snap general election?

TheBigBean

Does anyone else feel like they can't vote for any of them?

surrey_commuter

bianchimoon wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Lookyhere wrote:

That is the whole point though isnt it? they use Christianity for their own ends, its got nothing to do with any long held genuine beliefs at all.
If atheism won votes they d drop the god banner faster than you can say "i am not going to call a snap election"

On reflection, Tony Blair famously didn’t do God until after he stepped down. He made a bit of a fuss about converting to Catholicism after that, but so what. John Major didn't really do God either. He did make that rather queasy speech about old maids cycling to communion (quoting Orwell), but I'm not sure that counts. So although I'd agree TM was milking it a bit I don't think it's really a PM thing.

Agreed politics and religion should not be mentioned in the same breath

Blair and Bush knelt and prayed together to confirm they were right to invade Iraq. As a non-believer it is is difficult to describe how crazy that sounds.

rjsterry

Surrey Commuter wrote:

bianchimoon wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Lookyhere wrote:

That is the whole point though isnt it? they use Christianity for their own ends, its got nothing to do with any long held genuine beliefs at all.
If atheism won votes they d drop the god banner faster than you can say "i am not going to call a snap election"

On reflection, Tony Blair famously didn’t do God until after he stepped down. He made a bit of a fuss about converting to Catholicism after that, but so what. John Major didn't really do God either. He did make that rather queasy speech about old maids cycling to communion (quoting Orwell), but I'm not sure that counts. So although I'd agree TM was milking it a bit I don't think it's really a PM thing.

Agreed politics and religion should not be mentioned in the same breath

Blair and Bush knelt and prayed together to confirm they were right to invade Iraq. As a non-believer it is is difficult to describe how crazy that sounds.

It may sound crazy because it's a fantasy. Unless you have some previously unreported evidence, I think this has been debunked long ago.

vimfuego

Surrey Commuter wrote:

I would need to vote 25,000 times to get rid of Grayling

[/quote][/quote]

Sadly he's my MP too - so 12,500 times each then.
I won't be voting for him & will be encouraging others in Epsom not to either, but to be honest they could stick a blue ribbon on a dead rat and it'd probably still get in. That said, Epsom & Ewell did vote Remain in the referendum & he was vocally pro leave, so who knows. He might get a "bloodied nose" at least.

kingstongraham

TheBigBean wrote:

Does anyone else feel like they can't vote for any of them?

Given the choice between eating mouldy fruit and dog vomit, neither are palatable, but one is preferable.

veronese68

KingstonGraham wrote:

TheBigBean wrote:

Does anyone else feel like they can't vote for any of them?

Given the choice between eating mouldy fruit and dog vomit, neither are palatable, but one is preferable.

Well put, I was thinking more along the lines of the lesser of the evils. but that's been true in every election I've voted in.

Garry H

That is how I feel. I shall vote tactically, to keep the SNP out of my constituency.

veronese68

Garry H wrote:

That is how I feel. I shall vote tactically, to keep the SNP out of my constituency.

Tactical voting you say, this will cause a few to get quite upset I suspect.

rjsterry

Veronese68 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

That is how I feel. I shall vote tactically, to keep the SNP out of my constituency.

Tactical voting you say, this will cause a few to get quite upset I suspect.

Sounds like an excellent idea to me. All's fair in love and war.

veronese68

A nice summary of why the election was called in the Poke.

mrfpb

So far ten Labour MPs have announced they are standing down, including three big hitters. Rat's deserting the sinking ship, perhaps! Compare to four Tories, one LibDem and Douglas Carswell also standing down.

mrfpb

Labour are not going to let local constituencies choose the candidates. All sitting MPs will be allowed to stand unopposed, all losing candidates from 2015 can stand in the same constituency, all other candidates will be selected by the NEC. This could be entertaining.

Now Tory CCHQ are saying all candidates will be selected centrally. So both major parties are bypassing the local campaign groups. So we are likely to get a series of approved clones delivered to parliament.

kingstongraham

Veronese68 wrote:

A nice summary of why the election was called in the Poke.

Very good.

rjsterry

So it appears that TM's election tactics are simple: repeat the words "strong and stable leadership" and "coalition of chaos" again and again until everyone's ears bleed. Meanwhile JC will make lots of passionate heartfelt speeches about the evils of the Establishment without telling anyone what he actually plans to do about any of it. The next few weeks are going to really drag.

bendertherobot

rjsterry wrote:

So it appears that TM's election tactics are simple: repeat the words "strong and stable leadership" and "coalition of chaos" again and again until everyone's ears bleed. Meanwhile JC will make lots of passionate heartfelt speeches about the evils of the Establishment without telling anyone what he actually plans to do about any of it. The next few weeks are going to really drag.

Don't forget McDonnell, who doesn't understand customs unions.

coopster_the_1st

Veronese68 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

That is how I feel. I shall vote tactically, to keep the SNP out of my constituency.

Tactical voting you say, this will cause a few to get quite upset I suspect.

Ha ha. I was wondering when we would hear from that remoaner again.

All her work could easily be undone by 4m UKIP voting tactically. That's a fair number to overcome, to even get back to zero

surrey_commuter

Coopster the 1st wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

That is how I feel. I shall vote tactically, to keep the SNP out of my constituency.

Tactical voting you say, this will cause a few to get quite upset I suspect.

Ha ha. I was wondering when we would hear from that remoaner again.

All her work could easily be undone by 4m UKIP voting tactically. That's a fair number to overcome, to even get back to zero

I would be very surprised if you could find 4 UKIP voters who understood tactical voting.

How are you doing in your quest to find Brexit supporting economic experts to balance up BBC news programs?

rjsterry

Coopster the 1st wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

That is how I feel. I shall vote tactically, to keep the SNP out of my constituency.

Tactical voting you say, this will cause a few to get quite upset I suspect.

Ha ha. I was wondering when we would hear from that remoaner again.

All her work could easily be undone by 4m UKIP voting tactically. That's a fair number to overcome, to even get back to zero

UKIP can barely get their act together for a single by-election at the moment. I think the idea of UKIP nationally coordinating tactical voting is a bit beyond their capabilities.

bianchimoon

farage says he is NOT going to stand in the election, does that mean he will or won't?

verylonglegs

rjsterry wrote:

Coopster the 1st wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

That is how I feel. I shall vote tactically, to keep the SNP out of my constituency.

Tactical voting you say, this will cause a few to get quite upset I suspect.

Ha ha. I was wondering when we would hear from that remoaner again.

All her work could easily be undone by 4m UKIP voting tactically. That's a fair number to overcome, to even get back to zero

UKIP can barely get their act together for a single by-election at the moment. I think the idea of UKIP nationally coordinating tactical voting is a bit beyond their capabilities.

I was going to say, the couple of UKIP supporters I've been unfortunate enough to encounter face to face can barely contain their own rage and overcome any prejudice. Thought and tactics would be a significant challenge for them.

bendertherobot

What's the UKIP platform? They've achieved what they wanted, and TM is guaranteeing it.

coopster_the_1st

rjsterry wrote:

Coopster the 1st wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

That is how I feel. I shall vote tactically, to keep the SNP out of my constituency.

Tactical voting you say, this will cause a few to get quite upset I suspect.

Ha ha. I was wondering when we would hear from that remoaner again.

All her work could easily be undone by 4m UKIP voting tactically. That's a fair number to overcome, to even get back to zero

UKIP can barely get their act together for a single by-election at the moment. I think the idea of UKIP nationally coordinating tactical voting is a bit beyond their capabilities.

There will not need to be national coordination as individuals will decide for themselves.

UKIP got 3m* more votes in 2015 compared to 2010. That vote was for a single issue so where are those 3m floating voters going to go to make sure we leave the EU? It's certainly not going to be the Liberal (Un)Democrats


*That is more votes than the total vote achieved by the LD's in 2015.

rjsterry

Voting tactically for what? The next most pro-brexit non-Ukip candidate who might not otherwise win? For that to be effective, someone needs to work out which marginal constituencies have a such enough UKIP voters to be able to make a difference and then contact them all to vote for candidate X instead of the UKIP candidate. The idea that UKIP voters will somehow work it out themselves is just implausible.

rjsterry

Talking of UKIP, I see Nigel has bottled trying to reclaim Carswell's constituency. Apparently he prefers the publicity that he gets from showing off in Strasbourg.

rick_chasey

rjsterry wrote:

Talking of UKIP, I see Nigel has bottled trying to reclaim Carswell's constituency. Apparently he prefers the publicity that he gets from showing off in Strasbourg.

No-one likes losing 8 times in a row.

oblongomaculatus

Amazing. For the third spring in a row, here comes another festival of lying. Are they going to become an annual event now? Seven weeks of politicians running madly round the country, screaming and shouting, like small children who have eaten too many sweets. Normal people are going to be less excited.

My prediction: Donald Trump will shortly announce he is running for the Presidency of the UK, despite there being no such position. Then on June 8th, he'll unexpectedly win.

mrfpb

Rick Chasey wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Talking of UKIP, I see Nigel has bottled trying to reclaim Carswell's constituency. Apparently he prefers the publicity that he gets from showing off in Strasbourg.

No-one likes losing 8 times in a row.

And, since the clampdown on MPs spending, the MEP expenses and allowances are better.

bendertherobot

May promises to retain overseas aid. That's a no brainer isn't it? Labour must match that or increase the percentage. They won't win any votes by promising to slash it and would lose some. Easy policy.

It's quite an interesting tonal election so far. She wants to smash labour, which is obvious. I wonder when/if we'll see her trying to smash potential UKIP MP's on the basis that UKIP's raison d'etre has been achieved.

kingstongraham

bendertherobot wrote:

May promises to retain overseas aid. That's a no brainer isn't it? Labour must match that or increase the percentage. They won't win any votes by promising to slash it and would lose some. Easy policy.

It's quite an interesting tonal election so far. She wants to smash labour, which is obvious. I wonder when/if we'll see her trying to smash potential UKIP MP's on the basis that UKIP's raison d'etre has been achieved.

Good news - and double bonus, the Mail will hate it.

Jez mon

bendertherobot wrote:

May promises to retain overseas aid. That's a no brainer isn't it? Labour must match that or increase the percentage. They won't win any votes by promising to slash it and would lose some. Easy policy.

It's quite an interesting tonal election so far. She wants to smash labour, which is obvious. I wonder when/if we'll see her trying to smash potential UKIP MP's on the basis that UKIP's raison d'etre has been achieved.

Not for the Britain First lot, or for UKIP.

Given they have so far refused to rule out raising taxes, I can see the right wing press moaning about the commitment to overseas aid. Especially when it all seems to go to setting up the developing world version of the Spice Girls