General Chat

The Independent on Theresa May's general election announcement:
What she said and what she really meant

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/theresa-mays-election-statement-what-she-said-and-what-she-really-meant-a7689141.html

:-D :-D :-D

LOL love the Independent

I have no party affiliation. I simply vote for whoever I think is best equipped to run the country fairly.

I am always open to persuasion.

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

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

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

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.

'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.

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

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.

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?

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.

Maybe she's camera shy :-D

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

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.

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

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.

What no monster raving loony party?

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