UK Parliamentary General Election 8th June 2017

[Josquius]

They went a lot further than I thought they would in some areas and not as far as I feared in others. Sounds great.

Of course the americanisation of the UK has gone too far. Saw an interview with a market trader the other day - "I've always voted labour. But I'm not a socialist. I hate socialism." Jesus wept 

[Tamas]

They went a lot further than I thought they would in some areas and not as far as I feared in others. Sounds great.

Of course the americanisation of the UK has gone too far. Saw an interview with a market trader the other day - "I've always voted labour. But I'm not a socialist. I hate socialism." Jesus wept

Closing the coal mines was necessary. Deal with it, finally.

[garbon]

They went a lot further than I thought they would in some areas and not as far as I feared in others. Sounds great.

Sounds like a pack of lies that they'll never get accomplished even if they were miraculously put in power. I know politicians have to lie, I just wish they didn't have to make the lies so...grandiose. Leads to unrealistic expectations among voters.

[Josquius]

I doubt they'll accomplish it all. The phased elimination of tuition fees will likely stall after a few reductions.
But at least it would be a step in the right direction.

[garbon]

I doubt they'll accomplish it all. The phased elimination of tuition fees will likely stall after a few reductions.
But at least it would be a step in the right direction.

Yeah but see I could then see if they said this is policy aim that we eventually want to work for. Promising that they'll do all those things, we know they are lies but just accept them 'as a step in the right direction'.

[Josquius]

I doubt they'll accomplish it all. The phased elimination of tuition fees will likely stall after a few reductions.
But at least it would be a step in the right direction.

Yeah but see I could then see if they said this is policy aim that we eventually want to work for. Promising that they'll do all those things, we know they are lies but just accept them 'as a step in the right direction'.

Meh. It's political speak in general.
You have to promise you will do x even though you can't know for sure if you can do it. I'll try to do x though more honest is less impactful.
Goes beyond politics too.

At the least here labour is making new grand promises.
Not like the Tories with the same promise they have completely and utterly failed with for the past 7 years: "we will reduce immigration to the tens of thousands!"... It has actually gone up and they haven't even tried to control much of it.

[garbon]

I doubt they'll accomplish it all. The phased elimination of tuition fees will likely stall after a few reductions.
But at least it would be a step in the right direction.

Yeah but see I could then see if they said this is policy aim that we eventually want to work for. Promising that they'll do all those things, we know they are lies but just accept them 'as a step in the right direction'.

Meh. It's political speak in general.
You have to promise you will do x even though you can't know for sure if you can do it. I'll try to do x though more honest is less impactful.
Goes beyond politics too.

At the least here labour is making new grand promises.
Not like the Tories with the same promise they have completely and utterly failed with for the past 7 years: "we will reduce immigration to the tens of thousands!"... It has actually gone up and they haven't even tried to control much of it.

To some extent sure. Troubling though as it is what allows someone like candidate Trump to then glide into making completely false claims non-stop.

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2017/may/15/general-election-2017-may-workers-rights-corbyn-nhs-politics-live

The prime minister was quizzed about housing and mental health as she toured the centre of Abingdon. May chatted with stallholders on the market during the 11-minute visit. One member of the public told her she was the "best of a bad bunch".

"I'll take that as flattering," May replied.

[Tamas]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2017/may/15/general-election-2017-may-workers-rights-corbyn-nhs-politics-live

The prime minister was quizzed about housing and mental health as she toured the centre of Abingdon. May chatted with stallholders on the market during the 11-minute visit. One member of the public told her she was the "best of a bad bunch".

"I'll take that as flattering," May replied.

I am guessing that's the sentiment that's going to give her unprecedented control over the UK in less than a month, but it is not fair. What do we know about her so far?

- she was able to come out on top in the internal leadership contest, against a bunch of creepy textbook political villains. This would probably make even Frank Underwood sweat and shiver so it is impressive on its own right but hardly an endorsement of her as a person of integrity

- she quite obviously put her personal interests over the country's when she named Boris Johnson foreign secretary. I am sure Boris has the ability to be good in a number of cabinet positions, but the only one you could be sure to see him fail utterly was the foreign office. This was an extremely thinly veiled trap to end his political career, with no regard to the damage he will do.

And that's about it.

[Gups]

What do we know about her so far?

Well, she was Home Secretary (the toughest job in British politics) for 6 years so we know quite a lot more than that about her.

[mongers]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2017/may/15/general-election-2017-may-workers-rights-corbyn-nhs-politics-live

The prime minister was quizzed about housing and mental health as she toured the centre of Abingdon. May chatted with stallholders on the market during the 11-minute visit. One member of the public told her she was the "best of a bad bunch".

"I'll take that as flattering," May replied.

I am guessing that's the sentiment that's going to give her unprecedented control over the UK in less than a month, but it is not fair. What do we know about her so far?

A bit like a stick of Blackpool rock, cut her in half and you're find the word authoritarian running throughout.

[Tamas]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2017/may/15/general-election-2017-may-workers-rights-corbyn-nhs-politics-live

The prime minister was quizzed about housing and mental health as she toured the centre of Abingdon. May chatted with stallholders on the market during the 11-minute visit. One member of the public told her she was the "best of a bad bunch".

"I'll take that as flattering," May replied.

I am guessing that's the sentiment that's going to give her unprecedented control over the UK in less than a month, but it is not fair. What do we know about her so far?

A bit like a stick of Blackpool rock, cut her in half and you're find the word authoritarian running throughout.

Well, that should not be a problem in the sense that a modern democracy should have enough checks and balances to stop tyrants from rising, that's the whole point of it.


The  "let's just vote Tory so they win big and can sort out this mess" sentiment has me worried a bit because that was the Hungarian sentiment in 2009 before the first absolute majority granted to our "center-right" people's person Mr. Orban.
I fee slightly guilty because while I did not vote on him I shared the sentiment: I figured they are arrogant pricks but at least with a 2/3rd majority shit would get done to lift us out of the post-communist asshatery. Oh, how utterly wrong I was.

So I am looking at how this election is shaping up in terms of quality of opposition to the conservatives and I am having an unpleasant deja vu. Luckily the UK should be less prone to going that route.

[mongers]

....

Well, that should not be a problem in the sense that a modern democracy should have enough checks and balances to stop tyrants from rising, that's the whole point of it.


The  "let's just vote Tory so they win big and can sort out this mess" sentiment has me worried a bit because that was the Hungarian sentiment in 2009 before the first absolute majority granted to our "center-right" people's person Mr. Orban.
I fee slightly guilty because while I did not vote on him I shared the sentiment: I figured they are arrogant pricks but at least with a 2/3rd majority shit would get done to lift us out of the post-communist asshatery. Oh, how utterly wrong I was.

So I am looking at how this election is shaping up in terms of quality of opposition to the conservatives and I am having an unpleasant deja vu. Luckily the UK should be less prone to going that route.

Read up on the Investigatory powers act 2016.

[garbon]

The  "let's just vote Tory so they win big and can sort out this mess" sentiment has me worried a bit because that was the Hungarian sentiment in 2009 before the first absolute majority granted to our "center-right" people's person Mr. Orban.

I thought it was less that and more, who else should they vote for? Labour is a shambles and certainly not ready to lead the country. Corbyn really not even prepared to lead his party...

Then you've Lib Dems who stand for what exactly? Just differentiating themselves from other parties?

Greens? UKIP?

[Valmy]

Then you've Lib Dems who stand for what exactly? Just differentiating themselves from other parties?

I don't get it. They have been around for decades, and are the heirs of a party that was founded in 1859, and have been in government before. They are liberal and pro-Europe. That seems pretty distinct to me. What do you need? A little orange book? The Lib-Dem Manifesto? How is what they stand for some kind of secret mystery?