it all....

Decided not to prosecute John Worboys for 75 sex assaults
Yet spent four years failing to prosecute 23 journalists

Insisted on prosecuting Paul Chambers for making a light-hearted joke on social media (the infamous Twitter joke trial)

Failed to build a case against Jimmy Savile and forced to apologise after being damned by report into failings

Repeatedly championed the innocence of convicted murderer who later admitted that he was actually guilty

Failed to prosecute police officer who killed newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson

Ordered the CPS in Wales to drop the prosecution of a primary school teacher who had been accused of sexting a 16 year old boy, who went on to commit suicide

Damning report into Starmer’s tenure at the CPS showed it was performing well below the necessary standard, with the report attributing part of the blame to a ‘overload of initiatives’ from the CPS’ national leadership

Survey of CPS staff found that just 12% of them thought that the organisation was being well managed under Starmer’s leadership

Accused of reopening a spurious sex abuse case involving a friend of Tom Watson – the accused was cleared in an hour

Chose not to prosecute two doctors accused of carrying out abortions on grounds of gender

mate I'm not sure the head of the CPS sits there doing a thumbs up/down decision on every case.

That's what they employ lawyers for.

 

[peteblue]

mate I'm not sure the head of the CPS sits there doing a thumbs up/down decision on every case.

That's what they employ lawyers for.

Indeed, and ministers employ legions of civil servants but the buck still stops at the top person.....the two killer issues for me are the ‘overload of initiatives’ and lack of confidence by the staff in his leadership...

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Of somewhere like Russia ?....

Aren't the Tory and Republican governments trying to be exactly like Russia at the moment?

 

[Jebus_lives]

Aren't the Tory and Republican governments trying to be exactly like Russia at the moment?

Yes but it's fine for them because they don't share the colour of communism. Keep up Bruce

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Yes but it's fine for them because they don't share the colour of communism. Keep up Bruce

Seriously.

- trying to break up the EU - check
- trying to disrupt the international order that America/the west had built, esp NATO - check
- cozying up to illiberal politicians, such as Orban - check
- using military intervention to interfere in foreign territories - check
- decrying the free press - check
- trying to manipulate the judiciary - check
- promote a highly macho version of politics - check

I mean thank goodness they haven't taken to riding a horse with their shirts off, but in everything else...

 

[Jebus_lives]

Seriously.

- trying to break up the EU - check
- trying to disrupt the international order that America/the west had built, esp NATO - check
- cozying up to illiberal politicians, such as Orban - check
- using military intervention to interfere in foreign territories - check
- decrying the free press - check
- trying to manipulate the judiciary - check
- promote a highly macho version of politics - check

I mean thank goodness they haven't taken to riding a horse with their shirts off, but in everything else...

Undermining democratic systems, supression of documents damaging to the Government...

A cynic might say that Boris has benefitted greatly from Russian activity in the UK...Salisbury was used to attack Corbyn and undermine May, referendum interference has paved his path to PM, all the while he gives sound bites about 'Poo-tin' to the press and how he's a strong man and would stand up against him, while trying to replicate his politics.

 

[catcherintherye]

What's odd is that Labour's Brexit position, to me at least, is the most sensible of the lot.

But they've communicated it like total cockwombles.

The hope has to be that "Election Mode" Corbyn can communicate it better, because at the moment they're perceived as ditherers.

All he has to say is "The Labour party policy is to rule out no deal and give the people the choice between a deal and remaining. Under no circumstances will we countenance no deal like the Tories, and we'll give the people a renewed choice unlike the Lib Dems."

Not hard, but they make it seem like a complex maths problem.

From what I can see, Labour's Brexit policy is almost identical to the Conservative policy in 2015. Namly negotiate a deal with the EU, put it to a vote, likely campaign in favour of staying (though this hasn't been confirmed). I don't remember such confusion then.

You are right though, Labour should be clearer re the Lib Dems and Revoke. They should go on the offensive on that, and say it's wholly unreasonable and the fairest way to do the above is to vote for Labour.

 

[catcherintherye]

His judgement is questionable and he has zero charisma, he would struggle to take people with him in my opinion....

Fair enough. For me he's Labour's stand out candidate. Opinions and all that.

 

[catcherintherye]

Nor can I. This is blatant disregard for fiscal prudence. It is an obvious attempt to meet spending promises made from Corbyn. May got trashed with Corbyn’s magic money tree, and now Boris is playing the game. The only thing in the Conservatives favour is that they won’t spend as much and they will grow the economy....

No fair post. I (as with most here) are clearly subjective but you try to be objective. I can't make sense of that fiscal plan. This is the strongest area of Conservatism and they seem to have thrown it away to chase McDonnell and Labour. I can't make sense of it, and in truth it has all the paw prints of Dominic Cummings.

If their message is reduced to essentially, we won't be quite as mental as Labour on spending Iam not sure it's going to play very well with their electorate. If I had been minded to vote for the Tories in 2010, 15 &17 I'd be a big bemused by it.

 

[Jebus_lives]

From what I can see, Labour's Brexit policy is almost identical to the Conservative policy in 2015. Namly negotiate a deal with the EU, put it to a vote, likely campaign in favour of staying (though this hasn't been confirmed). I don't remember such confusion then.

You are right though, Labour should be clearer re the Lib Dems and Revoke. They should go on the offensive on that, and say it's wholly unreasonable and the fairest way to do the above is to vote for Labour.

It is odd that the media, who consistently speak of extremes in regard to Brexit, are falling over themselves to pretend they find this a difficult concept, when it is really the epitome of compromise.

Labour think the best option is remain, but for the benefit of those that voted to leave, they will negotiate the best possible deal they can for the UK then out the options back to the public.

It really isn't all that difficult to understand.

It does however fall down when you ask what the will negotiate on and how they will get a better deal - though plenty said the only deal on offer was May's WA, which might favour a line that the EU are clearly willing to negotiate further.

 

[peteblue]

No fair post. I (as with most here) are clearly subjective but you try to be objective. I can't make sense of that fiscal plan. This is the strongest area of Conservatism and they seem to have thrown it away to chase McDonnell and Labour. I can't make sense of it, and in truth it has all the paw prints of Dominic Cummings.

If their message is reduced to essentially, we won't be quite as mental as Labour on spending Iam not sure it's going to play very well with their electorate. If I had been minded to vote for the Tories in 2010, 15 &17 I'd be a big bemused by it.

It‘s the lesser of two evils I’m afraid.....

 

[peteblue]

Fair enough. For me he's Labour's stand out candidate. Opinions and all that.

I think he’s too naive. I reckon Benn would make a better leader.....

 

[Jebus_lives]