General Chat

It's a dilemma for sure.

My son ( thus disproving the theory that children vote like their parents...even when I am the parent!) is a natural Conservative voter, his interest in economics and business (and, not incidentally, his desire to be much better off than I have been able to manage for him) tends to the Conservative model of capitalism.

On the other hand there's me, the consistent Labour voter, by inclination and long long experience of Conservative governments, a 'leftie liberal' ( and proud of it!).

I was, and am, a remainer...not solely, or even mainly, for economic considerations. The results of brexit, leaving the single market etc may or may not be a disaster, there are too many factors that I find beyond my limited understanding of business, finance etc ( and also no one can really predict the future...it only takes one nut with a bomb or a plan to expand his territory to change the world economy). I see the separation as a retrograde step for environmental and social reasons (points on which my son agrees with me, he also voted to remain in the EU).

Son cannot vote for a 'hard left' Labour party. It is almost beyond impossible that I will ever vote Conservative, the closest I can get to the 'right wing' is round about the Lib Dems usual stance. Neither my son nor I will vote for the local Conservative representative anyway because of their abject failure as an MP and person of sense.

Will either of us vote? Yes because I always have and consider it essential .... will we cancel each other out deliberately or will we both opt for a ' clear conscience' vote ie not Labour or Conservative?

The only response I can make to brexit, hard. soft or otherwise, is that I hope when finally concluded it will remove once and for all the moaning of those who always need 'someone other' to blame and who will no longer be able to blame the faceless EU for the failures of future British governments...of whatever shade.

As a dyed in the wool conservative supporter (apart from a shortish Labour dalliance when the lovely John Smith was alive) I hope Ms May hammers the opposition

I have been in bed all day (unwell) and have watched a motley crew of politicians (I use that word loosely) getting some air time this afternoon.

They live in a fantasy world (Green party candidate plus any other wobbly hopeful seems a tad desperate).

Maybe Corbyn (referred to in this house as the Klingon) will resign.
Maybe people will see more of Tim Farron - who?
Nick Clegg may be resurrected - hey that'll be riveting TV

Thankfully I will be out of the country for over 3 weeks before the election so I'll not have to suffer all the moaning remainers bleating on and on and on.

I am however looking forward to learning if the polls in France are accurate.......
and people think the UK has problems!

She hasn't got a clue and it shows.
Hiding from the TV so shecan knock up blue voters in Maidenhead will look daft.

Or about to play a blinder.... :-D :-D

Upside
Well she has prob managed to reset the left something it has failed to do for itself.
There will be a lot more LibDems.
The tricky issue of explaining that brexit means reading the latest fax from Berlin Vi Bruxxelles has been punted off for 5 years.
Downside
While under Corby Lab are just a jellyfish (no stings) Starmer is a serious player.
Nowhere to hide. Submarine May will be empty chaired and leaked
The EU has already promised open negs despite May S wish for closrd doors
Nick Clegg still around.
Osbourne fully in control at tje Es

The Leave bunch kept hammering on for 40 years. The DM can only expect the Remainers to do the same. most likely they will win out in the end hence bad case of nerves among the brexiters.

due to cuts keeping all the RN attack subs in port the NW approaches are currently being minded by the French navy. Post brexit Scotland will be allowed a "mission" in Brussels from where it can plan accession to the EU. Sure the auld alliancel never went away.

If May could play chess she would be a couple of pieces up against a certain loss in the end game.

:-D

What no monster raving loony party?

I have voted Conservative in every single general and local election, without fail, for 48 years. This is the first time In all those years that I question what I should do this time.

In terms of economics then there is no question. Conservatives win every time. It is just a shame that they have to pick up the manure each time they take over from Labour.

However, this time because me, almost half the country who voted in the referendum together with most of the following generation who were not able to vote feel strongly about remaining in Europe I have a real problem.

After much heart searching this is what I have come up with and it is very much dependent on where you live.

If you are in a safe Conservative seat, then vote Conservative

If you are in a safe Labour seat then vote whatever takes your fancy, preferably other than Labour.

If you are in a safe Lib Dem seat, then well done, there aren't many of you but stick with it.

If you are in a marginal Labour seat then vote for the party which has the best chance of beating them.

If you are in a marginal Lib Dem seat then vote Conservative.

If you are in a marginal Conservative seat, then vote Lib Dem.

If you are on Scotland then vote SNP.

Oh no say it isn't so......dear NS says she's going to form a coalition with Labour........has anyone told her Labour isn't expected to win too many seats ? :-D

She's quite good at changing her mind, so perhaps she will debate. It's even possible she will say brexit doesn't mean brexit.

Barring unexpected hiccups, things should remain much the same for Britain - same leader, same general policy & the same problems.

Maybe she's camera shy :-D

Sky poll says 64% of the electorate want TV debates.

Why doesn't Mrs May? Nobody can be fooled by her stated desire to be out canvassing instead of debating.

I still believe it was an astute move by TM, for more than one reason.

1. There is no obvious opposition - mentioned in a number of posts here.

2. If the remoaners continue to moan, she will be in a position to state that if they couldn't put up, they should now shut up. We shall have to bite the bullet as far as the terms of withdrawal are concerned for I do not believe for one second that the rest of the EU will go easy on us.

3. On the global scene, if things erupt, she will not be able to accede to any requests for backing as no one would be in a position to offer support until after the leadership contest has been won.

On the last point, I am not sure that we would ever become an inward-looking nation as we don't have it in our blood but at the present time I don't think many would be happy to become involved in any Middle-East or Asian conflict before we fix our own problems first.

Finally, 1745, Rollo! Since you mention it, I am sure you can recall what happened. Can you see an alliance between the Scots and the French again? I can't. The French and the Germans, yes, because of their EU ties, but Scotland?

Democracies need a functioning opposition otherwise they tend to run off the rails. Examples are Trumps brutal learning curve leading to a much improved presidency or the Erdogan disaster. Not having a time machine I couldn t say if Jez Corbyn will have his number called on Jun 8 but it seems likely. Amazingly he will vote for the Ge thus disproving maxims about political turkeys.

The UK will be far better off without Corby, Di Abbot and Momentum. Thus May is reviving the dead dogs of the Lab party and LibDems as accidental damage in her search for enough of a maj to face down Bone, Redwood and Fox.

If negs don t go well then 2019-2022 could be v bumpy as May has left herself with no allies, no cover and the auld alliance of Paris and Edinburgh revived. 1745 and all that!

beginners always seem to start well.

Oh to have Rollo time machine.......

'Landslides' have been news items lately but for all the wrong reasons. Poor people sometimes find themselves unexpectedly buried underneath a shed-load of household waste & stinking muck.

A landslide just big enough for self burial?
The SNP will hold all Bar one if its seats and might hold them all.
Labour are on course to lose 50 seats.
Against that the LibDems will pick up over 30 seats mostly from the Tories.
So on taking the polls in the usual way May could have a working majority of 35 - no landslide.
Against that the SNP will be able gum up the works in much the same way as Parnells Irish Nats in the C19. Without the sort of EU deal that most Tories dont want ref2 in Scotland is inevitable.
Then there are the young who couldn t didn t vote last time out.
Will the walking dead the 48% rise up?
By 2022 the shape of Tory Britain post Brexit will be painfully obvious. Scots on the way out, some sort of half baked compromise with the EU pleasing nobody, five more years of cuts. selling bright blue Tory in 2022 will be tough with the political corpse of Corbyn rotting in its grave.

Not sure I have cart-loads but maybe the treasury can help just give them a call :-D

then again I could always check in the sofa

Caroline - I'd be delighted to accept, without embarrassment, cart-loads of 'old' pound coins.

Dermot but who will or can bribe you

Labour would spend the entire time arguing over how much to bribe you with
UKIP would argue it might not be in the interest of the country to bribe you
LibDems would not agree on whether bribing you was worth it
and finally the Tories.......well why bother bribing when you're sure there's no competition :-D :-D