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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The Corbyn polling could be the 2015 version of what happen

SystemSystem Posts: 11,685
edited July 2015 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The Corbyn polling could be the 2015 version of what happened to Hilary Benn in 2007

There have been only two Labour elections in recent times where there has been polling and we are able to look back and compare the survey numbers with the actual votes received.

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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,358
    So first.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,358
    It's a good point; I'm only betting tiny sums on this contest.

    I simply don't understand the Labour electorate and can't read it. At current odds, I'm probably most tempted by Yvette.
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    http://labourlist.org/2015/07/where-is-jeremy-corbyns-support-coming-from/
    Listen to the voters – the ones who were Labour just ten years ago and now laugh at how out of touch we are with their views and their lives.

    But I don’t think they will. I think 20,000-40,000 long term leftists, 25,000 loyal Unite members following the line, and 60,000 fresh out of the box idealists, plus the mad sectarianism of some Labour right wingers refusing to use their second and third preference votes for less than pure Blairite candidates will do it for Jeremy.
    Is well worth a read, the article is well written and appears to make many sensible points, but the paroxysm of rage below the line tells you all you need to know. It appears to be a case of "never mind the facts, feel the passion"
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    CromwellCromwell Posts: 236

    It's a good point; I'm only betting tiny sums on this contest.

    I simply don't understand the Labour electorate and can't read it. At current odds, I'm probably most tempted by Yvette.

    That sounds right , Kendall has no chance and Burnham seems more limp and pathetic every time he appears on TV; i.m not even remotely impressed with this Corbyn-mania and I suspect that it will dissipate for cooler heads to prevail ; what it has done is to wake up the voters and concentrate their minds wonderfully to the dangers they face
    And let's face it , Cooper is no Thatcher but she has an impressive resume of 18yrs , is slick and polished and handles the Press with ease , compare that with Andy U -Turnham ;furthermore she has a decisive advantage insomuch that the LP are an idealistic party that promotes women's rights and feminism ; they are not going to miss an opportunity to elect their history making first female leader by electing a retread from the failed 1970s



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    CromwellCromwell Posts: 236
    The way to view the rise of Corbyn is through the lens of a quasi religion with Corbyn as the Messiah come to lead the faithful to the promised ...the religious impulse shoe horned into secular messianic politics ; indeed , something similar happened in Scotland in the run up to the referendum with the fawning and adoration of Salmond and Sturgeon by a crowd of political munchkins on the yellow brick road to somewhere

    Indeed , Sturgeon is the single most over rated politician in Britain today , while Jeremy Corbyn is becoming a close second , but this is exactly what happens when critical thinking skills are abandoned and folks allow their emotions to run wild ...''Springtime for Corbyn '' ?
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    CromwellCromwell Posts: 236



    I confidently predicted a TORY MAJORITY, on an almost daily basis , for over 5 months before the GE because it was bloody obvious to anyone able to ''read between the lines''that folks in middle England would never , and I mean NEVER take the risk of a weak Labour party being propped up and effectively held to ransom by an odious and opportunistic National Party from Scotland ; it didn't matter what the so called experts said or what the Bookies predicted , I knew that polling is not an exact science and sometimes voters can be less than forthwith and I was correct ! Furthermore I had the confidence to make over 40 bets and won all of them

    It seems to me that this current bout of Corbyn-mania is something similar insomuch the polls are predicting a corbyn victory as is the weight of money at the bookies , However , things are not quite as they first seem ; the very real threat of a LP being engulfed by Leftists, burning with the zeal of the converted , and determined to create a Coup de Ta and foist on the LP a leader that maybe only 10% of MPs would have any confidence in will be enough to frighten the dead ; indeed anyone who thought this race was boring and uneventful is in for a rude awakening as the sober minded , silent majority wake up to the dangers they are in .They are not going to sit idley by and allow the Left make their party unelectable for a generation , they are going to unify behind one leader to destroy the threat from Corbyn-mania ..

    .It is my prediction they will chose YVETTE COOPER as the compromise candidate and the first female leader of the LP and in doing so salvage a minor victory from the ashes of defeat ! The LP may sometime in the future commit political suicide but not yet !
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,011
    Cromwell said:




    I confidently predicted a TORY MAJORITY, on an almost daily basis , for over 5 months before the GE because it was bloody obvious to anyone able to ''read between the lines''that folks in middle England would never , and I mean NEVER take the risk of a weak Labour party being propped up and effectively held to ransom by an odious and opportunistic National Party from Scotland ; it didn't matter what the so called experts said or what the Bookies predicted , I knew that polling is not an exact science and sometimes voters can be less than forthwith and I was correct ! Furthermore I had the confidence to make over 40 bets and won all of them

    It seems to me that this current bout of Corbyn-mania is something similar insomuch the polls are predicting a corbyn victory as is the weight of money at the bookies , However , things are not quite as they first seem ; the very real threat of a LP being engulfed by Leftists, burning with the zeal of the converted , and determined to create a Coup de Ta and foist on the LP a leader that maybe only 10% of MPs would have any confidence in will be enough to frighten the dead ; indeed anyone who thought this race was boring and uneventful is in for a rude awakening as the sober minded , silent majority wake up to the dangers they are in .They are not going to sit idley by and allow the Left make their party unelectable for a generation , they are going to unify behind one leader to destroy the threat from Corbyn-mania ..

    .It is my prediction they will chose YVETTE COOPER as the compromise candidate and the first female leader of the LP and in doing so salvage a minor victory from the ashes of defeat ! The LP may sometime in the future commit political suicide but not yet !

    Except Corbyn has a higher net positive rating with the public than Cooper in most polls, Burnham and Kendall are ahead of Cooper in England and Wales, Corbyn is ahead of Cooper in Scotland
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    Cromwell said:

    It is my prediction they will chose YVETTE COOPER as the compromise candidate and the first female leader of the LP and in doing so salvage a minor victory from the ashes of defeat ! The LP may sometime in the future commit political suicide but not yet !

    That will be when all the Unite money storms off in a huff because Labour didn't elect their anointed candidate, and the hard left explode with rage over the supposed Blairite stitch-up that kept their man out.

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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    Cromwell said:

    Indeed , Sturgeon is the single most over rated politician in Britain today , while Jeremy Corbyn is becoming a close second , but this is exactly what happens when critical thinking skills are abandoned and folks allow their emotions to run wild ...''Springtime for Corbyn '' ?

    Sturgeon's popularity is a by-product of her role as religious leader, not politician
    the fact that 35 per cent of S2 pupils are, as Audit Scotland put it gently, “not working at their expected level in numeracy” isn’t the fault of ministers or the educational establishment. Nor is it the Scottish government’s fault that mortality rates in the Scottish NHS are 19 per cent higher than in the northeast of England. As for Police Scotland, well, according to Kenny MacAskill, “errors happen and officers fall from grace but that happens in all walks of life”. So that’s fine too. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along, please.

    None of it dents the people’s enthusiasm for the SNP. This is why the SNP should be reckoned a faith-based organisation. Belief in the holy grail of independence allows for the forgiveness of any and all earthly shortcomings.
    http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/article4512504.ece
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    Is that not just the Guardian editors trolling their own readers?
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    edited July 2015
    Up until the last couple of paragraphs. With the current mood in the country, any politician suggesting taking another 150k asylum seekers a year (especially since 90% fail, and are not removed from the country) is going to be taking a long walk off a short electoral pier.

    I suspect the real problem is the EHCR and Article 8, the right to family life, the same bundle of joy that prevents us from chucking out half the known terrorism supporters in the country.
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    tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,190
    Cromwell - you may be right and Cooper could certainly come through to win on second preferences. But the Corbyn genie is out of the bottle and his supporters won't accept defeat lightly. It will be very amusing to watch lefties bemoaning the AV system should he have a clear win on first preferences.
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    MonikerDiCanioMonikerDiCanio Posts: 5,792
    Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
    The choice of EdM was madness.
    Corbyn promises destruction.
    Labour is unworthy of rational political analysis.
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,011
    Indigo said:

    Cromwell said:

    It is my prediction they will chose YVETTE COOPER as the compromise candidate and the first female leader of the LP and in doing so salvage a minor victory from the ashes of defeat ! The LP may sometime in the future commit political suicide but not yet !

    That will be when all the Unite money storms off in a huff because Labour didn't elect their anointed candidate, and the hard left explode with rage over the supposed Blairite stitch-up that kept their man out.

    Cooper is a Brownite, not a Blairite
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    edited July 2015
    HYUFD said:

    Indigo said:

    Cromwell said:

    It is my prediction they will chose YVETTE COOPER as the compromise candidate and the first female leader of the LP and in doing so salvage a minor victory from the ashes of defeat ! The LP may sometime in the future commit political suicide but not yet !

    That will be when all the Unite money storms off in a huff because Labour didn't elect their anointed candidate, and the hard left explode with rage over the supposed Blairite stitch-up that kept their man out.

    Cooper is a Brownite, not a Blairite
    The key point is she is not Corbynite.
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,249
    OGH, possibly - but I think there were a number of other factors to consider that don't necessarily apply to Corbyn. For example, don't you think the fact that Gordon Brown had privately let it be known that he preferred Harman (which seems rather ironic given how fraught their subsequent relationship was) may have had a bearing on the result? It certainly seems to have boosted her support among MPs, even though she still came behind Johnson in that group.

    It's also hard to escape the conclusion that the polls were skewed by the fact that Benn had a famous name, a la Louis Napoleon Bonaparte being elected President of France because people confused him with his uncle. Nobody had heard of Jon Cruddas before (even I hadn't, as a wonkish student with a degree in politics) and Harman, Johnson, Blears and Hain, while competent mid-ranking ministers - well, at least mid-ranking ministers - were hardly household names. That doesn't apply to Corbyn, who is very much the Cruddas of this contest in terms of name recognition.

    A more plausible point could be that he's the V-candidate - the one the Labour hierarchy loves to hate so, as everyone hates the Labour hierarchy as a bunch of pompous, arrogant and out-of-touch morons (something they need to understand, and very fast, if they wish to reconnect with voters) the one people say they will vote for. Again that doesn't apply to 2007.

    The most dismal thought of all though is that just because Labour's high command are unpleasant and moronic doesn't mean that they are always wrong...and if those people who are influenced by the last point actually vote for Corbyn, they will surely come to regret it. The one positive might be that it would surely lead to a total purge of all the Brownites and Blairites at one go, and allow Labour to move on at last. But moving from the frying pan into the fire isn't really progress.
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    The lack of checks on wether respondents can vote in Labour's leadership election will skew the sample even further away from the true position this time. Corbynite entryists will not all have bought their votes in time, and others will just try to contribute to a bandwagon effect after an evening with some vaguely trot mates at the pub, or an evening at the Conservative club.

    Multiple sabotages will wreck the polls more effectively than the election.
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,249

    Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
    The choice of EdM was madness.
    Corbyn promises destruction.
    Labour is unworthy of rational political analysis.

    Moniker - I don't think the madness was Miliband. Of the four and a joke candidates on offer, he was the best.

    The madness was allowing Gordon Brown to become first Chancellor and then Prime Minister. If the Parliamentary Party had had the courage to tell him that he wasn't up to the top job in 1994 - publicly, and to his face, rather than by innuendo and hint - then 20 years of chaos caused by the egotism of this total inadequate would have been avoided. He might even have left politics - think of the benefits to our economy if that had happened.

    Tony Blair obviously bears a large part of the blame. But was there really not one person in the PLP willing to risk being smeared by MacBride or Draper, or verbally abused by Watson, or having a stapler thrown at them...oh, hang on...
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    tlg86 said:

    Cromwell - you may be right and Cooper could certainly come through to win on second preferences. But the Corbyn genie is out of the bottle and his supporters won't accept defeat lightly. It will be very amusing to watch lefties bemoaning the AV system should he have a clear win on first preferences.

    I think Corbyn will have enough second preferences to win, and it would not surprise me if he won on first preferences. Indeed it is heading to the point that the bookies need to have markets on how big his victory is.

    Cooper is bottom of my list of 4. The humourless puritan candidate seems to have the support of Cromwell though.
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    JEOJEO Posts: 3,656
    edited July 2015
    Indigo said:

    Up until the last couple of paragraphs. With the current mood in the country, any politician suggesting taking another 150k asylum seekers a year (especially since 90% fail, and are not removed from the country) is going to be taking a long walk off a short electoral pier.

    I suspect the real problem is the EHCR and Article 8, the right to family life, the same bundle of joy that prevents us from chucking out half the known terrorism supporters in the country.
    The right to family life was included in the convention to stop people banning or breaking up marriages between people of different racial backgrounds. Now it's used to overturn anti-forced marriage laws and to keep failed asylum seekers in the country. The latter is a pretty surefire way into UK settlement: break in illegally, burn your papers so your details are hard to identity, apply for asylum, get to leave the detention centre because the case is taking so long, arrange with the local elders to marry someone in your ethnic or tribal group in the UK, wait until the last moment to appeal to your asylum refusal, wait ages until you get turned down again, then when you've been in your relationship for a couple of years, sue in the European Courts for your right to family life as you've now been married two years and can be seen to have an established life in the UK.
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,011

    The lack of checks on wether respondents can vote in Labour's leadership election will skew the sample even further away from the true position this time. Corbynite entryists will not all have bought their votes in time, and others will just try to contribute to a bandwagon effect after an evening with some vaguely trot mates at the pub, or an evening at the Conservative club.

    Multiple sabotages will wreck the polls more effectively than the election.

    I see Toby Young has had his application to join Labour rejected, despite his grandfather writing Attlee's manifesto
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,011
    Indigo said:

    HYUFD said:

    Indigo said:

    Cromwell said:

    It is my prediction they will chose YVETTE COOPER as the compromise candidate and the first female leader of the LP and in doing so salvage a minor victory from the ashes of defeat ! The LP may sometime in the future commit political suicide but not yet !

    That will be when all the Unite money storms off in a huff because Labour didn't elect their anointed candidate, and the hard left explode with rage over the supposed Blairite stitch-up that kept their man out.

    Cooper is a Brownite, not a Blairite
    The key point is she is not Corbynite.
    Indeed, Kendall is Blairite, Burnham Kinnockite/Blairite, Cooper Brownite, Corbyn Bennite
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    david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,419
    "We are now 45 days from the election". In one sense we are but in another, the ballot papers go out a fortnight tomorrow. Party leadership elections may be different from public ones in that there may be more people waiting to 'see how it goes' but I suspect not that many. To the extent that there may be a delay in returns, I suspect it will have more to do with summer holidays than anything else. Put another way, Burnham and Cooper have two weeks to make a breakthrough otherwise it's all over.

    I think it's different from the Benn case for another reason as well. Benn was too much of a blank page, generic Labour politician. He polled well because there were few reasons for him not to poll well, not because there were strong reasons to vote for him. As soon as others provided better reasons to vote for them, the voters did. Now, it's Corbyn who is engaging all the positive voters (and Kendall, but they're the wrong reasons at the wrong time for this Labour membership), and Burnham and Cooper who are the generic politicians.

    The momentum lies with Corbyn and it's likely to stay with him. It'd probably take a completely out of character Hail Mary from one of the others to make the impact necessary to change the debate now, so quickly and so dramatically. Look at what Burnham's talking about: a new social care tax. There may or there may not be a case for that but it's detail (and detail in his comfort zone at that); not vision.

    I would currently rate Corbyn at marginal odds-on to win; about 4/5. Too much information has come out to suggest that he has a very comfortable lead for it to be otherwise, and even if he doesn't do well on second preferences, I expect that all that'll do is reduce his lead by the time he wins.
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    david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,419

    Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
    The choice of EdM was madness.
    Corbyn promises destruction.
    Labour is unworthy of rational political analysis.

    They're not mad; they're on the political equivalent of a very heavy night on the town - having a very enjoyable time and expressing their real feelings. They may wake up in the morning with a banging hangover, wondering where the money went and what that stain is on their trousers.
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    ydoethur said:



    A more plausible point could be that he's the V-candidate - the one the Labour hierarchy loves to hate so, as everyone hates the Labour hierarchy as a bunch of pompous, arrogant and out-of-touch morons (something they need to understand, and very fast, if they wish to reconnect with voters) the one people say they will vote for. Again that doesn't apply to 2007.

    The most dismal thought of all though is that just because Labour's high command are unpleasant and moronic doesn't mean that they are always wrong...and if those people who are influenced by the last point actually vote for Corbyn, they will surely come to regret it. The one positive might be that it would surely lead to a total purge of all the Brownites and Blairites at one go, and allow Labour to move on at last. But moving from the frying pan into the fire isn't really progress.

    I think that you are right on the money with these two paragraphs. The Labour front bench were spineless in their lack of support for Ed Miliband and useless at campaigning in the GE. The whole lot need a clear out. Corbyn will have this effect, and the Labour spadocracy will then either depart or learn how to fight from the backbenches. It is not just Corbyns politics they fear. Their whole nepotistic inner circle is doomed if Corbyn wins.
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    david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,419
    Indigo said:

    Cromwell said:

    It is my prediction they will chose YVETTE COOPER as the compromise candidate and the first female leader of the LP and in doing so salvage a minor victory from the ashes of defeat ! The LP may sometime in the future commit political suicide but not yet !

    That will be when all the Unite money storms off in a huff because Labour didn't elect their anointed candidate, and the hard left explode with rage over the supposed Blairite stitch-up that kept their man out.

    Unite would be able to cut a deal with Cooper. She knows how the Labour movement works well enough to keep them on board. As HYUFD says, she's a Brownite.
  • Options
    MonikerDiCanioMonikerDiCanio Posts: 5,792

    Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
    The choice of EdM was madness.
    Corbyn promises destruction.
    Labour is unworthy of rational political analysis.

    They're not mad; they're on the political equivalent of a very heavy night on the town - having a very enjoyable time and expressing their real feelings. They may wake up in the morning with a banging hangover, wondering where the money went and what that stain is on their trousers.
    You think Labour are on a bender, I think they're on a death ride. There will be no morning after.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Cromwell said:




    I confidently predicted a TORY MAJORITY, on an almost daily basis , for over 5 months before the GE because it was bloody obvious to anyone able to ''read between the lines''that folks in middle England would never , and I mean NEVER take the risk of a weak Labour party being propped up and effectively held to ransom by an odious and opportunistic National Party from Scotland ; it didn't matter what the so called experts said or what the Bookies predicted , I knew that polling is not an exact science and sometimes voters can be less than forthwith and I was correct ! Furthermore I had the confidence to make over 40 bets and won all of them

    It seems to me that this current bout of Corbyn-mania is something similar insomuch the polls are predicting a corbyn victory as is the weight of money at the bookies , However , things are not quite as they first seem ; the very real threat of a LP being engulfed by Leftists, burning with the zeal of the converted , and determined to create a Coup de Ta and foist on the LP a leader that maybe only 10% of MPs would have any confidence in will be enough to frighten the dead ; indeed anyone who thought this race was boring and uneventful is in for a rude awakening as the sober minded , silent majority wake up to the dangers they are in .They are not going to sit idley by and allow the Left make their party unelectable for a generation , they are going to unify behind one leader to destroy the threat from Corbyn-mania ..

    .It is my prediction they will chose YVETTE COOPER as the compromise candidate and the first female leader of the LP and in doing so salvage a minor victory from the ashes of defeat ! The LP may sometime in the future commit political suicide but not yet !

    Morning Ed. Isn't it a bit early to be posting from Harvard?
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,358
    Indigo said:

    Up until the last couple of paragraphs. With the current mood in the country, any politician suggesting taking another 150k asylum seekers a year (especially since 90% fail, and are not removed from the country) is going to be taking a long walk off a short electoral pier.

    I suspect the real problem is the EHCR and Article 8, the right to family life, the same bundle of joy that prevents us from chucking out half the known terrorism supporters in the country.
    No, the comments. Not the article.
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    madmacsmadmacs Posts: 75
    Spoke to Labour Party activists who tell me in their area, new members are overwhelmingly pro Corbin. He nearly won the CLP nomination in a middle England marginal constituency. The "old timers" are very concerned about the future.
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,249

    ydoethur said:



    A more plausible point could be that he's the V-candidate - the one the Labour hierarchy loves to hate so, as everyone hates the Labour hierarchy as a bunch of pompous, arrogant and out-of-touch morons (something they need to understand, and very fast, if they wish to reconnect with voters) the one people say they will vote for. Again that doesn't apply to 2007.

    The most dismal thought of all though is that just because Labour's high command are unpleasant and moronic doesn't mean that they are always wrong...and if those people who are influenced by the last point actually vote for Corbyn, they will surely come to regret it. The one positive might be that it would surely lead to a total purge of all the Brownites and Blairites at one go, and allow Labour to move on at last. But moving from the frying pan into the fire isn't really progress.

    I think that you are right on the money with these two paragraphs. The Labour front bench were spineless in their lack of support for Ed Miliband and useless at campaigning in the GE. The whole lot need a clear out. Corbyn will have this effect, and the Labour spadocracy will then either depart or learn how to fight from the backbenches. It is not just Corbyns politics they fear. Their whole nepotistic inner circle is doomed if Corbyn wins.
    Well, quite possibly. And there could be worse ways to end the poisonous feud of Blair and Brown. But there is a significant problem. Useless as the current shadow cabinet undoubtedly is - is there any evidence of a great pool of talent on the backbenches that has been kept out by the patronage circle that could take over and do better? If Jeremy Corbyn is the best that they can put forward, I think we have the answer.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,358
    JEO said:

    Indigo said:

    Up until the last couple of paragraphs. With the current mood in the country, any politician suggesting taking another 150k asylum seekers a year (especially since 90% fail, and are not removed from the country) is going to be taking a long walk off a short electoral pier.

    I suspect the real problem is the EHCR and Article 8, the right to family life, the same bundle of joy that prevents us from chucking out half the known terrorism supporters in the country.
    The right to family life was included in the convention to stop people banning or breaking up marriages between people of different racial backgrounds. Now it's used to overturn anti-forced marriage laws and to keep failed asylum seekers in the country. The latter is a pretty surefire way into UK settlement: break in illegally, burn your papers so your details are hard to identity, apply for asylum, get to leave the detention centre because the case is taking so long, arrange with the local elders to marry someone in your ethnic or tribal group in the UK, wait until the last moment to appeal to your asylum refusal, wait ages until you get turned down again, then when you've been in your relationship for a couple of years, sue in the European Courts for your right to family life as you've now been married two years and can be seen to have an established life in the UK.
    That's the one.
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    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,125
    Springtime for Corbyn
    (That's Jeremy...)
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Their recommendation:

    - public spending on subsidised off-road parking for lorries with decent facilities (besides the cost, I'm sure the Garden of England would like to be concreted over)

    - "we need to do more" to help the migrants

    Is that really common sense?
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    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,125
    edited July 2015
    HYUFD said:

    Indigo said:

    HYUFD said:

    Indigo said:

    Cromwell said:

    It is my prediction they will chose YVETTE COOPER as the compromise candidate and the first female leader of the LP and in doing so salvage a minor victory from the ashes of defeat ! The LP may sometime in the future commit political suicide but not yet !

    That will be when all the Unite money storms off in a huff because Labour didn't elect their anointed candidate, and the hard left explode with rage over the supposed Blairite stitch-up that kept their man out.

    Cooper is a Brownite, not a Blairite
    The key point is she is not Corbynite.
    Indeed, Kendall is Blairite, Burnham Kinnockite/Blairite, Cooper Brownite, Corbyn Bennite
    They're all "Good night...."
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    david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,419

    Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
    The choice of EdM was madness.
    Corbyn promises destruction.
    Labour is unworthy of rational political analysis.

    They're not mad; they're on the political equivalent of a very heavy night on the town - having a very enjoyable time and expressing their real feelings. They may wake up in the morning with a banging hangover, wondering where the money went and what that stain is on their trousers.
    You think Labour are on a bender, I think they're on a death ride. There will be no morning after.
    In other circumstances they might have been but they've picked a good time to indulge: there's no-one to replace them at the moment. The Tories could grab the centre, to an extent, but the Tories can never replace Labour any more than the Blairite Labour Party could kill off the Tories. The Lib Dems are in a disastrous position and have a great deal of work cut out simply to get back to where they were twenty years ago. The Greens and SNP are more likely victims of a Corbyn victory than beneficiaries. UKIP is in a real mess after Farage's in-out moment.

    A Corbyn victory might cost Labour the 2020 election but not its entire future.
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,249
    Charles said:

    Their recommendation:

    - public spending on subsidised off-road parking for lorries with decent facilities (besides the cost, I'm sure the Garden of England would like to be concreted over)

    - "we need to do more" to help the migrants

    Is that really common sense?
    I don't think it's stupid to suggest a couple of lorry parks in Kent. Quite the reverse, indeed.

    Perkins seems to get into a terrible muddle over the asylum business though. The people coming through on the lorries are not asylum seekers, for the simple reason that if they were, their only legal course of action would be to claim asylum in France (assuming, for the moment and probably wrongly, that they had not passed any other designated safe country - e.g. Hungary - en route). Genuine asylum seekers with perfectly clear-cut cases do of course arrive in this country - but by air, where the airport is the first safe soil they have touched.

    That means they are economic migrants. This is therefore a straightforward political question - do we take them to work in our economy or not? And the clear evidence is that the British public have said no, we should not take them to work in the economy. Therefore, the government is acting democratically in trying to stop them. However, in practice only the French can do so (as the problem is in France) and I think they are too disorganised at present to mount the necessary security operation.

    Perkins is of course entitled to disagree with that if she wishes, but she needs to argue on the basis of facts rather than left-wing prejudices about right-wing views, which is what she seems to be doing.
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    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,125
    Cromwell - Is a Coup de Ta one for which the good folks of Yorkshire are grateful?
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    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916
    Farron seems to have given jobs to all and sundry except his only Welsh MP. Is there something personal here?
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    RobDRobD Posts: 58,969
    ydoethur said:

    Charles said:

    Their recommendation:

    - public spending on subsidised off-road parking for lorries with decent facilities (besides the cost, I'm sure the Garden of England would like to be concreted over)

    - "we need to do more" to help the migrants

    Is that really common sense?
    I don't think it's stupid to suggest a couple of lorry parks in Kent. Quite the reverse, indeed.

    Perkins seems to get into a terrible muddle over the asylum business though. The people coming through on the lorries are not asylum seekers, for the simple reason that if they were, their only legal course of action would be to claim asylum in France (assuming, for the moment and probably wrongly, that they had not passed any other designated safe country - e.g. Hungary - en route). Genuine asylum seekers with perfectly clear-cut cases do of course arrive in this country - but by air, where the airport is the first safe soil they have touched.

    That means they are economic migrants. This is therefore a straightforward political question - do we take them to work in our economy or not? And the clear evidence is that the British public have said no, we should not take them to work in the economy. Therefore, the government is acting democratically in trying to stop them. However, in practice only the French can do so (as the problem is in France) and I think they are too disorganised at present to mount the necessary security operation.

    Perkins is of course entitled to disagree with that if she wishes, but she needs to argue on the basis of facts rather than left-wing prejudices about right-wing views, which is what she seems to be doing.
    'a couple of lorry parks'... being capable of holding 5,000 lories? Those'll be quite big then!
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    ydoethur said:

    Charles said:

    Their recommendation:

    - public spending on subsidised off-road parking for lorries with decent facilities (besides the cost, I'm sure the Garden of England would like to be concreted over)

    - "we need to do more" to help the migrants

    Is that really common sense?
    I don't think it's stupid to suggest a couple of lorry parks in Kent. Quite the reverse, indeed.

    Perkins seems to get into a terrible muddle over the asylum business though. The people coming through on the lorries are not asylum seekers, for the simple reason that if they were, their only legal course of action would be to claim asylum in France (assuming, for the moment and probably wrongly, that they had not passed any other designated safe country - e.g. Hungary - en route). Genuine asylum seekers with perfectly clear-cut cases do of course arrive in this country - but by air, where the airport is the first safe soil they have touched.

    That means they are economic migrants. This is therefore a straightforward political question - do we take them to work in our economy or not? And the clear evidence is that the British public have said no, we should not take them to work in the economy. Therefore, the government is acting democratically in trying to stop them. However, in practice only the French can do so (as the problem is in France) and I think they are too disorganised at present to mount the necessary security operation.

    Perkins is of course entitled to disagree with that if she wishes, but she needs to argue on the basis of facts rather than left-wing prejudices about right-wing views, which is what she seems to be doing.
    Lorry parks are certainly possible - but equally, it's a lot of concrete for a short term problem. I could see expanding current facilities, but not sure that you should build a separate park that will only be used 24 days (so far) this year. It was also the implication that it should be subsidised ("not charging iniquitous rates") that slightly irritated.

    I'm not sure the French are too disorganised. I think they know exactly what they are doing: the minimum to get away with looking like they are trying, while hoping that the migrants move to the UK and are no longer their problem.
  • Options
    watford30watford30 Posts: 3,474
    edited July 2015
    RobD said:

    ydoethur said:

    Charles said:

    Their recommendation:

    - public spending on subsidised off-road parking for lorries with decent facilities (besides the cost, I'm sure the Garden of England would like to be concreted over)

    - "we need to do more" to help the migrants

    Is that really common sense?
    I don't think it's stupid to suggest a couple of lorry parks in Kent. Quite the reverse, indeed.

    Perkins seems to get into a terrible muddle over the asylum business though. The people coming through on the lorries are not asylum seekers, for the simple reason that if they were, their only legal course of action would be to claim asylum in France (assuming, for the moment and probably wrongly, that they had not passed any other designated safe country - e.g. Hungary - en route). Genuine asylum seekers with perfectly clear-cut cases do of course arrive in this country - but by air, where the airport is the first safe soil they have touched.

    That means they are economic migrants. This is therefore a straightforward political question - do we take them to work in our economy or not? And the clear evidence is that the British public have said no, we should not take them to work in the economy. Therefore, the government is acting democratically in trying to stop them. However, in practice only the French can do so (as the problem is in France) and I think they are too disorganised at present to mount the necessary security operation.

    Perkins is of course entitled to disagree with that if she wishes, but she needs to argue on the basis of facts rather than left-wing prejudices about right-wing views, which is what she seems to be doing.
    'a couple of lorry parks'... being capable of holding 5,000 lories? Those'll be quite big then!
    The runway at Manston is an obvious site.

    I heard a BBC reporter on Today, describing the scenes she'd witnessed at Coquelles last night.

    Is it too much to expect for Theresa May to get out from behind her comfy desk in Whitehall, and visit the problem herself one evening? She sure as hell should - this is a major vote loser for her party, particularly in Kent.
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,249

    Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
    The choice of EdM was madness.
    Corbyn promises destruction.
    Labour is unworthy of rational political analysis.

    They're not mad; they're on the political equivalent of a very heavy night on the town - having a very enjoyable time and expressing their real feelings. They may wake up in the morning with a banging hangover, wondering where the money went and what that stain is on their trousers.
    You think Labour are on a bender, I think they're on a death ride. There will be no morning after.
    In other circumstances they might have been but they've picked a good time to indulge: there's no-one to replace them at the moment. The Tories could grab the centre, to an extent, but the Tories can never replace Labour any more than the Blairite Labour Party could kill off the Tories. The Lib Dems are in a disastrous position and have a great deal of work cut out simply to get back to where they were twenty years ago. The Greens and SNP are more likely victims of a Corbyn victory than beneficiaries. UKIP is in a real mess after Farage's in-out moment.

    A Corbyn victory might cost Labour the 2020 election but not its entire future.
    Possibly. But a note of caution. The fact that there was no plausible replacement for the Liberals did not stop them collapsing in utter chaos in the early 1920s during struggles over the leadership between Asquith and Lloyd George (also Acland, who is usually the forgotten figure of the struggle). As a result, even though they had not been a plausible replacement before, the Labour party came through to replace the Liberals.

    If Labour does implode of its own accord, a replacement would be found. Just because there doesn't appear to be an obvious one at present doesn't mean it wouldn't happen - and it might be a very sinister party indeed. Who would bet against an English branch of the SNP committed to the break-up of the UK on a xenophobic manifesto with a few social democratic platitudes doing well in the current climate against a Corbyn-led Labour party?

    (PS - bear in mind it's not just tone and policies. Labour seriously need a top-to-bottom reorganisation, something Corbyn would be too inexperienced and too disorganised, on present evidence, to even begin. He would not be a positive step for Labour.)
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,249
    Financier said:

    Farron seems to have given jobs to all and sundry except his only Welsh MP. Is there something personal here?

    I wondered about that too. However, we may be reading too much into it. I know Mark Williams (he used to be my MP) and I don't think he's particularly interested in the greasy pole side of politics. He's also defending quite a marginal seat with two major universities in it, and he may feel he needs to spend a lot of time there smoothing the ruffled feathers if he is not to suffer the fate of Jenny Willott, which would rule him out of a front bench role.

    The real irony of course is that two-thirds of them are in the Lords - a body Farron has called for the abolition of!
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,249
    watford30 said:


    The runway at Manston is an obvious site.

    I heard a BBC reporter on Today, describing the scenes she'd witnessed at Coquelles last night.

    Is it too much to expect for Theresa May to get out from behind her comfy desk in Whitehall, and visit the problem herself one evening? She sure as hell should - this is a major vote loser for her party, particularly in Kent.

    Seems a long way from Dover, but it's probably a better idea than 'Operation Stack' is proving. Extra ferries from Ramsgate perhaps?
  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,249
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:



    A more plausible point could be that he's the V-candidate - the one the Labour hierarchy loves to hate so, as everyone hates the Labour hierarchy as a bunch of pompous, arrogant and out-of-touch morons (something they need to understand, and very fast, if they wish to reconnect with voters) the one people say they will vote for. Again that doesn't apply to 2007.

    The most dismal thought of all though is that just because Labour's high command are unpleasant and moronic doesn't mean that they are always wrong...and if those people who are influenced by the last point actually vote for Corbyn, they will surely come to regret it. The one positive might be that it would surely lead to a total purge of all the Brownites and Blairites at one go, and allow Labour to move on at last. But moving from the frying pan into the fire isn't really progress.

    I think that you are right on the money with these two paragraphs. The Labour front bench were spineless in their lack of support for Ed Miliband and useless at campaigning in the GE. The whole lot need a clear out. Corbyn will have this effect, and the Labour spadocracy will then either depart or learn how to fight from the backbenches. It is not just Corbyns politics they fear. Their whole nepotistic inner circle is doomed if Corbyn wins.
    Well, quite possibly. And there could be worse ways to end the poisonous feud of Blair and Brown. But there is a significant problem. Useless as the current shadow cabinet undoubtedly is - is there any evidence of a great pool of talent on the backbenches that has been kept out by the patronage circle that could take over and do better? If Jeremy Corbyn is the best that they can put forward, I think we have the answer.
    I don't think Corbyn is the best they can put forward - even he would agree. He was the best that the left of the party could put forward. As he says, 'Abbot had go last time, it was my turn'.
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    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,249
    ydoethur said:

    watford30 said:


    The runway at Manston is an obvious site.

    I heard a BBC reporter on Today, describing the scenes she'd witnessed at Coquelles last night.

    Is it too much to expect for Theresa May to get out from behind her comfy desk in Whitehall, and visit the problem herself one evening? She sure as hell should - this is a major vote loser for her party, particularly in Kent.

    Seems a long way from Dover, but it's probably a better idea than 'Operation Stack' is proving. Extra ferries from Ramsgate perhaps?
    Wasn't she in Calais a day or so ago?
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,358
    Charles said:

    Their recommendation:

    - public spending on subsidised off-road parking for lorries with decent facilities (besides the cost, I'm sure the Garden of England would like to be concreted over)

    - "we need to do more" to help the migrants

    Is that really common sense?
    Read the comments. That's what surprised me.

    The article is the usual Grauniad bollocks.
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,249

    ydoethur said:

    watford30 said:


    The runway at Manston is an obvious site.

    I heard a BBC reporter on Today, describing the scenes she'd witnessed at Coquelles last night.

    Is it too much to expect for Theresa May to get out from behind her comfy desk in Whitehall, and visit the problem herself one evening? She sure as hell should - this is a major vote loser for her party, particularly in Kent.

    Seems a long way from Dover, but it's probably a better idea than 'Operation Stack' is proving. Extra ferries from Ramsgate perhaps?
    Wasn't she in Calais a day or so ago?
    Ah, sorry, that's meant to be about Manston Airport's possibilities as a lorry park, not about Theresa May. Watford30 changed the comment a bit after I had started typing.
  • Options
    watford30watford30 Posts: 3,474

    ydoethur said:

    watford30 said:


    The runway at Manston is an obvious site.

    I heard a BBC reporter on Today, describing the scenes she'd witnessed at Coquelles last night.

    Is it too much to expect for Theresa May to get out from behind her comfy desk in Whitehall, and visit the problem herself one evening? She sure as hell should - this is a major vote loser for her party, particularly in Kent.

    Seems a long way from Dover, but it's probably a better idea than 'Operation Stack' is proving. Extra ferries from Ramsgate perhaps?
    Wasn't she in Calais a day or so ago?
    Day or nightime? The former it's peaceful, though I suspect Eurotunnel would go out of their way to avoid having the Home Secretary watch immigrants slicing through their fences like warm butter, at 3AM.
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    SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 38,937
    It would not surprise me if polls were not now under-estimating Corbyn's support levels. He could easily win on the first round. There are so many (different) reasons for people across the party to vote for him. The left get their messiah, the centre and right get the chance to show the left just how disastrous someone like Corbyn as leader will be. One thing we can be pretty sure of, though, is that he is not going to be leader in 2020. I am looking forward to his first PMQ and his response to the next budget. It should be fun in a twisted, hiding behind the sofa kind of way; rather like watching reality dawn on freedom-minded Scots once they become independent and discover that everything the SNP said was untrue.
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    ydoethur said:

    Financier said:

    Farron seems to have given jobs to all and sundry except his only Welsh MP. Is there something personal here?

    I wondered about that too. However, we may be reading too much into it. I know Mark Williams (he used to be my MP) and I don't think he's particularly interested in the greasy pole side of politics. He's also defending quite a marginal seat with two major universities in it, and he may feel he needs to spend a lot of time there smoothing the ruffled feathers if he is not to suffer the fate of Jenny Willott, which would rule him out of a front bench role.

    The real irony of course is that two-thirds of them are in the Lords - a body Farron has called for the abolition of!
    The way back for the LDs is local "pavement politics". I think they do need to have opinions on national issues, but these are secondary. While Holyrood requires some commitment, the English locals next year are in many ways the target.

    I had the LD survey yesterday looking at how the party should approach the Euroref. Tactical issues as well as political and attitudinal ones. It will be interesting to see how that turns out. I think Labour will be in internal chaos so it is likely that if the referendum is next year that the LDs and SNP will be the most vocal "inners".
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    SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 38,937
    "Who would bet against an English branch of the SNP committed to the break-up of the UK on a xenophobic manifesto with a few social democratic platitudes doing well in the current climate against a Corbyn-led Labour party?"

    You mean the Conservative party?
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,249
    edited July 2015

    "Who would bet against an English branch of the SNP committed to the break-up of the UK on a xenophobic manifesto with a few social democratic platitudes doing well in the current climate against a Corbyn-led Labour party?"

    You mean the Conservative party?

    I don't think the Conservatives are committed to the break-up of the UK :smiley: They may bring it about through sheer ineptitude and complacency, but it's not going to be in their manifesto.
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    SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 38,937
    ydoethur said:

    "Who would bet against an English branch of the SNP committed to the break-up of the UK on a xenophobic manifesto with a few social democratic platitudes doing well in the current climate against a Corbyn-led Labour party?"

    You mean the Conservative party?

    I don't think the Conservatives are committed to the break-up of the UK :smiley: They may bring it about through sheer ineptitude and complacency, but it's not going to be in their manifesto.

    No, they would not be that explicit. But everything they have done and said since the referendum seems designed to bring it about. If they were genuinely interested in saving it there would now be plans in place for a constitutional convention.

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    CD13CD13 Posts: 6,351
    Mr Royale,

    The Guardian on-line has been swamped by anti-immigration immigrants. I don't think there will be room to park them on the Sun's premises. Where are they all flocking from?
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    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,780
    watford30 said:

    RobD said:

    ydoethur said:

    Charles said:

    Their recommendation:

    - public spending on subsidised off-road parking for lorries with decent facilities (besides the cost, I'm sure the Garden of England would like to be concreted over)

    - "we need to do more" to help the migrants

    Is that really common sense?
    I don't think it's stupid to suggest a couple of lorry parks in Kent. Quite the reverse, indeed.

    Perkins seems to get into a terrible muddle over the asylum business though. The people coming through on the lorries are not asylum seekers, for the simple reason that if they were, their only legal course of action would be to claim asylum in France (assuming, for the moment and probably wrongly, that they had not passed any other designated safe country - e.g. Hungary - en route). Genuine asylum seekers with perfectly clear-cut cases do of course arrive in this country - but by air, where the airport is the first safe soil they have touched.

    That means they are economic migrants. This is therefore a straightforward political question - do we take them to work in our economy or not? And the clear evidence is that the British public have said no, we should not take them to work in the economy. Therefore, the government is acting democratically in trying to stop them. However, in practice only the French can do so (as the problem is in France) and I think they are too disorganised at present to mount the necessary security operation.

    Perkins is of course entitled to disagree with that if she wishes, but she needs to argue on the basis of facts rather than left-wing prejudices about right-wing views, which is what she seems to be doing.
    'a couple of lorry parks'... being capable of holding 5,000 lories? Those'll be quite big then!
    The runway at Manston is an obvious site.

    I heard a BBC reporter on Today, describing the scenes she'd witnessed at Coquelles last night.

    Is it too much to expect for Theresa May to get out from behind her comfy desk in Whitehall, and visit the problem herself one evening? She sure as hell should - this is a major vote loser for her party, particularly in Kent.
    I suspect the Tories can afford to lose some votes in Kent at least with out being harmed by it
  • Options
    watford30watford30 Posts: 3,474
    edited July 2015
    ydoethur said:

    watford30 said:


    The runway at Manston is an obvious site.

    I heard a BBC reporter on Today, describing the scenes she'd witnessed at Coquelles last night.

    Is it too much to expect for Theresa May to get out from behind her comfy desk in Whitehall, and visit the problem herself one evening? She sure as hell should - this is a major vote loser for her party, particularly in Kent.

    Seems a long way from Dover, but it's probably a better idea than 'Operation Stack' is proving. Extra ferries from Ramsgate perhaps?
    Faced with a wait on the M20 of 24 hours plus, an extra hour to Manston isn't much of an effort.

    If Ramsgate has the capacity it might make sense. The runway is massive, both in length and width; 9000 ft long, with parking for 15-20 trucks abreast maybe?
  • Options
    watford30watford30 Posts: 3,474
    kle4 said:

    watford30 said:

    RobD said:

    ydoethur said:

    Charles said:

    Their recommendation:

    - public spending on subsidised off-road parking for lorries with decent facilities (besides the cost, I'm sure the Garden of England would like to be concreted over)

    - "we need to do more" to help the migrants

    Is that really common sense?
    I don't think it's stupid to suggest a couple of lorry parks in Kent. Quite the reverse, indeed.

    Perkins seems to get into a terrible muddle over the asylum business though. The people coming through on the lorries are not asylum seekers, for the simple reason that if they were, their only legal course of action would be to claim asylum in France (assuming, for the moment and probably wrongly, that they had not passed any other designated safe country - e.g. Hungary - en route). Genuine asylum seekers with perfectly clear-cut cases do of course arrive in this country - but by air, where the airport is the first safe soil they have touched.

    That means they are economic migrants. This is therefore a straightforward political question - do we take them to work in our economy or not? And the clear evidence is that the British public have said no, we should not take them to work in the economy. Therefore, the government is acting democratically in trying to stop them. However, in practice only the French can do so (as the problem is in France) and I think they are too disorganised at present to mount the necessary security operation.

    Perkins is of course entitled to disagree with that if she wishes, but she needs to argue on the basis of facts rather than left-wing prejudices about right-wing views, which is what she seems to be doing.
    'a couple of lorry parks'... being capable of holding 5,000 lories? Those'll be quite big then!
    The runway at Manston is an obvious site.

    I heard a BBC reporter on Today, describing the scenes she'd witnessed at Coquelles last night.

    Is it too much to expect for Theresa May to get out from behind her comfy desk in Whitehall, and visit the problem herself one evening? She sure as hell should - this is a major vote loser for her party, particularly in Kent.
    I suspect the Tories can afford to lose some votes in Kent at least with out being harmed by it
    Weren't the Kippers snapping at their heels in many seats?
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    tysontyson Posts: 6,050
    madmacs said:

    Spoke to Labour Party activists who tell me in their area, new members are overwhelmingly pro Corbin. He nearly won the CLP nomination in a middle England marginal constituency. The "old timers" are very concerned about the future.


    the old timers I know- long standing party members, a pretty moderate and generally sensible bunch, are going for Corbyn too.

    Mike- the Hillary Benn reference is just not relevant here. Corbyn's going to sail through

  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,780

    ydoethur said:

    "Who would bet against an English branch of the SNP committed to the break-up of the UK on a xenophobic manifesto with a few social democratic platitudes doing well in the current climate against a Corbyn-led Labour party?"

    You mean the Conservative party?

    I don't think the Conservatives are committed to the break-up of the UK :smiley: They may bring it about through sheer ineptitude and complacency, but it's not going to be in their manifesto.

    No, they would not be that explicit. But everything they have done and said since the referendum seems designed to bring it about. If they were genuinely interested in saving it there would now be plans in place for a constitutional convention.

    I think it much more likely they are resisting and dissembling to try to avoid the problem and that may hasten that outcome rather than it being their plan. The former requires a lot less hiding of motives and much less discipline, which I don't think they have.

    A constitutional convention was a good idea though
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,780
    watford30 said:

    kle4 said:

    watford30 said:

    RobD said:

    ydoethur said:

    Charles said:

    Their recommendation:

    - public spending on subsidised off-road parking for lorries with decent facilities (besides the cost, I'm sure the Garden of England would like to be concreted over)

    - "we need to do more" to help the migrants

    Is that really common sense?
    I don't think it's stupid to suggest a couple of lorry parks in Kent. Quite the reverse, indeed.

    Perkins seems to get into a terrible muddle over the asylum business though. The people coming through on the lorries are not asylum seekers, for the simple reason that if they were, their only legal course of action would be to claim asylum in France (assuming, for the moment and probably wrongly, that they had not passed any other designated safe country - e.g. Hungary - en route). Genuine asylum seekers with perfectly clear-cut cases do of course arrive in this country - but by air, where the airport is the first safe soil they have touched.

    Perkins is of course entitled to disagree with that if she wishes, but she needs to argue on the basis of facts rather than left-wing prejudices about right-wing views, which is what she seems to be doing.
    'a couple of lorry parks'... being capable of holding 5,000 lories? Those'll be quite big then!
    The runway at Manston is an obvious site.

    I heard a BBC reporter on Today, describing the scenes she'd witnessed at Coquelles last night.

    Is it too much to expect for Theresa May to get out from behind her comfy desk in Whitehall, and visit the problem herself one evening? She sure as hell should - this is a major vote loser for her party, particularly in Kent.
    I suspect the Tories can afford to lose some votes in Kent at least with out being harmed by it
    Weren't the Kippers snapping at their heels in many seats?
    Depends how close the snapping was I suppose. If they were not far off in plenty I retract the comment, but my gut feeling was ukip did not get that close in many. Which is not to say the Tories should not act, just they can probably afford to dither.
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    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,780
    If Corbyn wins I hope he makes a genuine go of it, he doesn't moderate himself and really tries to drag the rest if the party with him. It will be a very interesting experiment that way, even if fails. I also hope he gives a victory speech in an actual donkey jacket, would show a nice sense of humour.
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    SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 38,937
    tyson said:

    madmacs said:

    Spoke to Labour Party activists who tell me in their area, new members are overwhelmingly pro Corbin. He nearly won the CLP nomination in a middle England marginal constituency. The "old timers" are very concerned about the future.


    the old timers I know- long standing party members, a pretty moderate and generally sensible bunch, are going for Corbyn too.

    Mike- the Hillary Benn reference is just not relevant here. Corbyn's going to sail through

    Agreed. Everything I am hearing tells me he is going to walk it. Should that be the case, it will see the end of Burnham and Cooper, and the other detritus of the Blair/Brown years who really should have gone away a long time ago. Corbyn will struggle along for a couple of years or so, Labour will be mashed in Scotland, London and the English regions next year (though may fare better in Wales) and the search will be on for the person who will lead the party into the 2020 elections.

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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,001
    JEO said:

    Indigo said:

    Up until the last couple of paragraphs. With the current mood in the country, any politician suggesting taking another 150k asylum seekers a year (especially since 90% fail, and are not removed from the country) is going to be taking a long walk off a short electoral pier.

    I suspect the real problem is the EHCR and Article 8, the right to family life, the same bundle of joy that prevents us from chucking out half the known terrorism supporters in the country.
    The right to family life was included in the convention to stop people banning or breaking up marriages between people of different racial backgrounds. Now it's used to overturn anti-forced marriage laws and to keep failed asylum seekers in the country. The latter is a pretty surefire way into UK settlement: break in illegally, burn your papers so your details are hard to identity, apply for asylum, get to leave the detention centre because the case is taking so long, arrange with the local elders to marry someone in your ethnic or tribal group in the UK, wait until the last moment to appeal to your asylum refusal, wait ages until you get turned down again, then when you've been in your relationship for a couple of years, sue in the European Courts for your right to family life as you've now been married two years and can be seen to have an established life in the UK.
    To be honest, if you burn your papers on arrival, and refuse to tell people where you come from, then it's almost impossible to deport you - because it's not clear where to deport you to.

    Getting another country to accept those we try to deport, if we can't prove they are from that country, is basically impossible.

    Illegal immigrants know this, which makes it an incredibly expensive problem.
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    SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 38,937
    kle4 said:

    ydoethur said:

    "Who would bet against an English branch of the SNP committed to the break-up of the UK on a xenophobic manifesto with a few social democratic platitudes doing well in the current climate against a Corbyn-led Labour party?"

    You mean the Conservative party?

    I don't think the Conservatives are committed to the break-up of the UK :smiley: They may bring it about through sheer ineptitude and complacency, but it's not going to be in their manifesto.

    No, they would not be that explicit. But everything they have done and said since the referendum seems designed to bring it about. If they were genuinely interested in saving it there would now be plans in place for a constitutional convention.

    I think it much more likely they are resisting and dissembling to try to avoid the problem and that may hasten that outcome rather than it being their plan. The former requires a lot less hiding of motives and much less discipline, which I don't think they have.

    A constitutional convention was a good idea though

    True - I think Cameron is determined not to be the PM who lost the UK. He would much rather his successor have that as his/her legacy. But there's no going back now, I fear; the UK is finished. It's just a matter of when. I suspect it will be some time between 2020 and 2025.

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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    rcs1000 said:

    JEO said:

    Indigo said:

    Up until the last couple of paragraphs. With the current mood in the country, any politician suggesting taking another 150k asylum seekers a year (especially since 90% fail, and are not removed from the country) is going to be taking a long walk off a short electoral pier.

    I suspect the real problem is the EHCR and Article 8, the right to family life, the same bundle of joy that prevents us from chucking out half the known terrorism supporters in the country.
    The right to family life was included in the convention to stop people banning or breaking up marriages between people of different racial backgrounds. Now it's used to overturn anti-forced marriage laws and to keep failed asylum seekers in the country. The latter is a pretty surefire way into UK settlement: break in illegally, burn your papers so your details are hard to identity, apply for asylum, get to leave the detention centre because the case is taking so long, arrange with the local elders to marry someone in your ethnic or tribal group in the UK, wait until the last moment to appeal to your asylum refusal, wait ages until you get turned down again, then when you've been in your relationship for a couple of years, sue in the European Courts for your right to family life as you've now been married two years and can be seen to have an established life in the UK.
    To be honest, if you burn your papers on arrival, and refuse to tell people where you come from, then it's almost impossible to deport you - because it's not clear where to deport you to.

    Getting another country to accept those we try to deport, if we can't prove they are from that country, is basically impossible.

    Illegal immigrants know this, which makes it an incredibly expensive problem.
    Not something that leaving the EU would help with either. Short of using illegals as galley slaves or a chain gang it is hard to think of a big enough disincentive.
  • Options
    tysontyson Posts: 6,050
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11770856/Calais-crisis-Screw-British-holidaymakers.-What-about-the-real-victims.html

    Great article in the Telegraph on the migrant crisis. The attitudes towards the migrants that I have read here by most of the pbCOM fraternity is utterly appalling.
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,780

    kle4 said:

    ydoethur said:

    "Who would bet against an English branch of the SNP committed to the break-up of the UK on a xenophobic manifesto with a few social democratic platitudes doing well in the current climate against a Corbyn-led Labour party?"

    You mean the Conservative party?

    I don't think the Conservatives are committed to the break-up of the UK :smiley: They may bring it about through sheer ineptitude and complacency, but it's not going to be in their manifesto.

    No, they would not be that explicit. But everything they have done and said since the referendum seems designed to bring it about. If they were genuinely interested in saving it there would now be plans in place for a constitutional convention.

    I think it much more likely they are resisting and dissembling to try to avoid the problem and that may hasten that outcome rather than it being their plan. The former requires a lot less hiding of motives and much less discipline, which I don't think they have.

    A constitutional convention was a good idea though

    True - I think Cameron is determined not to be the PM who lost the UK. He would much rather his successor have that as his/her legacy. But there's no going back now, I fear; the UK is finished. It's just a matter of when. I suspect it will be some time between 2020 and 2025.

    Agreed. I think it can hang on just about that long. We need one last big try to get more people actively, positively in favour of the Union , maybe an attempt at full federalisation or an English Parliament or something I don't know - the rise of the SNP may doom the union before that can tried, but if doesn't, the apathy in the rest of the country is more fatal long term.
  • Options
    SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 38,937
    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    ydoethur said:

    "Who would bet against an English branch of the SNP committed to the break-up of the UK on a xenophobic manifesto with a few social democratic platitudes doing well in the current climate against a Corbyn-led Labour party?"

    You mean the Conservative party?

    I don't think the Conservatives are committed to the break-up of the UK :smiley: They may bring it about through sheer ineptitude and complacency, but it's not going to be in their manifesto.

    No, they would not be that explicit. But everything they have done and said since the referendum seems designed to bring it about. If they were genuinely interested in saving it there would now be plans in place for a constitutional convention.

    I think it much more likely they are resisting and dissembling to try to avoid the problem and that may hasten that outcome rather than it being their plan. The former requires a lot less hiding of motives and much less discipline, which I don't think they have.

    A constitutional convention was a good idea though

    True - I think Cameron is determined not to be the PM who lost the UK. He would much rather his successor have that as his/her legacy. But there's no going back now, I fear; the UK is finished. It's just a matter of when. I suspect it will be some time between 2020 and 2025.

    Agreed. I think it can hang on just about that long. We need one last big try to get more people actively, positively in favour of the Union , maybe an attempt at full federalisation or an English Parliament or something I don't know - the rise of the SNP may doom the union before that can tried, but if doesn't, the apathy in the rest of the country is more fatal long term.

    The necessary solutions would require parties sitting down together, thinking beyond the next electoral cycle and putting the interests of the country ahead of their own. As we know, there is no chance at all of that happening. The irony is that the break-up will happen under a Conservative and Unionist government.

  • Options
    watford30watford30 Posts: 3,474
    edited July 2015
    tyson said:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11770856/Calais-crisis-Screw-British-holidaymakers.-What-about-the-real-victims.html

    Great article in the Telegraph on the migrant crisis. The attitudes towards the migrants that I have read here by most of the pbCOM fraternity is utterly appalling.

    What are you doing to help them?

    Hand wringing whilst reading your rental income statements in a sunlit Italian cafe doesn't count.
  • Options
    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548

    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    ydoethur said:

    "Who would bet against an English branch of the SNP committed to the break-up of the UK on a xenophobic manifesto with a few social democratic platitudes doing well in the current climate against a Corbyn-led Labour party?"

    You mean the Conservative party?

    I don't think the Conservatives are committed to the break-up of the UK :smiley: They may bring it about through sheer ineptitude and complacency, but it's not going to be in their manifesto.

    No, they would not be that explicit. But everything they have done and said since the referendum seems designed to bring it about. If they were genuinely interested in saving it there would now be plans in place for a constitutional convention.

    I think it much more likely they are resisting and dissembling to try to avoid the problem and that may hasten that outcome rather than it being their plan. The former requires a lot less hiding of motives and much less discipline, which I don't think they have.

    A constitutional convention was a good idea though

    True - I think Cameron is determined not to be the PM who lost the UK. He would much rather his successor have that as his/her legacy. But there's no going back now, I fear; the UK is finished. It's just a matter of when. I suspect it will be some time between 2020 and 2025.

    Agreed. I think it can hang on just about that long. We need one last big try to get more people actively, positively in favour of the Union , maybe an attempt at full federalisation or an English Parliament or something I don't know - the rise of the SNP may doom the union before that can tried, but if doesn't, the apathy in the rest of the country is more fatal long term.

    The necessary solutions would require parties sitting down together, thinking beyond the next electoral cycle and putting the interests of the country ahead of their own. As we know, there is no chance at all of that happening. The irony is that the break-up will happen under a Conservative and Unionist government.

    Voting to leave the EU will mean voting to break up the UK. Some may like that, some may not, but that will be the effect of Brexit.
  • Options
    LucyJonesLucyJones Posts: 651
    Out of interest, I looked up the benefits entitlement for asylum seekers. Basically, it's £37/week cash plus accommodation for a single adult over 18. Plus free healthcare, prescriptions etc. If your asylum application is refused, you will get £35/week on a card (so can only be used for food and essentials), plus accommodation. https://www.gov.uk/asylum-support/what-youll-get

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    SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 38,937

    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    ydoethur said:

    "Who would bet against an English branch of the SNP committed to the break-up of the UK on a xenophobic manifesto with a few social democratic platitudes doing well in the current climate against a Corbyn-led Labour party?"

    You mean the Conservative party?

    I don't think the Conservatives are committed to the break-up of the UK :smiley: They may bring it about through sheer ineptitude and complacency, but it's not going to be in their manifesto.

    No, they would not be that explicit. But everything they have done and said since the referendum seems designed to bring it about. If they were genuinely interested in saving it there would now be plans in place for a constitutional convention.

    I think it much more likely they are resisting and dissembling to try to avoid the problem and that may hasten that outcome rather than it being their plan. The former requires a lot less hiding of motives and much less discipline, which I don't think they have.

    A constitutional convention was a good idea though

    True - I think Cameron is determined not to be the PM who lost the UK. He would much rather his successor have that as his/her legacy. But there's no going back now, I fear; the UK is finished. It's just a matter of when. I suspect it will be some time between 2020 and 2025.

    Agreed. I think it can hang on just about that long. We need one last big try to get more people actively, positively in favour of the Union , maybe an attempt at full federalisation or an English Parliament or something I don't know - the rise of the SNP may doom the union before that can tried, but if doesn't, the apathy in the rest of the country is more fatal long term.

    The necessary solutions would require parties sitting down together, thinking beyond the next electoral cycle and putting the interests of the country ahead of their own. As we know, there is no chance at all of that happening. The irony is that the break-up will happen under a Conservative and Unionist government.

    Voting to leave the EU will mean voting to break up the UK. Some may like that, some may not, but that will be the effect of Brexit.

    Yep - right now it's about the only reason I can think of to vote to stay in the EU. But it is a very good one.

  • Options
    tysontyson Posts: 6,050

    tyson said:

    madmacs said:

    Spoke to Labour Party activists who tell me in their area, new members are overwhelmingly pro Corbin. He nearly won the CLP nomination in a middle England marginal constituency. The "old timers" are very concerned about the future.


    the old timers I know- long standing party members, a pretty moderate and generally sensible bunch, are going for Corbyn too.

    Mike- the Hillary Benn reference is just not relevant here. Corbyn's going to sail through

    Agreed. Everything I am hearing tells me he is going to walk it. Should that be the case, it will see the end of Burnham and Cooper, and the other detritus of the Blair/Brown years who really should have gone away a long time ago. Corbyn will struggle along for a couple of years or so, Labour will be mashed in Scotland, London and the English regions next year (though may fare better in Wales) and the search will be on for the person who will lead the party into the 2020 elections.

    I thought that a week or so ago, and why I switched to Corbyn from Cooper. Now that I have switched to Corbyn I have my doubts.

    Corbyn has captured the imagination of the Labour membership because he is charming, authentic, believable, charismatic. People relate to him, and he relates well to people.

    I too am looking forward for him take on Cameron- the superficial PR man who doesn't really believe in anything. The juxtaposition couldn't be more stark. You may find that Corbyn captures a mood in the public that yearns for something believable, and he may well last longer than you think.
  • Options
    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    tyson said:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11770856/Calais-crisis-Screw-British-holidaymakers.-What-about-the-real-victims.html

    Great article in the Telegraph on the migrant crisis. The attitudes towards the migrants that I have read here by most of the pbCOM fraternity is utterly appalling.

    Interesting figures. I see the French granted asylum to 700 in Calais last year and deported 1200.
  • Options
    mattmatt Posts: 3,789

    rcs1000 said:

    JEO said:

    Indigo said:

    Up until the last couple of paragraphs. With the current mood in the country, any politician suggesting taking another 150k asylum seekers a year (especially since 90% fail, and are not removed from the country) is going to be taking a long walk off a short electoral pier.

    I suspect the real problem is the EHCR and Article 8, the right to family life, the same bundle of joy that prevents us from chucking out half the known terrorism supporters in the country.
    The right to family life was included in the convention to stop people banning or breaking up marriages between people of different racial backgrounds. Now it's used to overturn anti-forced marriage laws and to keep failed asylum seekers in the country. The latter is a pretty surefire way into UK settlement: break in illegally, burn your papers so your details are hard to identity, apply for asylum, get to leave the detention centre because the case is taking so long, arrange with the local elders to marry someone in your ethnic or tribal group in the UK, wait until the last moment to appeal to your asylum refusal, wait ages until you get turned down again, then when you've been in your relationship for a couple of years, sue in the European Courts for your right to family life as you've now been married two years and can be seen to have an established life in the UK.
    To be honest, if you burn your papers on arrival, and refuse to tell people where you come from, then it's almost impossible to deport you - because it's not clear where to deport you to.

    Getting another country to accept those we try to deport, if we can't prove they are from that country, is basically impossible.

    Illegal immigrants know this, which makes it an incredibly expensive problem.
    Not something that leaving the EU would help with either. Short of using illegals as galley slaves or a chain gang it is hard to think of a big enough disincentive.
    This may be one of the reasons why a number of people I know who I'd ordinarily classify as liberal seem surprisingly keen on more robust answers with water cannon being as non-lethal as it gets. I'm unconvinced that this will end well.
  • Options
    logical_songlogical_song Posts: 9,721

    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    ydoethur said:

    "Who would bet against an English branch of the SNP committed to the break-up of the UK on a xenophobic manifesto with a few social democratic platitudes doing well in the current climate against a Corbyn-led Labour party?"

    You mean the Conservative party?

    I don't think the Conservatives are committed to the break-up of the UK :smiley: They may bring it about through sheer ineptitude and complacency, but it's not going to be in their manifesto.

    No, they would not be that explicit. But everything they have done and said since the referendum seems designed to bring it about. If they were genuinely interested in saving it there would now be plans in place for a constitutional convention.

    I think it much more likely they are resisting and dissembling to try to avoid the problem and that may hasten that outcome rather than it being their plan. The former requires a lot less hiding of motives and much less discipline, which I don't think they have.

    A constitutional convention was a good idea though

    True - I think Cameron is determined not to be the PM who lost the UK. He would much rather his successor have that as his/her legacy. But there's no going back now, I fear; the UK is finished. It's just a matter of when. I suspect it will be some time between 2020 and 2025.

    Agreed. I think it can hang on just about that long. We need one last big try to get more people actively, positively in favour of the Union , maybe an attempt at full federalisation or an English Parliament or something I don't know - the rise of the SNP may doom the union before that can tried, but if doesn't, the apathy in the rest of the country is more fatal long term.

    The necessary solutions would require parties sitting down together, thinking beyond the next electoral cycle and putting the interests of the country ahead of their own. As we know, there is no chance at all of that happening. The irony is that the break-up will happen under a Conservative and Unionist government.

    Voting to leave the EU will mean voting to break up the UK. Some may like that, some may not, but that will be the effect of Brexit.
    I agree that's probably the most likely unintended consequence.
  • Options
    MonikerDiCanioMonikerDiCanio Posts: 5,792
    tyson said:

    madmacs said:

    Spoke to Labour Party activists who tell me in their area, new members are overwhelmingly pro Corbin. He nearly won the CLP nomination in a middle England marginal constituency. The "old timers" are very concerned about the future.


    the old timers I know- long standing party members, a pretty moderate and generally sensible bunch, are going for Corbyn too.

    Mike- the Hillary Benn reference is just not relevant here. Corbyn's going to sail through

    Chianti Corbynites

    Cin Cin, compagni.
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,249
    LucyJones said:

    Out of interest, I looked up the benefits entitlement for asylum seekers. Basically, it's £37/week cash plus accommodation for a single adult over 18. Plus free healthcare, prescriptions etc. If your asylum application is refused, you will get £35/week on a card (so can only be used for food and essentials), plus accommodation. https://www.gov.uk/asylum-support/what-youll-get

    The key problem in terms of subsistence is, and always has been, that asylum seekers are not actually allowed to work while their application is being processed. This has always struck me as particularly stupid in the case of journalists, who could do an awful lot of very useful work (and WANT to do it) while waiting for a decision.

    Bizarrely, of course, most economic migrants do get work more or less immediately on arrival - illegally, in the 'black' economy.

    It's all very silly and I would love to see a government bring in temporary work permits to put an end to the confusion. Then in the event of an application being turned down (1) they can be revoked and (2) not only will they not have cost us anything to support, they will have been helping the economy in the meanwhile and possibly in many cases helping to sort out the original problems that drove them here in the first place. Win-win.
  • Options
    JEOJEO Posts: 3,656


    Voting to leave the EU will mean voting to break up the UK. Some may like that, some may not, but that will be the effect of Brexit.

    Yep - right now it's about the only reason I can think of to vote to stay in the EU. But it is a very good one.

    I don't think that's the case. I thing the polls will swing a lot one way or another during the campaign and the margin of victory will be more decisive than the English-Scottish division.

    In addition, I think Scots will feel leave that leaving the UK is a bigger jump to make than leaving the EU.
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    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,311
    edited July 2015
    tyson said:

    madmacs said:

    Spoke to Labour Party activists who tell me in their area, new members are overwhelmingly pro Corbin. He nearly won the CLP nomination in a middle England marginal constituency. The "old timers" are very concerned about the future.


    the old timers I know- long standing party members, a pretty moderate and generally sensible bunch, are going for Corbyn too.

    Mike- the Hillary Benn reference is just not relevant here. Corbyn's going to sail through

    While of course not as insightful as @Cromwell nevertheless it had been my position for months/years prior to May that on the way to the polling booth the UK electorate would consider the risks of a Lab victory, understand that the LDs seriously misplayed their hand, run a million miles from UKIP...and vote Cons. Which it did.

    In much the same way, by all that is holy, you have to believe that Lab members, as they go to mark their crosses (or however they do it - Ms Black is right on a few things), will go for a safety candidate. I have backed Yvette but whoever it is (and I don't necessarily expect them to be leader in 2020) needs to be a steady hand while Lab has its famous "internal debate".

    I also still expect JC to step down prior to the vote.
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    CD13CD13 Posts: 6,351
    Mt Tyson,

    I salute your humanity, but asylum seekers don't journey across Europe, bypassing your place in Italy, to reach Calais before asking for asylum. They must be predominantly economic migrants. We must be a very attractive island.

    And we should take them all in. Hampstead Heath could be turned into a giant camp site, Islington would be nice, and I'm sure our British Asians would welcome a million or two of our African brothers into Southall.

    Numbers are all. And when crowds meet traffic, there is the real risk of accidents.

    I may be a simpleton, but are they not on French soil? Or have they finally returned Calais to us?

  • Options
    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    Yvette = Impressive Resume???

    What achievements are you thinking of in particular?
    Cromwell said:

    It's a good point; I'm only betting tiny sums on this contest.

    I simply don't understand the Labour electorate and can't read it. At current odds, I'm probably most tempted by Yvette.

    That sounds right , Kendall has no chance and Burnham seems more limp and pathetic every time he appears on TV; i.m not even remotely impressed with this Corbyn-mania and I suspect that it will dissipate for cooler heads to prevail ; what it has done is to wake up the voters and concentrate their minds wonderfully to the dangers they face
    And let's face it , Cooper is no Thatcher but she has an impressive resume of 18yrs , is slick and polished and handles the Press with ease , compare that with Andy U -Turnham ;furthermore she has a decisive advantage insomuch that the LP are an idealistic party that promotes women's rights and feminism ; they are not going to miss an opportunity to elect their history making first female leader by electing a retread from the failed 1970s



  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,780
    tyson said:

    tyson said:

    madmacs said:

    Spoke to Labour Party activists who tell me in their area, new members are overwhelmingly pro Corbin. He nearly won the CLP nomination in a middle England marginal constituency. The "old timers" are very concerned about the future.


    the old timers I know- long standing party members, a pretty moderate and generally sensible bunch, are going for Corbyn too.

    Mike- the Hillary Benn reference is just not relevant here. Corbyn's going to sail through

    Agreed. Everything I am hearing tells me he is going to walk it. Should that be the case, it will see the end of Burnham and Cooper, and the other detritus of the Blair/Brown years who really should have gone away a long time ago. Corbyn will struggle along for a couple of years or so, Labour will be mashed in Scotland, London and the English regions next year (though may fare better in Wales) and the search will be on for the person who will lead the party into the 2020 elections.

    I thought that a week or so ago, and why I switched to Corbyn from Cooper. Now that I have switched to Corbyn I have my doubts.

    Corbyn has captured the imagination of the Labour membership because he is charming, authentic, believable, charismatic. People relate to him, and he relates well to people.

    I too am looking forward for him take on Cameron- the superficial PR man who doesn't really believe in anything. The juxtaposition couldn't be more stark. You may find that Corbyn captures a mood in the public that yearns for something believable, and he may well last longer than you think.
    Certainly Cameron will be unused ot taking on someone like Corbyn regularly, which will prove interesting and may even flummox him a little as Corbyn may surprise him on some things, but the public reliably elect superficial people who dont appear to believe in things, that's why the political leaderhip class has developed down that path in the first place, because it worked. Now, it might get taken too far, and eventually there is a reaction, and perhaps Corbyn can be part of that (if he can, then the actual nature of his policy prononcement will be secondary to how he is perceived), but I don't thinl it can be assumed there is the groundswell for 'real' politicians. We all say we like them, then we elect the same old shower.
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    SquareRootSquareRoot Posts: 7,095
    edited July 2015
    Indigo said:

    HYUFD said:

    Indigo said:

    Cromwell said:

    It is my prediction they will chose YVETTE COOPER as the compromise candidate and the first female leader of the LP and in doing so salvage a minor victory from the ashes of defeat ! The LP may sometime in the future commit political suicide but not yet !

    That will be when all the Unite money storms off in a huff because Labour didn't elect their anointed candidate, and the hard left explode with rage over the supposed Blairite stitch-up that kept their man out.

    Cooper is a Brownite, not a Blairite
    The key point is she is not Corbynite.
    Corbynite=disaster
    Brownite=disaster
    Blairite= no one in Labour is listening

    Three things about this thread and re Brown

    Anyone who takes bricks in a plastic bag to a party is not to be trusted.

    Brown and his ideas were a disaster for Britain, so forget Yvette even if she wins.. disastrous for Labour
    If Corbyn wins Labour are absolutely fecked

    If Kendal wins . see above/Blairite.

    Oh and DONT TRUST POLLS>
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    JEOJEO Posts: 3,656
    tyson said:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11770856/Calais-crisis-Screw-British-holidaymakers.-What-about-the-real-victims.html

    Great article in the Telegraph on the migrant crisis. The attitudes towards the migrants that I have read here by most of the pbCOM fraternity is utterly appalling.

    There is not a single person in the Calais camp who has not chosen to be there because they are not content with the plenty of safe nations they have passed through already. Why should we see these people as victims of anything but their own choices?

    I feel most sympathy for the lorry drivers who are having their livelihoods ruined. Many of them are threatened on a regular basis as they pass through Calais, often with weaponry by some of these thugs.
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,249
    edited July 2015
    TOPPING said:


    In much the same way, by all that is holy, you have to believe that Lab members, as they go to mark their crosses (or however they do it - Ms Black is right on a few things), will go for a safety candidate.

    Who could forget that one MP was elected with the drawing of a gentleman's sausage in the right box:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/32658907/election-2015-mp-thanks-voter-for-penis-ballot-paper-mark

    Are there any bets on what marks might be used for any of the four candidates?
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    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916
    tyson said:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11770856/Calais-crisis-Screw-British-holidaymakers.-What-about-the-real-victims.html

    Great article in the Telegraph on the migrant crisis. The attitudes towards the migrants that I have read here by most of the pbCOM fraternity is utterly appalling.

    So you are advocating that we should take in all the economic migrants from Africa who want to come here?

    BTW - are you in favour of rent controls so that rents are proportionate to the living wage?
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    SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 38,937
    tyson said:

    tyson said:

    madmacs said:

    Spoke to Labour Party activists who tell me in their area, new members are overwhelmingly pro Corbin. He nearly won the CLP nomination in a middle England marginal constituency. The "old timers" are very concerned about the future.


    the old timers I know- long standing party members, a pretty moderate and generally sensible bunch, are going for Corbyn too.

    Mike- the Hillary Benn reference is just not relevant here. Corbyn's going to sail through

    Agreed. Everything I am hearing tells me he is going to walk it. Should that be the case, it will see the end of Burnham and Cooper, and the other detritus of the Blair/Brown years who really should have gone away a long time ago. Corbyn will struggle along for a couple of years or so, Labour will be mashed in Scotland, London and the English regions next year (though may fare better in Wales) and the search will be on for the person who will lead the party into the 2020 elections.

    I thought that a week or so ago, and why I switched to Corbyn from Cooper. Now that I have switched to Corbyn I have my doubts.

    Corbyn has captured the imagination of the Labour membership because he is charming, authentic, believable, charismatic. People relate to him, and he relates well to people.

    I too am looking forward for him take on Cameron- the superficial PR man who doesn't really believe in anything. The juxtaposition couldn't be more stark. You may find that Corbyn captures a mood in the public that yearns for something believable, and he may well last longer than you think.

    I don't think so. There are just too many hostages to fortune out there on issues like immigration, Hamas, the IRA and so on. I think a lot of what he says about big business sucking up tax money while avoiding paying tax, the counter-productivity of focusing on austerity to cut the deficit, nationalisation etc could be popular, but it can all be batted away. Corbyn has supped with the devil too many times. On top of which, he has absolutely no experience at all of holding a party line, of taking part in set-piece debates from a front bench and of working constructively with people whose views are not his own; then you have to throw in the fact that most MPs will be ill-disposed towards him from the start. It is going to be carnage. But it will be a hell of a ride.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,984
    Good morning, everyone.

    Watch stopped last night. Not too serious (clocks abound, of course) but mildly irksome. Had it for about 17 years, only replaced the battery once.

    On-topic: not sure I buy this argument. Isn't the closest leadership contender (from last time) to Corbyn, in terms of being an outsider, Abbott?
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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,307
    Absolutely brilliant day at the Test yesterday and back again this morning. Hopefully Ed will be staying away: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband/11750361/Ed-Miliband-watches-cricket-while-his-brother-David-hosts-50th-birthday-party.html


    My friends in Labour are probably a long way from typical, they are Scottish, older, wealthier, more establishment and conservative ( with a small c of course) but they are in despair at the idea that Corbyn winning and even more so at the quality of the alternatives. Not a happy bunch and unlikely to be knocking on many doors whatever the outcome.
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,249


    Anyone who takes bricks in a plastic bag to a party is not to be trusted.

    I missed that reference. Could you please explain it?
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    Roundheads together...

    tlg86 said:

    Cromwell - you may be right and Cooper could certainly come through to win on second preferences. But the Corbyn genie is out of the bottle and his supporters won't accept defeat lightly. It will be very amusing to watch lefties bemoaning the AV system should he have a clear win on first preferences.

    I think Corbyn will have enough second preferences to win, and it would not surprise me if he won on first preferences. Indeed it is heading to the point that the bookies need to have markets on how big his victory is.

    Cooper is bottom of my list of 4. The humourless puritan candidate seems to have the support of Cromwell though.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    kle4 said:

    ydoethur said:

    "Who would bet against an English branch of the SNP committed to the break-up of the UK on a xenophobic manifesto with a few social democratic platitudes doing well in the current climate against a Corbyn-led Labour party?"

    You mean the Conservative party?

    I don't think the Conservatives are committed to the break-up of the UK :smiley: They may bring it about through sheer ineptitude and complacency, but it's not going to be in their manifesto.

    No, they would not be that explicit. But everything they have done and said since the referendum seems designed to bring it about. If they were genuinely interested in saving it there would now be plans in place for a constitutional convention.

    I think it much more likely they are resisting and dissembling to try to avoid the problem and that may hasten that outcome rather than it being their plan. The former requires a lot less hiding of motives and much less discipline, which I don't think they have.

    A constitutional convention was a good idea though
    No, it's not a good idea. It only works if you have a reasonable counterparty.

    In practice it will be a ratchet. At every turn the SNP will make the case - quite reasonably - for more independence. The convention will reach a reasonable settlement that is fair to all parts of the UK.

    And then the wailing will start. "Oh the English, the English, the evil Tories are oppressing us".

    It will achieve nothing except to move the baseline further towards devolution.

    The SNP aren't ready to settle yet. For comparison (although obvious not equating the two), it made no sense to talk to Sinn Fein in the 1980s. But by the mid 1990s the PIRA was ready to surrender, so it made sense to open negotiations.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    kle4 said:

    ydoethur said:

    "Who would bet against an English branch of the SNP committed to the break-up of the UK on a xenophobic manifesto with a few social democratic platitudes doing well in the current climate against a Corbyn-led Labour party?"

    You mean the Conservative party?

    I don't think the Conservatives are committed to the break-up of the UK :smiley: They may bring it about through sheer ineptitude and complacency, but it's not going to be in their manifesto.

    No, they would not be that explicit. But everything they have done and said since the referendum seems designed to bring it about. If they were genuinely interested in saving it there would now be plans in place for a constitutional convention.

    I think it much more likely they are resisting and dissembling to try to avoid the problem and that may hasten that outcome rather than it being their plan. The former requires a lot less hiding of motives and much less discipline, which I don't think they have.

    A constitutional convention was a good idea though
    No, it's not a good idea. It only works if you have a reasonable counterparty.

    In practice it will be a ratchet. At every turn the SNP will make the case - quite reasonably - for more independence. The convention will reach a reasonable settlement that is fair to all parts of the UK.

    And then the wailing will start. "Oh the English, the English, the evil Tories are oppressing us".

    It will achieve nothing except to move the baseline further towards devolution.

    The SNP aren't ready to settle yet. For comparison (although obvious not equating the two), it made no sense to talk to Sinn Fein in the 1980s. But by the mid 1990s the PIRA was ready to surrender, so it made sense to open negotiations.
  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,001
    JEO said:

    tyson said:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11770856/Calais-crisis-Screw-British-holidaymakers.-What-about-the-real-victims.html

    Great article in the Telegraph on the migrant crisis. The attitudes towards the migrants that I have read here by most of the pbCOM fraternity is utterly appalling.

    There is not a single person in the Calais camp who has not chosen to be there because they are not content with the plenty of safe nations they have passed through already. Why should we see these people as victims of anything but their own choices?

    I feel most sympathy for the lorry drivers who are having their livelihoods ruined. Many of them are threatened on a regular basis as they pass through Calais, often with weaponry by some of these thugs.
    It is worth remembering that most of these people crossed the Mediterranean to get to Italy, before moving on to the rest of Europe.

    It would be in our best interests to offer the Italians naval help in stopping the migrants. Once migrants get into mainland Europe, at least some are going to end up getting to Calais, or getting across the Channel.
  • Options
    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916
    Do they share a pudding basin?
    Plato said:

    Roundheads together...

    tlg86 said:

    Cromwell - you may be right and Cooper could certainly come through to win on second preferences. But the Corbyn genie is out of the bottle and his supporters won't accept defeat lightly. It will be very amusing to watch lefties bemoaning the AV system should he have a clear win on first preferences.

    I think Corbyn will have enough second preferences to win, and it would not surprise me if he won on first preferences. Indeed it is heading to the point that the bookies need to have markets on how big his victory is.

    Cooper is bottom of my list of 4. The humourless puritan candidate seems to have the support of Cromwell though.
  • Options
    MortimerMortimer Posts: 13,946
    LucyJones said:

    Out of interest, I looked up the benefits entitlement for asylum seekers. Basically, it's £37/week cash plus accommodation for a single adult over 18. Plus free healthcare, prescriptions etc. If your asylum application is refused, you will get £35/week on a card (so can only be used for food and essentials), plus accommodation. https://www.gov.uk/asylum-support/what-youll-get

    Pretty awful in the grand scheme of things, but more generous than anything offered by France/Italy/Spain, presumably?

    Easy solution - doesn't count if you can't prove how you've arrived, and where from. At the same time, making sure to deport failed applications back to last safe country.
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