General Election 2024

[BFTD]

2 minutes ago, Jives Miguel said:

Does anyone think we'll ever have a genuine economically left of center government again? 

Depends on whether or not the proles resort to violence before the military-grade AI drones are affordable and working correctly.

Even then, based on current trends, the popular revolt might be based on the assumption that society isn't fascist enough.

[scottsdad]

Here's what I (still) fail to understand. 

Taxes are at their highest level. And national debt trebled under the Tories; they borrowed more than every government in history put together. So, loads of money coming in. 

Aside from the top-slicing to Tory donors, what has the money been spent on? Not public services. Not infrastructure. Furlough was a small part of this but aside from that, where has the money gone?

[jakedee]

In an already overstretched NHS, where are these "supervisors" going to come from?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/28/national-service-young-people-beneficial-military

[Granny Danger]

7 minutes ago, jakedee said:

In an already overstretched NHS, where are these "supervisors" going to come from?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/28/national-service-young-people-beneficial-military

You seem to be implying that this policy has not been thought out and is just being made up on the hoof by a desperate, out-of-his-depth, soon to be ex-PM.

Shame on you.

[GNU_Linux]

As a alternative to the military statue defending should be part of national service imo

[scottsdad]

Sounds like a rehash of David Cameron's scheme to get folk on benefits working a full week for no pay to boost their self esteem. 

Simon Jenkins is a tit. 

[Florentine_Pogen]

DRoss launches Tory's Scottish election campaign. No mention of Sunak or Westminster policies.

"Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, has launched his party’s general election campaign with a speech where he barely mentioned Westminster or Tory policies, and never once said Rishi Sunak’s name.

In another mark of how the Tories are focusing heavily on local campaigns and not their record, Ross devoted his speech to attacking the Scottish National party government in Edinburgh and the SNP’s sleaze row over Michael Matheson’s iPad expenses claim.

He failed to mention Sunak’s new pledge not to tax pensions, or the cuts to national insurance rates, or the tens of millions spent by the UK in Scottish regions, until those policies were raised by newspaper reporters.

Ross was speaking in the Tory target seat of Perth and Kinross-shire, a newly-created constituency, and said this election was solely about defeating the SNP and attacking its “stale and rotten” government in Edinburgh.

The full colour four page campaign leaflet for local Tory candidate Luke Graham, formerly an MP for a nearby pre-boundary change seat, did not name Sunak and had minimal Scottish Tory branding, with just a small party logo at the bottom of an inside page.

Ross said the Scottish Tory goal was to hand the SNP its worst election result in more than a decade. “On July 4, we can wipe the yellow off the map and put blue on the board in Scotland,” he said.

This is factually inaccurate – the SNP will still hold 63 Holyrood seats until the 2026 Scottish parliament election. Yet his speech underscored the peculiar asymmetry of UK politics, where Holyrood politics can dominate an election for a UK parliament.

Tory strategists insist their voters see this election as an opportunity to “kick” the SNP, which can only be a minority party at Westminster. The Tories are defending seven seats. Based on the 2019 general election result, the SNP are their nearest rivals in all seven but Labour’s recent surge in Scotland is stripping votes from both parties.

Pressed by the Guardian on his failure to focus on Westminster policies, Ross denied the Tories were running scared of Sunak’s record.

He said he had been an MP since 2017 and his constituents were mostly angry about NHS waiting lists, education, cuts to council services – all issues controlled by Holyrood.

"These are the issues that come up on the doorstep day in, day out. It’s about the priorities people have, here in Perth and Kinross-shire, in Moray … This is an opportunity that voters have cottoned onto that in key seats up and down the country we can beat the SNP by uniting around the Conservatives; we can deliver an election result which will be one of the worst in a decade.""

[Mark Connolly]

No-one will be exempt!!

Quote

Will 18-year-olds at university be exempt or allowed to defer?

No. Everyone will have to do National Service and fit it around their lives. There will be very limited deferments and none for university students.

What if the young person has a job?

There will be no exemption for those who are in work.

What if they are on a gap year abroad?

This will not be a reason for exemption and those abroad will be expected to do their National Service alongside any travel.

What if they already work in the emergency services, prison or care sectors?

The Royal Commission will look at exemptions, including where people are already working in the military. But the starting point remains that all people serve.

What if the young person has unpaid caring commitments?

The Royal Commission will aim to ensure everyone can take part.

Will the royal children be expected to take part?

Yes – everyone will be expected to undergo National Service.

Will the scheme apply in Northern Ireland?

Yes – although the Royal Commission will consider how to manage any sensitivities surrounding National Service.

What if not enough people apply for the military placement?

The Tories have argued similar schemes in other countries have a very high take-up rate, suggesting they don’t expect this to be a problem.

https://archive.ph/Ol5D6

 

[Dan Steele]

Even more shite being dumped in Lake Windermere:

Sir Ed Davey fell into the water three times while paddleboarding on Lake Windermere.

The Liberal Democrats leader was on a visit to Lake District with local candidate and former party leader Tim Farron, as part of a general election campaign trail.

Earlier in May, United Utilities was engulfed in a scandal over news of a massive sewage spill at Windermere in February.

[Bully Wee Villa]

2 hours ago, BFTD said:

Not sure about abortion, but they can't do the others without leaving the ECHR.

I take it that's still not a vote-winner or they'd have announced it before now, rather than individually muttering darkly about it.

I don't think something being impractical, illegal or even impossible will stop them announcing they're going to do it. They're not expecting to win anyway, and, if they do, they can just file all their promises in a file marked "Lolz, only joking", next to the plans for all those hospitals they told us they were going to build.

Edited May 28 by Bully Wee Villa

[Richey Edwards]

39 minutes ago, jakedee said:

In an already overstretched NHS, where are these "supervisors" going to come from?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/28/national-service-young-people-beneficial-military

Training is being rolled out for healthcare assistants to "supervise" students and volunteers. 

Anyway, this election is a parody.

[jakedee]

43 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

You seem to be implying that this policy has not been thought out and is just being made up on the hoof by a desperate, out-of-his-depth, soon to be ex-PM.

Shame on you.

Conclusions jumped to.

I apologise. 

[BFTD]

30 minutes ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

I don't think something being impractical, illegal or even impossible will stop them announcing they're going to do it. They're not expecting to win anyway, and, if they do, they can just file all their promises in a file marked "Lolz, only joking", next to the plans for all those hospitals they told us they were going to build.

Aye, the ongoing idea is to build outrage so idiots will allow them to dismantle human rights.

They're not daft; they're thinking about the next move after five years of Labour inactivity achieves very little and people are even more desperate. We'll be hearing alllll about the evils of the ECHR after this summer.

[Highlandmagar]

4 hours ago, Fullerene said:

They should also bring back Scurvy.  Good old Blighty was more of a world power when Scurvy was a thing.  Why did they have to get rid of it?

Indeed. No wonder we lost the Empire.

[Leith Green]

1 hour ago, Florentine_Pogen said:

DRoss launches Tory's Scottish election campaign. No mention of Sunak or Westminster policies.

"Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, has launched his party’s general election campaign with a speech where he barely mentioned Westminster or Tory policies, and never once said Rishi Sunak’s name.

In another mark of how the Tories are focusing heavily on local campaigns and not their record, Ross devoted his speech to attacking the Scottish National party government in Edinburgh and the SNP’s sleaze row over Michael Matheson’s iPad expenses claim.

He failed to mention Sunak’s new pledge not to tax pensions, or the cuts to national insurance rates, or the tens of millions spent by the UK in Scottish regions, until those policies were raised by newspaper reporters.

Ross was speaking in the Tory target seat of Perth and Kinross-shire, a newly-created constituency, and said this election was solely about defeating the SNP and attacking its “stale and rotten” government in Edinburgh.

The full colour four page campaign leaflet for local Tory candidate Luke Graham, formerly an MP for a nearby pre-boundary change seat, did not name Sunak and had minimal Scottish Tory branding, with just a small party logo at the bottom of an inside page.

Ross said the Scottish Tory goal was to hand the SNP its worst election result in more than a decade. “On July 4, we can wipe the yellow off the map and put blue on the board in Scotland,” he said.

This is factually inaccurate – the SNP will still hold 63 Holyrood seats until the 2026 Scottish parliament election. Yet his speech underscored the peculiar asymmetry of UK politics, where Holyrood politics can dominate an election for a UK parliament.

Tory strategists insist their voters see this election as an opportunity to “kick” the SNP, which can only be a minority party at Westminster. The Tories are defending seven seats. Based on the 2019 general election result, the SNP are their nearest rivals in all seven but Labour’s recent surge in Scotland is stripping votes from both parties.

Pressed by the Guardian on his failure to focus on Westminster policies, Ross denied the Tories were running scared of Sunak’s record.

He said he had been an MP since 2017 and his constituents were mostly angry about NHS waiting lists, education, cuts to council services – all issues controlled by Holyrood.

"These are the issues that come up on the doorstep day in, day out. It’s about the priorities people have, here in Perth and Kinross-shire, in Moray … This is an opportunity that voters have cottoned onto that in key seats up and down the country we can beat the SNP by uniting around the Conservatives; we can deliver an election result which will be one of the worst in a decade.""

What he actually knows is that if he focussed on GE issues, no Tory would be elected.

He thinks - probably correctly - that the auld duffers in that constituency will vote Tory for the very reasons he mentions - which tells me that they are either (a) thick, or (b) gullible.

Its a rerun of the pish that we had to endure in the Brexit campaign.

Staggering, really.

[JS_FFC]

I’m getting very fed up of the exact same exchange which I’ve seen happen approximately 42 times in the 6 days since the election was called:

 

Interviewer: “What are your party’s thoughts on X?”

 

Politician: “Well I think the real issue that voters want to talk about is Y” *precedes to answer a completely different question*

[carpetmonster]

Laura Kuenssberg is fronting the live coverage of the Tories getting annihilated, which makes me think she must have annoyed one of the big high heid yins 

 

[Granny Danger]

1 hour ago, jakedee said:

Conclusions jumped to.

I apologise. 

^^^ private opinion, major f**k up, corporal punishment…

[sparky88]

2 hours ago, Mark Connolly said:

No-one will be exempt!!

https://archive.ph/Ol5D6

 

In Estonia, the fine for ignoring national service is an average of 500 euros. So if that happens here, folk will be able to pay the fine and continue their weekend job or whatever. 

[CityDave94]

Isn't this National Service policy all about preparing the population of the UK for war?

Back in 1960 NS was abolished right in the middle of the cold war, when tensions were at their worst. I suppose it wouldn't have mattered with complete nuclear annihilation. The reason was after a review of our defence resources that large armies would be less effective against modern weapons.

So this is nothing to do with defending our country or our allies, just looks like a desperate appeal for votes to those that voted them into power and voted for Brexit. Many of whom have already been sold Reform as a viable alternative.