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Post by bixaorellana on May 4, 2017 16:54:23 GMT
As cruel as a woman who is actually considering allowing US firms to take over NHS services?
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Post by patricklondon on May 5, 2017 9:14:18 GMT
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Post by mickthecactus on May 8, 2017 7:48:11 GMT
I live in a Conservative stronghold so there was no chance they would be beaten. However, local elections are a different matter to General Elections and I would vote for whoever I thought would be the best council. There were 4 candidates, Conservative, Labour, Liberal and UKIP. Only Conservative made any effort by putting a handbill through the door. The other 3 did nothing and I have no idea what they stood for. Why do they bother?
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Post by patricklondon on May 9, 2017 7:09:11 GMT
I live in a Conservative stronghold so there was no chance they would be beaten. However, local elections are a different matter to General Elections and I would vote for whoever I thought would be the best council. There were 4 candidates, Conservative, Labour, Liberal and UKIP. Only Conservative made any effort by putting a handbill through the door. The other 3 did nothing and I have no idea what they stood for. Why do they bother? You've answered your own question. Safe Tory seat, so no resources spent* on the relatively few numbers of serious citizens like you, but candidates on the ballot paper to get some sense of whether there's enough interest to be worth future attention. *I don't know how big your ward is, but it takes a serious number of volunteers to deliver even one leaflet, besides the printing costs. If there are people that keen to deliver (and that is not always the case, you'd be surprised how many party members think that paying the sub does it all), it may well be more effective to ask them to work in a target ward. My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by mickthecactus on May 9, 2017 7:49:17 GMT
I live in a Conservative stronghold so there was no chance they would be beaten. However, local elections are a different matter to General Elections and I would vote for whoever I thought would be the best council. There were 4 candidates, Conservative, Labour, Liberal and UKIP. Only Conservative made any effort by putting a handbill through the door. The other 3 did nothing and I have no idea what they stood for. Why do they bother? You've answered your own question. Safe Tory seat, so no resources spent* on the relatively few numbers of serious citizens like you, but candidates on the ballot paper to get some sense of whether there's enough interest to be worth future attention. *I don't know how big your ward is, but it takes a serious number of volunteers to deliver even one leaflet, besides the printing costs. If there are people that keen to deliver (and that is not always the case, you'd be surprised how many party members think that paying the sub does it all), it may well be more effective to ask them to work in a target ward. My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam" Catch 22 then. I can't vote for them unless they tell me what they are doing and they can't tell me what they are doing until I vote for them. Yossarian politics....
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Post by patricklondon on May 9, 2017 10:40:23 GMT
Catch 22 then. I can't vote for them unless they tell me what they are doing and they can't tell me what they are doing until I vote for them. You do have the option of actually asking. My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by mickthecactus on May 9, 2017 11:35:53 GMT
I'm not that keen Patrick!
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Post by patricklondon on May 11, 2017 14:03:51 GMT
The general election campaign is really starting to gear up. The local election results were more or less as expected (good for the Conservatives, bad for Labour, disastrous for UKIP, who lost all but one of the seats they were defending, so-so for the LibDems and Greens), which suggests Mrs May's gamble is going to pay off. Today nominations close, so we shall know exactly who is standing in each constituency, and the manifestoes will be published soon. Until now it's been a bit more like shadow-boxing, with the Conservatives rather mocked for so robotically repeating the phrase "strong and stable", and Mrs May's penchant for staging meetings where the audience consists virtually entirely of party activists rather than ordinary voters. A "soft" personality-style interview with her and her husband discussing their life together induced her to refer to different domestic tasks as "boy jobs and girl jobs", which may backfire. And some of her leading colleagues have fallen foul of the old photographer's trick when launching their new campaign billboard (which actually re-hashes one that worked well for them in 1992): Meanwhile, the Labour Party's plans for staged policy announcement and soft-focus appearances by Jeremy Corbyn have been up-ended by a leak of a draft of their manifesto and some leading spokespeople's shaky grasp of the figures for their policy commitments. And the Party Election Broadcasts have begun (for non-Britons, we don't allow paid political advertising on radio and TV, instead there's a fixed allocation of free time slots for each party, based IIRC on a formula relating to the number of candidates they're putting up, and on past success). The Conservatives only seem to be available on the BBC at the moment, so apologies if you can't see it where you are URL=http://autolycus-london.blogspot.com]My blog[/URL] | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by bixaorellana on May 11, 2017 14:46:17 GMT
Thanks for this, Patrick. I've been following news articles, but also the opinions posted by FB friends. It all comes down to my utter bafflement over anyone voting Conservative (or, in my own country, for the loathsome Republicans). What are the magic secret words those entities use to get regular people to vote against their own interests?
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Post by mickthecactus on May 11, 2017 15:31:07 GMT
I vote Conservative.
We should talk....
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Post by patricklondon on May 11, 2017 16:43:36 GMT
What are the magic secret words those entities use to get regular people to vote against their own interests? This year, "strong and stable". In general, it's a matter of persuading people that the seemingly bad news is either in their interests really or the fault of the other lot. My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by bjd on May 11, 2017 17:07:23 GMT
This popped up after I watched the two videos linked above. I don't know when it dates from, but some things don't seem to have changed a lot.
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Post by patricklondon on May 13, 2017 6:57:50 GMT
Now nominations have closed, we know for sure who's standing. There are two constituencies where I live, and these are the candidates: lovewapping.org/2017/05/tower-hamlets-general-election-candidates-2017/On paper, one would expect the sitting Labour MPs to be re-elected; and it's not as if there are any particularly interesting or wacky fringe candidates (to stand, you only need to put up a deposit of £500, which you get back if you get more than 5% of the votes, and a dozen or so local electors to sign your nomination form). The two nominal independents are, I think, associates of the former mayor who was disgraced and ejected by the electoral court for various misdemeanours arising, shall we say, from the very clientelistic politics on which he tried to build a career first through the Labour Party and then with his own organisation. And there's a man with a book to sell, though whether he'd get his £500 back from increased sales is anybody's guess. My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2017 15:03:45 GMT
You're lucky to have so few candidates. While that is also the case in most of rural France, in Paris we'll have at least 10 candidates everywhere -- won't know the full list until next Thursday, I think.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 13, 2017 15:16:37 GMT
Also very fortunate to have such a pro-active, news-filled website for the area residences. Do you ever write for it, Patrick?
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Post by patricklondon on May 13, 2017 16:05:18 GMT
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Post by patricklondon on May 13, 2017 17:42:19 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on May 13, 2017 19:21:03 GMT
You know what I love about stuff like that? It's that so much of it comes from regular people -- the same people that politicians like to think are stupid enough to blindly swallow what the politicians feed them.
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Post by patricklondon on May 23, 2017 10:27:10 GMT
With campaigning suspended for the day because of the Manchester attack and its aftermath, time for a recap of where we are now. The major party manifestoes have been published. Labour's plans a series of reverses of some of the more controversial cuts to benefits, and looks forward to a programme of "de-privatising" railways and water, and eye-catchingly a promise of no university tuition fees at all. There are detailed proposals for increased taxes on higher-earners, and the whole programme costed out in (somewhat disputed) detail. However, the press and media have been quick to seize on any evidence of uncertainty over facts and figures, inconsistencies and divergences over policy details, and any signs of ineptness in presentation. The Tories surprised by some very clearly different "moral mood music" as to values and objectives, and surprised by providing virtually no costings for their promises, relying on the assumption that they would be trusted as careful guardians of the public purse. The headline argument since has been about their proposals for raising funds for the likely increasing cost of social care for the elderly, in their own homes or in care homes: the ins and outs of it have led opponents to label the plans a "dementia tax" (in the past, the Tories derided Labour's plans as a "death tax"), with the subsequent attempts to clarify and explain it being labelled a sign of wobbling and U-turning (something Mrs May is a bit vulnerable on). On the other hand, Mrs May has been much mocked for her publicity barely mentioning the party label, and for a series of somewhat stage-managed meetings seemingly avoiding ordinary voters rather than party activists - until she was put on the spot; while Corbyn has been pulling out enthusiasts in some numbers. But although some opinion polls showed the gap between the two narrowing substantially, the overall impression is that the Tories are still well ahead (chiefly because they're hoovering up UKIP voters, which was one of the main aims of the whole exercise). Meanwhile, round my way, still little or no major signs of activity on the streets. This is a safe Labour seat. There are some window stickers around, but the only leaflet I've had is another one from LibDems, which is emphasising their plan for a second referendum on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations - which have barely featured in the general reporting of the national campaign. But I've had the official card telling me when and where to vote and what to do and not do when I get there. My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by bixaorellana on May 24, 2017 12:44:36 GMT
Solid gold information, Patrick -- thank you! Because of UK facebook friends I get to see a certain amount of commenting on UK politics. Oddly, I don't see a great deal of Tory propaganda from said fb friends, so your excellent overview definitely filled a gap for me.
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Post by patricklondon on May 24, 2017 13:04:34 GMT
For the sake of completeness, here's the Conservative Theresa May party election broadcast ( pass the sick-bag, Alice): Also the Greens (oh dear): And I suppose for future historical interest, if nothing else (you may prefer to stick pins in your eyes), UKIP: My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by patricklondon on May 30, 2017 17:05:42 GMT
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Post by mickthecactus on May 30, 2017 17:08:24 GMT
Dear oh dear. No wonder they are disappearing without trace.
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Post by patricklondon on May 30, 2017 17:16:30 GMT
And another gem, demonstrating just the deep-seated educational problems of some pupils in Wales that he complains about. Except, of course, that education is devolved to the Welsh Assembly, which is not what's being elected this time, or what he's standing for... My blog | My photos }| My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by mossie on May 30, 2017 19:28:07 GMT
We have the worst set of politicians ever, couldn't even get into a brewery, let alone organise anything anywhere.
I really despair for this poor old country, not sorry I won't have to endure it for much longer.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 31, 2017 20:10:12 GMT
While not being a fan of Jeremy Corbyn (not that it matters since I am not British), I am very much intrigued by the recent rise in his popularity. It seems to be exactly the same thing as happened in France when leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon started climbing in the polls just before the French presidential election. I have never liked Mélenchon either, even if I approve of a lot of his politics, and I would probably feel the same about Corbyn. Mélenchon is -- how to put it? -- a highly cultivated arrogant loudmouth. It sort of seems that Corbyn is the same. And just like in France, this has very much appealed to the militant student class of voters, which must not be ignored.
I no longer completely share their values (but yes, just a little), so I can't wait to see what happens during the election. From what I have read, Theresa May has neither been a great orator not does she really believe a lot of what she is forced to say (since she was against Brexit).
It is a relief to me to not be a British voter because I really would not know what to do.
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Post by fumobici on Jun 1, 2017 3:27:52 GMT
I'd far rather have a PM or other state who was boorish and unlikeable with whom I agreed on substantive policy than a charming and smooth one who I didn't agree with on those policies. That said, in the case of Corbyn vs. May, Corbyn is both correct on policy about a thousand times more often than May, but also far more personable and pleasant as well. May and her team have been so completely and utterly inept in running their election campaign that people are seriously wondering if they are perhaps intentionally trying to lose the election so as to avoid being tainted by with the coming complete trainwreck of a no-deal Brexit looming. I found the photo below in The Telegraph, aka the Torygraph, Latest News crawl on their website today. When even the Conservative house press is throwing the Tory PM under the bus like this, one must wonder whether they even want to win. Look at the Tory manifesto too, the "Dementia Tax" where they propose stealing the houses from dementia victims to pay for their home care, inhuman austerity directed against the weakest and most vulnerable while at the same time asking nothing of the privileged, their defense of fox hunting of all things as a featured plank of their platform, a hugely unpopular and cruel blood sport popular with equally unpopular posh nobs who lord over British society. It's hard to believe these were actually presumed by anyone as winning issues to bring to the fore. In contrast, Corbyn's Labour manifesto is pitch perfect for the times, hitting the populist themes of the day and promising a fairer, less mean country and better lives for the majority of common folk whom the Tories (and the execrable Blairite wing of Labour as well of course) despise and enjoy kicking down on with endless austerity and privatization of the public commons to immiserate and extract rents and profits from them to benefit only the already wealthy. I'm actually hoping the Tories prevail, but weakened and divided. Whomever gets left playing the cards Theresa May has chosen--hard Brexit with no deal-- will probably go down in infamy as among the most failed and reviled politicians in modern British history. The Tories are the ones who made the bed of nails they--and the UK--are about to leap onto, they should be the ones impaled upon it. We're going to witness one of the great political fiascos of our time, and I want the Tories to have to own it fully. The easily forseeable fallout should destroy them and leave them out of power for a decade or more and leave the door open for Corbyn and his wing of Labour to sweep in and clean up the god awful mess May has created.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jun 1, 2017 12:09:46 GMT
I'd far rather have a PM or other state who was boorish and unlikeable with whom I agreed on substantive policy than a charming and smooth one who I didn't agree with on those policies. That said, in the case of Corbyn vs. May, Corbyn is both correct on policy about a thousand times more often than May, but also far more personable and pleasant as well. May and her team have been so completely and utterly inept in running their election campaign that people are seriously wondering if they are perhaps intentionally trying to lose the election so as to avoid being tainted by with the coming complete trainwreck of a no-deal Brexit looming. I found the photo below in The Telegraph, aka the Torygraph, Latest News crawl on their website today. When even the Conservative house press is throwing the Tory PM under the bus like this, one must wonder whether they even want to win. Look at the Tory manifesto too, the "Dementia Tax" where they propose stealing the houses from dementia victims to pay for their home care, inhuman austerity directed against the weakest and most vulnerable while at the same time asking nothing of the privileged, their defense of fox hunting of all things as a featured plank of their platform, a hugely unpopular and cruel blood sport popular with equally unpopular posh nobs who lord over British society. It's hard to believe these were actually presumed by anyone as winning issues to bring to the fore. In contrast, Corbyn's Labour manifesto is pitch perfect for the times, hitting the populist themes of the day and promising a fairer, less mean country and better lives for the majority of common folk whom the Tories (and the execrable Blairite wing of Labour as well of course) despise and enjoy kicking down on with endless austerity and privatization of the public commons to immiserate and extract rents and profits from them to benefit only the already wealthy. I'm actually hoping the Tories prevail, but weakened and divided. Whomever gets left playing the cards Theresa May has chosen--hard Brexit with no deal-- will probably go down in infamy as among the most failed and reviled politicians in modern British history. The Tories are the ones who made the bed of nails they--and the UK--are about to leap onto, they should be the ones impaled upon it. We're going to witness one of the great political fiascos of our time, and I want the Tories to have to own it fully. The easily forseeable fallout should destroy them and leave them out of power for a decade or more and leave the door open for Corbyn and his wing of Labour to sweep in and clean up the god awful mess May has created. Your comments on the economic considerations of the Labour proposals and Corbyn's past IRA sympathies would be interesting.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 1, 2017 14:52:03 GMT
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Post by bjd on Jun 1, 2017 14:58:52 GMT
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