The French use a system only slightly less stupid than our own SV, which is neither FPTP nor fully preferential.
In the presidential election, the idea is to ensure that the executive president is elected by a majority. Not a majority after preference votes have been reallocated, but a majority of votes when people get the chance to vote for A or someone who's not A. This can only be guaranteed to work when the number of choices other than A is limited to one. It's about legitimacy: it's a sales technique. I think the system they use for the national assembly, where anyone who gets votes from more than 12.5% of the electorate in the first round makes it through to the second, and then it's FPTP, is stranger.
The French system is still essentially a preferential one; the votes are still reallocated but it's just that they're reallocated through a forced-choice (technically, supporters of the two candidates that go through could switch or withdraw as well, so it's not fully preferential like AV but it's near enough). In principle, it's almost exactly the same.
Except for the voters' foreknowledge of the final choice, and the loss of the opportunity for the third placed candidate to perform the miracle of coming through the middle on the back of transfers from fourth and lower placed eliminations.
Yes, which is why I said earlier that it's a stupid system but not quite as stupid as our own SV. (Of course, under AV, voters don't need foreknowledge of the final choice as their preference on it has already been stated).
The failure of the ability of a candidate to come from third or lower was probably critical in 2002, when under AV, Jospin probably would have won from third.
Greetings infidels, I thought I might pop back on for the duration of the GE, hope everyone is in tip top shape. I'll be doing a few constituency bets this time around, see if I can catch a few mid single figure to one Tory gains. Locally I can report Clive Lewis has his work cut out but will probably be saved on the basis of a split Green/Con challenge. The green ceiling will save him I think and there just aren't enough Tories in the city, worth a punt on the Greens hitting 25% though. Norman Lamb is going to struggle to hold Norfolk North. Everything else is nailed on blue in Norfolk.
Welcome back, and thanks for the Norfolk updates. So, apart from Norman, non-Tories have got Norfolk & Chance in the county?
Norwich South went Tory by 1700 votes in 1983 and Labour only won it back by 330 in 1987. If the national Tory lead were to exceed 20% Lewis could well lose the seat. This is now a Lab v Con contest - the Greens no longer have serious expectations here. Quite a few Greens are likely to support Lewis tactically.
In all fairness, not many of us expected the Prime Minister to call a snap GE seeing as she had herself refused to contemplate it on any number of occasions.
Daisy's sole mistake was to take what the Prime Minister said as being a statement of truth and fact on which the country could rely whereas we now know it wasn't and it can't and we can all draw our conclusions from that.
It's come at just the wrong time for Daisy and she has decided she can't be a Parliamentary candidate - it's nice to see the sympathy and I'm sure if she were a Conservative candidate, we'd all be feeling the love.
It's good news for Marcus Fysh this time.
One of the things that made me think that there was always a possibility of an early GE was that Theresa May never did rule it out. Her wording was very clearly leaving open that space. She said that she didn't want one and had no plans to call one. Given the amount of work and phone calls I've had over the last week and how CCHQ and regional offices were caught on the hop, I've no doubt that's true: no on-the-ground preparation had been made beyond that which was already being done for 2020.
She changed her mind; she didn't lie.
There were few German tanks on the Polish border in September 1938 when Hitler declared he had no further territorial demands in Europe. When he invaded Poland on 1st September he had obviously 'changed his mind'! Personally I hope the Opposition press hard the line 'Theresa May has a compulsive aversion to telling the truth'. If that phrase keeps being used in interviews it might register. As it is we re faced with a choice between an imbecile and a lying bitch.
So you would prefer a "lying bitch" to an imbecile? I would have thought the bitch would win every time on a forced choice. But by all means submit your very catchy strapline to Labour, I am sure it will turn things around for them.
If Le Pen gets around 50% in France excluding the Paris metropolitan area it would be very serious I think. Not sure whether that's likely if she's on 40% overall. Perhaps not.
The Paris metropolitan area is about 12 million people, and France as a whole about 66 million.
So for Le Pen to get 50% outside that but 40% overall would basically require EVERYONE in the Paris area to vote for Macron. Obviously, all depends on differential turnouts etc, but vanishingly unlikely.
However, there could of course be large parts of France that go for Le Pen, whereas that wasn't the case when her father made the run-off as he was utterly steamrollered by Chirac which is unlikely to be repeated.
In all fairness, not many of us expected the Prime Minister to call a snap GE seeing as she had herself refused to contemplate it on any number of occasions.
Daisy's sole mistake was to take what the Prime Minister said as being a statement of truth and fact on which the country could rely whereas we now know it wasn't and it can't and we can all draw our conclusions from that.
It's come at just the wrong time for Daisy and she has decided she can't be a Parliamentary candidate - it's nice to see the sympathy and I'm sure if she were a Conservative candidate, we'd all be feeling the love.
It's good news for Marcus Fysh this time.
One of the things that made me think that there was always a possibility of an early GE was that Theresa May never did rule it out. Her wording was very clearly leaving open that space. She said that she didn't want one and had no plans to call one. Given the amount of work and phone calls I've had over the last week and how CCHQ and regional offices were caught on the hop, I've no doubt that's true: no on-the-ground preparation had been made beyond that which was already being done for 2020.
She changed her mind; she didn't lie.
There were few German tanks on the Polish border in September 1938 when Hitler declared he had no further territorial demands in Europe. When he invaded Poland on 1st September he had obviously 'changed his mind'! Personally I hope the Opposition press hard the line 'Theresa May has a compulsive aversion to telling the truth'. If that phrase keeps being used in interviews it might register. As it is we re faced with a choice between an imbecile and a lying bitch.
The nasty poster from the nasty party is back, I see.
Odious comparison (and historically illiterate to boot).
@fox And great for Gigs.....I've already booked tickets for Public Service Broadcasting, Peter Hook, Happy Mondays, Jesus and Mary Chain, Flaming Lips, Brad Mehdlau, Heaven 17.......
There are two outdoor festivals within walking distance.....
4 cinemas. I've booked a Woody Allen Course at the Arts Cinema... I'm booked in with a language class, there is an extreme fitness class up the road which I'll try...
The Unthank is a nice pub....we live near the Warwick Social (Mad Moose).......I guess dyed woolie lives on the other side...the Garden House or Alexandra...
@fox And great for Gigs.....I've already booked tickets for Public Service Broadcasting, Peter Hook, Happy Mondays, Jesus and Mary Chain, Flaming Lips, Brad Mehdlau, Heaven 17.......
There are two outdoor festivals within walking distance.....
4 cinemas. I've booked a Woody Allen Course at the Arts Cinema... I'm booked in with a language class, there is an extreme fitness class up the road which I'll try...
The Unthank is a nice pub....we live near the Warwick Social (Mad Moose).......I guess dyed woolie lives on the other side...the Garden House or Alexandra...
Yep I'm between Dereham and Earlham roads near the Alexandra. I wander up to the York for quizzes quite often though and my father used to run the Rose Valley (now the Mulberry)
"I am convinced she will do an EFTA style deal ..."
I think you are going to be disappointed, Big_G. Any deal will by definition have to be agreed by both sides and the difference between them is currently too great. Add on to that the fact that will inevitably be a lot of horse trading between the 27 EU members as each try and get the best deal for their own country and the apparent insistence among the Brussels elite that the UK must be punished. Frankly I do not see how a deal on trade can be negotiated.
One hopes that in the bowels of the Treasury, the FCO and the department for business and trade (whatever it is called this week) are teams looking what the UK will do when the negotiations break up without a deal.
There's actually nothing in it for employed people either, as bank holidays typically count towards holiday entitlement in the small print of the employment contract. Indeed, they are somewhat worse than normal holiday entitlement as you typically have to take the actual day rather than being able to choose.
What it actually means is losing a day off your summer holiday in Florida in exchange for the opportunity to spend St David's Day (1 March) freezing your nuts off on your allotment (I assume that's what Jez wants).
Is that actually correct? I've never worked anywhere that counted public holidays against annual leave. The closest they come in my experience is that you may be required to take leave over the Xmas-NY bridge so they can shut the place down. But perhaps my experience in untypical - is there an authoritative link?
I'm not, by the way, arguing that it's a magical vote-winner, just querying Sir Norfolk's assertion.
The Sunday Times reported yesterday Richmond Park Tories wanted a female former Remain backer to be their candidate ie not Zac
If he's on the shortlist, I'd be rather surprised if they didn't select him. He had a lot of fanboys and fangirls in the local Tories, adding a bit of glamour to a pretty turgid group of pompous old farts, and they came out strongly to campaign for him in December (independent in name only). But maybe the result soured the relationship with some of them.
@fox And great for Gigs.....I've already booked tickets for Public Service Broadcasting, Peter Hook, Happy Mondays, Jesus and Mary Chain, Flaming Lips, Brad Mehdlau, Heaven 17.......
There are two outdoor festivals within walking distance.....
4 cinemas. I've booked a Woody Allen Course at the Arts Cinema... I'm booked in with a language class, there is an extreme fitness class up the road which I'll try...
The Unthank is a nice pub....we live near the Warwick Social (Mad Moose).......I guess dyed woolie lives on the other side...the Garden House or Alexandra...
I am sorry Mr. Tyson, that cannot be true. Roger was on here earlier this very morning informing us that outside London there is no culture and the population consists of fat chavs.
In all fairness, not many of us expected the Prime Minister to call a snap GE seeing as she had herself refused to contemplate it on any number of occasions.
Daisy's sole mistake was to take what the Prime Minister said as being a statement of truth and fact on which the country could rely whereas we now know it wasn't and it can't and we can all draw our conclusions from that.
It's come at just the wrong time for Daisy and she has decided she can't be a Parliamentary candidate - it's nice to see the sympathy and I'm sure if she were a Conservative candidate, we'd all be feeling the love.
It's good news for Marcus Fysh this time.
One of the things that made me think that there was always a possibility of an early GE was that Theresa May never did rule it out. Her wording was very clearly leaving open that space. She said that she didn't want one and had no plans to call one. Given the amount of work and phone calls I've had over the last week and how CCHQ and regional offices were caught on the hop, I've no doubt that's true: no on-the-ground preparation had been made beyond that which was already being done for 2020.
She changed her mind; she didn't lie.
There were few German tanks on the Polish border in September 1938 when Hitler declared he had no further territorial demands in Europe. When he invaded Poland on 1st September he had obviously 'changed his mind'! Personally I hope the Opposition press hard the line 'Theresa May has a compulsive aversion to telling the truth'. If that phrase keeps being used in interviews it might register. As it is we re faced with a choice between an imbecile and a lying bitch.
So you would prefer a "lying bitch" to an imbecile? I would have thought the bitch would win every time on a forced choice. But by all means submit your very catchy strapline to Labour, I am sure it will turn things around for them.
I shall not be voting for either. The phrase to use would be 'compulsive aversion to telling the truth'. That would make it sound more like a quasi- medical condition and that nobody should believe a word she says.
I have to say I am relatively positive about this policy. I think the details of it are a bit unworkable, but I think it will prove relatively popular among the population at large. Assuming that this is in addition to annual leave entitlements and not instead of. Sure, business owners are going to cry that bank holidays damage the economy (and there is truth in that), but it is not a clear cut situation, and it's too nuanced an argument to sway the electorate. The ad there is targeted at youths I think, cats and social media etc, get a bit of buzz around the policy. Yet this could be sold quite well in some of their northern heartlands - let's make St George's Day a national holiday should go down well. It also has a good unionist aspect to it, let's all celebrate each other's national day.
In all, in terms of optics: pro union, pro workers, pro patriotism. Anti business perhaps. One of the first positive steps from the labour campaign so far IMO
I could buy into a new BH in the Autumn (say first Monday in Nov - ties in with end of kids' half term, many other countries have 1st Nov off for All Saints Day, breaks up the Aug- Xmas haul). We could celebrate "Parliament Day" if we linked it to Guy Fawkes' night around the same time?
But four extra? Three in a nine week spell in chilly late Winter/early Spring? When there's already two for Easter and one for early May floating around the same time? Bonkers. It would certainly come into our pay negs this Summer if it happened. Does Corbyn really see Glasgow raising a glass to St George, or Newcastle having a St David's daffodil parade?
As a further note, the primary schools here make a big deal out of St David's Day with the kids dressing up etc to celebrate their Welshness, make it a public holiday, and they'll all be moping at home on their Nintendo's as the rain pours outside.
There's actually nothing in it for employed people either, as bank holidays typically count towards holiday entitlement in the small print of the employment contract. Indeed, they are somewhat worse than normal holiday entitlement as you typically have to take the actual day rather than being able to choose.
What it actually means is losing a day off your summer holiday in Florida in exchange for the opportunity to spend St David's Day (1 March) freezing your nuts off on your allotment (I assume that's what Jez wants).
Is that actually correct? I've never worked anywhere that counted public holidays against annual leave. The closest they come in my experience is that you may be required to take leave over the Xmas-NY bridge so they can shut the place down. But perhaps my experience in untypical - is there an authoritative link?
I'm not, by the way, arguing that it's a magical vote-winner, just querying Sir Norfolk's assertion.
I have known some places c.2012 where your leave entitlement was 5.6 weeks incl bank hols.
There's actually nothing in it for employed people either, as bank holidays typically count towards holiday entitlement in the small print of the employment contract. Indeed, they are somewhat worse than normal holiday entitlement as you typically have to take the actual day rather than being able to choose.
What it actually means is losing a day off your summer holiday in Florida in exchange for the opportunity to spend St David's Day (1 March) freezing your nuts off on your allotment (I assume that's what Jez wants).
Is that actually correct? I've never worked anywhere that counted public holidays against annual leave. The closest they come in my experience is that you may be required to take leave over the Xmas-NY bridge so they can shut the place down. But perhaps my experience in untypical - is there an authoritative link?
I'm not, by the way, arguing that it's a magical vote-winner, just querying Sir Norfolk's assertion.
I have known some places c.2012 where your leave entitlement was 5.6 weeks incl bank hols.
There's actually nothing in it for employed people either, as bank holidays typically count towards holiday entitlement in the small print of the employment contract. Indeed, they are somewhat worse than normal holiday entitlement as you typically have to take the actual day rather than being able to choose.
What it actually means is losing a day off your summer holiday in Florida in exchange for the opportunity to spend St David's Day (1 March) freezing your nuts off on your allotment (I assume that's what Jez wants).
Is that actually correct? I've never worked anywhere that counted public holidays against annual leave. The closest they come in my experience is that you may be required to take leave over the Xmas-NY bridge so they can shut the place down. But perhaps my experience in untypical - is there an authoritative link?
I'm not, by the way, arguing that it's a magical vote-winner, just querying Sir Norfolk's assertion.
Most employers will treat bank holidays differently from annual leave in an admin sense, in that you don't need to book days on the leave booking system.
So they will say verbally - "holiday entitlement is 20 days... plus of course you get bank holidays" as that's what people understand in common parlance and is a simple way to put it. But the contract will normally say something along the lines "28 days including bank holidays". Alternatively it will say 20 days plus bank holidays, but be clear it means bank holidays as they existed at the date the contract was entered into.
If an extra bank holiday was introduced, some employers might change it to 29 days including bank holidays... but they certainly wouldn't be obliged to, and they'd surely think twice if several bank holidays were added.
Poor Esther if she gets and wins this seat she will have to go looking again in 2022 as the seat is being axed under boundary review
Suspect the seat reduction will be canned.
That's hard to justify when so much work has been done already. But you may be right.
The current plans for the reduction are a shambles – a geographical nonsense. One good consequence of this election is that they will be shelved, preferably binned. Better the devil you know.
There is a consultation on-going and revised boundaries due to be published ~ September I believe
I agree that some of the original proposals were poor, but that's why there's a consultation - to which I contributed!
Would be a shame if the cut to 600 did not go ahead. 600 is still too many IMHO
There's actually nothing in it for employed people either, as bank holidays typically count towards holiday entitlement in the small print of the employment contract. Indeed, they are somewhat worse than normal holiday entitlement as you typically have to take the actual day rather than being able to choose.
What it actually means is losing a day off your summer holiday in Florida in exchange for the opportunity to spend St David's Day (1 March) freezing your nuts off on your allotment (I assume that's what Jez wants).
Is that actually correct? I've never worked anywhere that counted public holidays against annual leave. The closest they come in my experience is that you may be required to take leave over the Xmas-NY bridge so they can shut the place down. But perhaps my experience in untypical - is there an authoritative link?
I'm not, by the way, arguing that it's a magical vote-winner, just querying Sir Norfolk's assertion.
All this says is that employers can count bank holidays as part of statutory leave of course, not that they have to. You can draft a contract as you like so long as it remains legal. In practice, however, most do include bank holidays against statutory leave. Indeed, you've got a generous employer if you've got 28 days (the statutory minimum) PLUS bank holidays.
There's actually nothing in it for employed people either, as bank holidays typically count towards holiday entitlement in the small print of the employment contract. Indeed, they are somewhat worse than normal holiday entitlement as you typically have to take the actual day rather than being able to choose.
What it actually means is losing a day off your summer holiday in Florida in exchange for the opportunity to spend St David's Day (1 March) freezing your nuts off on your allotment (I assume that's what Jez wants).
Is that actually correct? I've never worked anywhere that counted public holidays against annual leave. The closest they come in my experience is that you may be required to take leave over the Xmas-NY bridge so they can shut the place down. But perhaps my experience in untypical - is there an authoritative link?
I'm not, by the way, arguing that it's a magical vote-winner, just querying Sir Norfolk's assertion.
Yes, it's the way my own employment contract is worded, with the bank holidays included in the annual 'entitlement' but that they're deducted automatically unless - unusually but not impossibly, working in IT development - we're working on the BH.
In all fairness, not many of us expected the Prime Minister to call a snap GE seeing as she had herself refused to contemplate it on any number of occasions.
Daisy's sole mistake was to take what the Prime Minister said as being a statement of truth and fact on which the country could rely whereas we now know it wasn't and it can't and we can all draw our conclusions from that.
It's come at just the wrong time for Daisy and she has decided she can't be a Parliamentary candidate - it's nice to see the sympathy and I'm sure if she were a Conservative candidate, we'd all be feeling the love.
It's good news for Marcus Fysh this time.
One of the things that made me think that there was always a possibility of an early GE was that Theresa May never did rule it out. Her wording was very clearly leaving open that space. She said that she didn't want one and had no plans to call one. Given the amount of work and phone calls I've had over the last week and how CCHQ and regional offices were caught on the hop, I've no doubt that's true: no on-the-ground preparation had been made beyond that which was already being done for 2020.
She changed her mind; she didn't lie.
There were few German tanks on the Polish border in September 1938 when Hitler declared he had no further territorial demands in Europe. When he invaded Poland on 1st September he had obviously 'changed his mind'! Personally I hope the Opposition press hard the line 'Theresa May has a compulsive aversion to telling the truth'. If that phrase keeps being used in interviews it might register. As it is we re faced with a choice between an imbecile and a lying bitch.
The nasty poster from the nasty party is back, I see.
Odious comparison (and historically illiterate to boot).
I don't belong to any party. As for historical illiteracy , even in Spring 1939 post annexing the Czech rump state Hitler & Ribbentrop were declaring they had no plans to invade Poland.
I have to say I am relatively positive about this policy. I think the details of it are a bit unworkable, but I think it will prove relatively popular among the population at large. Assuming that this is in addition to annual leave entitlements and not instead of. Sure, business owners are going to cry that bank holidays damage the economy (and there is truth in that), but it is not a clear cut situation, and it's too nuanced an argument to sway the electorate. The ad there is targeted at youths I think, cats and social media etc, get a bit of buzz around the policy. Yet this could be sold quite well in some of their northern heartlands - let's make St George's Day a national holiday should go down well. It also has a good unionist aspect to it, let's all celebrate each other's national day.
In all, in terms of optics: pro union, pro workers, pro patriotism. Anti business perhaps. One of the first positive steps from the labour campaign so far IMO
Is Plato said designing Labour's election material now ?
Poor Esther if she gets and wins this seat she will have to go looking again in 2022 as the seat is being axed under boundary review
Suspect the seat reduction will be canned.
That's hard to justify when so much work has been done already. But you may be right.
The current plans for the reduction are a shambles – a geographical nonsense. One good consequence of this election is that they will be shelved, preferably binned. Better the devil you know.
There is a consultation on-going and revised boundaries due to be published ~ September I believe
I agree that some of the original proposals were poor, but that's why there's a consultation - to which I contributed!
Would be a shame if the cut to 600 did not go ahead. 600 is still too many IMHO
If the Tories have as many as 400 seats after the election, there will be a LOT of those who fear being amongst the 50 MPs that are removed.
I know some of the seats will go in areas where the Tories do less well historically but, if it's a high water mark, there will be worried Tories in many of those areas. Additionally, not all the seats go in Labour inner-cities by any means at all; the change increases the size of all but the very largest seats, so plenty go in already Tory areas.
I can see this being quietly mothballed rather than creating a bone of contention in the party.
@fox And great for Gigs.....I've already booked tickets for Public Service Broadcasting, Peter Hook, Happy Mondays, Jesus and Mary Chain, Flaming Lips, Brad Mehdlau, Heaven 17.......
There are two outdoor festivals within walking distance.....
4 cinemas. I've booked a Woody Allen Course at the Arts Cinema... I'm booked in with a language class, there is an extreme fitness class up the road which I'll try...
The Unthank is a nice pub....we live near the Warwick Social (Mad Moose).......I guess dyed woolie lives on the other side...the Garden House or Alexandra...
I am sorry Mr. Tyson, that cannot be true. Roger was on here earlier this very morning informing us that outside London there is no culture and the population consists of fat chavs.
There's actually nothing in it for employed people either, as bank holidays typically count towards holiday entitlement in the small print of the employment contract. Indeed, they are somewhat worse than normal holiday entitlement as you typically have to take the actual day rather than being able to choose.
What it actually means is losing a day off your summer holiday in Florida in exchange for the opportunity to spend St David's Day (1 March) freezing your nuts off on your allotment (I assume that's what Jez wants).
Is that actually correct? I've never worked anywhere that counted public holidays against annual leave. The closest they come in my experience is that you may be required to take leave over the Xmas-NY bridge so they can shut the place down. But perhaps my experience in untypical - is there an authoritative link?
I'm not, by the way, arguing that it's a magical vote-winner, just querying Sir Norfolk's assertion.
It would be a vote winner if it were being promoted by the "More Holidays Party". But it's like the NHS - no-one doubts Labour's commitment to it, but many people doubt Labour's ability to manage it well and most people doubt their ability to pay for it.
There's actually nothing in it for employed people either, as bank holidays typically count towards holiday entitlement in the small print of the employment contract. Indeed, they are somewhat worse than normal holiday entitlement as you typically have to take the actual day rather than being able to choose.
What it actually means is losing a day off your summer holiday in Florida in exchange for the opportunity to spend St David's Day (1 March) freezing your nuts off on your allotment (I assume that's what Jez wants).
Is that actually correct? I've never worked anywhere that counted public holidays against annual leave. The closest they come in my experience is that you may be required to take leave over the Xmas-NY bridge so they can shut the place down. But perhaps my experience in untypical - is there an authoritative link?
I'm not, by the way, arguing that it's a magical vote-winner, just querying Sir Norfolk's assertion.
All this says is that employers can count bank holidays as part of statutory leave of course, not that they have to. You can draft a contract as you like so long as it remains legal. In practice, however, most do include bank holidays against statutory leave. Indeed, you've got a generous employer if you've got 28 days (the statutory minimum) PLUS bank holidays.
My appraisal of it (to be clear I don't think it's going to make a difference overall, just that it's a step vaguely in a correct direction) is assuming they would ensure the extra days are in addition to current leave entitlements. If not then as you say, it would actually be worse than current arrangement.
I also get the argument that 4 spread out days would be better, and that 4 is too many. But if the aim is to foster a bit of union pride, you gotta work with what you have. Perhaps a more sensible alternative would be 1 additional British day, but hard to find a day that is simultaneously uncontraversial while not being bland or artificial. Magna Carta day perhaps?
Anyway I have probably attributed too much planning behind this policy to Labour, it's probably just a 1 day news headline as others have said.
Poor Esther if she gets and wins this seat she will have to go looking again in 2022 as the seat is being axed under boundary review
Suspect the seat reduction will be canned.
I am certain it will if the majority is 80+
Why? It's already the law and would need an Act of Parliament to reverse it.
Not in practice. MPs could just vote down the new boundaries, as in the last parliament. But yes, if they want reformed boundaries then it's 600 MPs or an amendment to the Act.
Reformed boundaries are desperately needed, the current ones are decades out of date now.
Poor Esther if she gets and wins this seat she will have to go looking again in 2022 as the seat is being axed under boundary review
Suspect the seat reduction will be canned.
I am certain it will if the majority is 80+
Why? It's already the law and would need an Act of Parliament to reverse it.
With the that majority no problem
At Big John.....as a lefty, I have to hope that since May is the one and only show in town, she doesn't drive the UK into being a harsh, divided country. I'm just back in the UK and seeing so many homeless young people out on the streets in Norwich makes me feel sad.
In terms of the stars everything has aligned in May's favour....she is as powerful politician as we've had in my lifetime.
I am convinced she will do an EFTA style deal that is acceptable to the vast majority and at the same time preserve the Union. She is not taking us over the edge.
I am also certain she will take us into a much more caring society addressing the many social issues including mental health
It is also good policy to get on producing her manifesto while the leader of the labour party makes a complete fool of himself. Why interfere in labour's grief.
It's one thing to believe a politician's promises. It's another to believe they will do good and difficult things they haven't even offered! Where does this confidence come from?
She previously said no to new money for mental health right? And she has said she prioritises immigration and getting out of European courts over economic relations?
There's actually nothing in it for employed people either, as bank holidays typically count towards holiday entitlement in the small print of the employment contract. Indeed, they are somewhat worse than normal holiday entitlement as you typically have to take the actual day rather than being able to choose.
What it actually means is losing a day off your summer holiday in Florida in exchange for the opportunity to spend St David's Day (1 March) freezing your nuts off on your allotment (I assume that's what Jez wants).
Is that actually correct? I've never worked anywhere that counted public holidays against annual leave. The closest they come in my experience is that you may be required to take leave over the Xmas-NY bridge so they can shut the place down. But perhaps my experience in untypical - is there an authoritative link?
I'm not, by the way, arguing that it's a magical vote-winner, just querying Sir Norfolk's assertion.
The minimum number of holidays pa is 28, including bank holidays. I assume the Corbyn proposal would increase this to 32.
The policy is weak in two areas: 1. There are already lots of bank holidays in the spring - this would add three more. We have none at all during the autumn. 2. The shambles over Christmas leave needs resolving - many retail workers get no leave at all over Christmas when the day itself falls on a Sunday, as it did last year. The holiday should rollover and Boxing Day should also be a day off/ or voluntary work with mandated double time.
I have to say I am relatively positive about this policy. I think the details of it are a bit unworkable, but I think it will prove relatively popular among the population at large. Assuming that this is in addition to annual leave entitlements and not instead of. Sure, business owners are going to cry that bank holidays damage the economy (and there is truth in that), but it is not a clear cut situation, and it's too nuanced an argument to sway the electorate. The ad there is targeted at youths I think, cats and social media etc, get a bit of buzz around the policy. Yet this could be sold quite well in some of their northern heartlands - let's make St George's Day a national holiday should go down well. It also has a good unionist aspect to it, let's all celebrate each other's national day.
In all, in terms of optics: pro union, pro workers, pro patriotism. Anti business perhaps. One of the first positive steps from the labour campaign so far IMO
Is Plato said designing Labour's election material now ?
Judging by the quality of its policies, she is designing its manifesto.
Comments
The failure of the ability of a candidate to come from third or lower was probably critical in 2002, when under AV, Jospin probably would have won from third.
So for Le Pen to get 50% outside that but 40% overall would basically require EVERYONE in the Paris area to vote for Macron. Obviously, all depends on differential turnouts etc, but vanishingly unlikely.
However, there could of course be large parts of France that go for Le Pen, whereas that wasn't the case when her father made the run-off as he was utterly steamrollered by Chirac which is unlikely to be repeated.
Odious comparison (and historically illiterate to boot).
And great for Gigs.....I've already booked tickets for Public Service Broadcasting, Peter Hook, Happy Mondays, Jesus and Mary Chain, Flaming Lips, Brad Mehdlau, Heaven 17.......
There are two outdoor festivals within walking distance.....
4 cinemas. I've booked a Woody Allen Course at the Arts Cinema... I'm booked in with a language class, there is an extreme fitness class up the road which I'll try...
The Unthank is a nice pub....we live near the Warwick Social (Mad Moose).......I guess dyed woolie lives on the other side...the Garden House or Alexandra...
"I am convinced she will do an EFTA style deal ..."
I think you are going to be disappointed, Big_G. Any deal will by definition have to be agreed by both sides and the difference between them is currently too great. Add on to that the fact that will inevitably be a lot of horse trading between the 27 EU members as each try and get the best deal for their own country and the apparent insistence among the Brussels elite that the UK must be punished. Frankly I do not see how a deal on trade can be negotiated.
One hopes that in the bowels of the Treasury, the FCO and the department for business and trade (whatever it is called this week) are teams looking what the UK will do when the negotiations break up without a deal.
I'm not, by the way, arguing that it's a magical vote-winner, just querying Sir Norfolk's assertion.
LAB 169
L DEM 6 (+ Scottish ones maybe)
UKIP 0
GREEN 1
L Dem Gain Cambridge,
Lose Carshalton; Norfolk North, Southport
I am using amongst remainers.
CON 33
LAB 36
L DEM 18
UKIP 1
GREEN 5
Can't pretend this is a great poll
But four extra? Three in a nine week spell in chilly late Winter/early Spring? When there's already two for Easter and one for early May floating around the same time? Bonkers. It would certainly come into our pay negs this Summer if it happened. Does Corbyn really see Glasgow raising a glass to St George, or Newcastle having a St David's daffodil parade?
As a further note, the primary schools here make a big deal out of St David's Day with the kids dressing up etc to celebrate their Welshness, make it a public holiday, and they'll all be moping at home on their Nintendo's as the rain pours outside.
So they will say verbally - "holiday entitlement is 20 days... plus of course you get bank holidays" as that's what people understand in common parlance and is a simple way to put it. But the contract will normally say something along the lines "28 days including bank holidays". Alternatively it will say 20 days plus bank holidays, but be clear it means bank holidays as they existed at the date the contract was entered into.
If an extra bank holiday was introduced, some employers might change it to 29 days including bank holidays... but they certainly wouldn't be obliged to, and they'd surely think twice if several bank holidays were added.
https://twitter.com/wallaceme/status/856473428471238657
I agree that some of the original proposals were poor, but that's why there's a consultation - to which I contributed!
Would be a shame if the cut to 600 did not go ahead. 600 is still too many IMHO
https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/entitlement
All this says is that employers can count bank holidays as part of statutory leave of course, not that they have to. You can draft a contract as you like so long as it remains legal. In practice, however, most do include bank holidays against statutory leave. Indeed, you've got a generous employer if you've got 28 days (the statutory minimum) PLUS bank holidays.
Labour floor still looking good, LDs still moribund.
I know some of the seats will go in areas where the Tories do less well historically but, if it's a high water mark, there will be worried Tories in many of those areas. Additionally, not all the seats go in Labour inner-cities by any means at all; the change increases the size of all but the very largest seats, so plenty go in already Tory areas.
I can see this being quietly mothballed rather than creating a bone of contention in the party.
I also get the argument that 4 spread out days would be better, and that 4 is too many. But if the aim is to foster a bit of union pride, you gotta work with what you have. Perhaps a more sensible alternative would be 1 additional British day, but hard to find a day that is simultaneously uncontraversial while not being bland or artificial. Magna Carta day perhaps?
Anyway I have probably attributed too much planning behind this policy to Labour, it's probably just a 1 day news headline as others have said.
She previously said no to new money for mental health right? And she has said she prioritises immigration and getting out of European courts over economic relations?
The policy is weak in two areas: 1. There are already lots of bank holidays in the spring - this would add three more. We have none at all during the autumn.
2. The shambles over Christmas leave needs resolving - many retail workers get no leave at all over Christmas when the day itself falls on a Sunday, as it did last year. The holiday should rollover and Boxing Day should also be a day off/ or voluntary work with mandated double time.