The Theresa May General Election thread (edited)

Fretwired

Snap said:

Christ, doing a u'ey on a big manifesto element, within a week of publishing it is piss poor organisation.

Wtf is wrong with our political system FFS? Its like Battle of the Berks. In the red corner we have Komrade Korbyn with his terrorist sympathising neo communist Stalin admiring berks ANnnnnnnnnddddddddddddd in the red corner we have Mutable May with her poclicy making on the fly, blowing in the wind decision making, whatever the fk should we do next party.

EIther way, whichever wins, won't they do a stellar job getting us through Brexit?

Christ, it makes me think Tim Farron would be the answer. That's bad.

It's not really a U-turn .. the policy remains. She's just agreed to a cap on the total amount that someone would pay. This was discussed at being around £75K. The idea is that if it is a fixed amount people could get a cost-effective insurance policy to cover the £75K so they don't have to touch their assets. Insurance companies won't issue policies for open ended amounts of money.

Fretwired

Tim Farron and the Lib Dems lurch from crisis to crisis .. Tim has refused to answer a question on abortion (religious reasons) and the latest Lib Dem post has been described as transphobic ... the party needs to ditch Tim ASAP.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/22/liberal-democrats-face-backlash-members-transphobic-poster/

TheBigDipper

Drew_TNBD said:

<snip>

Are you kidding me? I want to kill myself most days and struggle to get out of bed and drag myself into the world. At ease... yeah sure! You know nothing about me. If you want to know I don't mind telling. But don't presume to know where my head is at and what my life is like because you read a few posts of mine.

So how old are you out interest? I'm 32. When I was at school the kids were heavily tribal. The sporty kids didn't mix with the weirdos and would bully them. The weirdos would bully the nerdy kids, and the nerdy kids would sit there and seeth and develop mental health problems. The teachers would play favourites, to the point where if you had a fight on the playground with one of the popular sporty types and they started it, you'd be the one in trouble. There very definitely was a lot of 'us and them' mentality between the kids at my middle and secondary schools. It affected a lot of kids differently.

I think there are very big problems in schools actually. I've spoke about them a fair bit on this site. I don't believe limiting free school lunches to the kids that need them and recovering funds from the ones that don't is a big problem. I can even give some ground and say that it *could* be a problem - but not a big one that should get all the focus and priority.

I basically think it's a fairly sensible policy that is being twisted by anti-Conservative zealots who will stop at nothing to tear down a party they disagree with. That shouldn't be how politically minded people work.

I'm not pretending I know you. It's based on your contribution to this topic. You volunteered this about yourself as part of the rationale/justification of your views...

Drew_TNBD said:

Sorry dudes but I am not buying it. Before 2000 when I left school I was from a low income family, single mother, etc... etc... I had free school dinners as did many of my friends. We never felt stigmatized at all.

What else am I supposed to infer from that? 

Heartfeltdawn

Fretwired said:

Too late - that and cutting school meals. Tory own goal - back to the nasty party. Apparently that's Labour's attack from now on. The polls will narrow IMHO. The interesting thing is Brexit is not a big issue and the more people see of Corbyn the more they like him.

Popped it up before and it's very relevant again:

http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2017/04/more-from-my-brexit-research/

"Asked what were the most important issues facing Britain as a whole, six in ten of our poll respondents named “negotiating Britain’s exit from the European Union on the right terms” among the top three. This put it at the top of the priority list for the country, both for Remain and Leave voters. However, when asked what mattered most to “you and your family”, the Brexit negotiations fell to third place behind “improving the NHS” and “tackling the cost of living”. Only 39% of all voters named it among the top three issues on this measure:"

A General Election is not a single issue voting process like the EU referendum. Those who thought Brexit would strengthen the UKIP vote were wrong, as demonstrated by the Stoke Central by-election. The Lib Dems are showing that making Brexit the central part of your election campaign won't turn you into the new opposition overnight (and probably ever). A General Election is about domestic issues, and the majority of the electorate do not see Brexit as a domestic issue. 

Fretwired

@Heartfeltdawn ; .. interesting. Looks like Ashcrosft is right ... May is being crucified in the Times' comment section over the 'Dementia tax' .. Brexit doesn't get a mention.

It seems Corbyn is beginning to break through ... 

Heartfeltdawn

Drew_TNBD said:

DarnWeight said:

So, old news in some quarters, but I wonder why there's little press coverage of currently serving Tory councillor Maria Gatland and her openly-admitted past as a member of the provisional IRA.  It's almost like it would highlight some awful hypocrisy at the heart of the Conservative party and its friends in the media...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Gatland  

Nope. We all know it's totally acceptable to have past sympathies with terrorist organisations. That seems to be the party line when it comes to Corbyn and Sadiq anyway.

https://stucka82.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/pinochet.jpg

Garthy

What seat is she standing in?

Fretwired

Garthy said:

What seat is she standing in?

Who? May is Maidenhead I think ... they love her ...

Budgie

Can't the Tories keep hold of a flagship, marquee policy for more than a week without a major U-turn? So how much is the cap? Is it a need to know basis... I'd certainly want to know before a vote was cast. People are going to actually vote for this shower? Astonishing and probably unprecedented. 

Fretwired

Budgie said:

Can't the Tories keep hold of a flagship, marquee policy for more than a week without a major U-turn? So how much is the cap? Is it a need to know basis... I'd certainly want to know before a vote was cast. People are going to actually vote for this shower? Astonishing and probably unprecedented. 

Originally it was going to be £75K but May has said 'she will consult' which is just politispeak - she's kicked it into the long grass for the rest of the election. The damage is done IMHO.

Garthy

Budgie said:

Can't the Tories keep hold of a flagship, marquee policy for more than a week without a major U-turn? So how much is the cap? Is it a need to know basis... I'd certainly want to know before a vote was cast. People are going to actually vote for this shower? Astonishing and probably unprecedented. 

It's a Green Paper therefore subject to consultation. The only thing set in stone is that you keep £100k if you go into care under this idea, vs keeping just £23,500 if you went into care under the current system.

The whole thing is a complete clusterfuck from start to finish, that much certainly hasn't changed.

FX_Munkee

Garthy said:

What seat is she standing in?

Hell West I think.

Heartfeltdawn

Fretwired said:

@Heartfeltdawn ;; .. interesting. Looks like Ashcrosft is right ... May is being crucified in the Times' comment section over the 'Dementia tax' .. Brexit doesn't get a mention.

It seems Corbyn is beginning to break through ... 

Re. the Times. That doesn't surprise me. The social care changes were always going to get the middle class backs up especially. 

One day I'll have to detail my desire for inheritance tax breaks for those who choose to use assisted death. Sigh. 

Post-EU referendum, I debated with a lot of folk on the Leave side who were adamant that people would vote against traditional party ideology come GE. So far the polls aren't showing that, the by-election results didn't show that, and the two parties in this campaign who are still based around the EU have seen no rise or collapsed. One of the reasons the EURef pollsters got it so wrong is because they assumed people would vote along party lines: they didn't, particularly on the Labour side. 

After ScotRef and EURef, the GE needed to be about domestic matters. So far, it's hard to say who's got the upper hand within the Big Two. 

It's a pretty incredible mix at the minute. We could end up with a Conservative government who don't follow Thatcherite free market ideology, or a socialist Labour government filled with ninnies of good intention but little thought. 

Axe_meister

I'm hoping Simon Hughes gets his seat back, probably one of the only credible Lib Dem leaders, not a wet fish like Tim or Glegg.

Fretwired

May's day goes from bad to worse ...

http://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/nick-ferrari/what-will-happen-to-me-mrs-may-call-from-carer/

thomasw88

she's a lying toe rag. how can anyone trust this lying conniving bunch of shysters....

Fretwired

The Tories are nosediving fast .. hot off the press from Wales:

The findings from the latest Welsh Political Barometer poll put Labour on 44% (up 9%). The Conservatives are now on 34% (down 7%); Plaid Cymru on 9% (down 2%); Liberal Democrats on 6% (down 1%); Ukip on 5% (up 1%) and others on 3% (up 1%).

“It’s chaos in here,” said one insider of Mrs May’s campaign headquarters. For a campaign based so heavily on one woman’s judgement, resilience and steadfastness, that’s not a good look.

Skipped

Fretwired said:

“It’s chaos in here,” said one insider of Mrs May’s campaign headquarters. For a campaign based so heavily on one woman’s judgement, resilience and steadfastness, that’s not a good look.

If I may say so.....that is a fantastic point that has been missed by some of the media coverage.
The Tories have put all of their eggs in one basket.Much of the merchandising emphasises May and airbrushes away "Tories".

If Andrew Neil was in the right mood (this afternoon) he could blow her away in the interview which will be shown at 7pm tonight.
The problem is.....I think he knows that. I think he will have seen her this morning not looking strong and stable and I think he will pull back. Just enough. 

Skipped

I think the Dementia Tax story is going to run and run. And Morph like a cheap horror movie.

Consider this. 30 and 40 year olds are living with their parents becasue they have no hope of buying a home. Their only chance of owning a home comes when their parents die.
Are we now looking at a situation where - for millions of families - home ownership now ends with this generation?
The first problem (can't get on the housing ladder) has been created by 40 years of disastrous govt policy (both flavours).
But this is something else.
It is like the Housing Crisis is now boiling up into a giant clusterfuck. + Brexit on top.

I am seeing people in Cyberspace saying that this was already happening. (Charge placed on home to pay for care).
Yes it is. But it is variable.
It is not a giant Steal Your Home scheme contracted out to FTSE 100 Equity Release Companies. Who may be Tory donors. Or soon will be.

Emp_Fab

The bookies are responding; https://www.oddschecker.com/insight/politics/20170522-general-election-labours-odds-shortening-by-the-hour-following-mays-u-turn