Labour have an 11 point lead, but 13 behind Con/UKIP combined.
Dudley North is a seat the Tories will need to win if they are aiming for a 100+ majority, but frankly at odds of only 1/4, I reckon there's far better value to be had elsewhere.
The irony cannot be lost but in the conservative party they found the right leader for the times and by the previous leader's actions (David Cameron) not only have they united the party but overseen the destruction of the labour party, decimated labour in Wales, and may just have saved the Union.
David Cameron's legacy not looking at all bad for him if all this comes about
Too early to celebrate just yet, but if they have managed to have just the right leaders for the right time, the Tories have been very lucky indeed.
'Quite what Labour does in the face of this impending disaster is hard to say.'
T Nor me, Jason. No sympathy at all. The current crisis has its roots as far back as the Blair/Brown wars but they are by no means the only culprits.
But a democracy needs a decent opposition. The Tories went a.w.o.l. during the IDS period, and the country was all the worse for it. The Labour Government was simply not subjected to the type of scrutiny that was needed. The same is happening now with colors reversed.
And you don't have to be especially charitable to feel some sympathy for the people Labour is supposed to represent. Who will speak for them if Labour doesn't?
To answer your question from earlier, Peter, I thought my comment might be unwelcome from some Labour supporters, some of which still seem to think everything will be ok if Corbyn is ditched, particularly from a Tory during an election campaign.
You have the intelligence and self-awareness to recognise that he's a symptom and not the cause, but I'm not sure how many others in the Labour membership do.
Thank you, CR. (Everybody is being nice to me today. What am I doing right?)
He's cause and consequence, but getting rid of him would only be a start of a Labour rehab programme, as you indicate. I don't think it matters too much now how much of a shellacking they take at ths GE. It would probably be best if they avoided total obliteration, but equally if they somehow get away with a half-decent result that may only defer any rebuilding, and that wouldn't be good either.
Personally I'd settle for anything between 125 and 175 seats. Outside that range and I wouldn't rate the Party's chance of getting itself back together again quickly, if ever.
FWIW, provided Labour does re-organise itself properly, this election should be something of a one-off for Brexit. A bit like GE1931.
The next 5 years will be very difficult, and who knows what GE2022 may hold.
Well, beyond the next GE it's very hard to assess how things will go. So much depends on how Brexit shakes out. Not sure I'll be here to witness it though. No, my health's fine, thank you, but increasingly I'm inclined to leave these shores.
Won't stop me from posting on here though, you will be pleased to hear!
I hope that isn't because of Brexit?
It really is a sad day when Britons leave the country due to a political result they strongly disagree with.
'Quite what Labour does in the face of this impending disaster is hard to say.'
T Nor me, Jason. No sympathy at all. The current crisis has its roots as far back as the Blair/Brown wars but they are by no means the only culprits.
But a democracy needs a decent opposition. The Tories went a.w.o.l. during the IDS period, and the country was all the worse for it. The Labour Government was simply not subjected to the type of scrutiny that was needed. The same is happening now with colors reversed.
And you don't have to be especially charitable to feel some sympathy for the people Labour is supposed to represent. Who will speak for them if Labour doesn't?
To answer your question from earlier, Peter, I thought my comment might be unwelcome from some Labour supporters, some of which still seem to think everything will be ok if Corbyn is ditched, particularly from a Tory during an election campaign.
You have the intelligence and self-awareness to recognise that he's a symptom and not the cause, but I'm not sure how many others in the Labour membership do.
Thank you, CR. (Everybody is being nice to me today. What am I doing right?)
ever.
FWIW, provided Labour does re-organise itself properly, this election should be something of a one-off for Brexit. A bit like GE1931.
The next 5 years will be very difficult, and who knows what GE2022 may hold.
Well, beyond the next GE it's very hard to assess how things will go. So much depends on how Brexit shakes out. Not sure I'll be here to witness it though. No, my health's fine, thank you, but increasingly I'm inclined to leave these shores.
Won't stop me from posting on here though, you will be pleased to hear!
I hope that isn't because of Brexit?
It really is a sad day when Britons leave the country due to a political result they strongly disagree with.
Not solely, CR, not by any means.
A move abroad has been on the cards for many years and of course I'm lucky to have the option. But it is a factor.
I notice UKIP are also proposing ban the burka...now putting to one side the rights and wrongs of this, the Sky News presenter made a right fool of themselves banging on about what if somebody wears a big hat or sunglasses, would that be banned?
Attempting to trivialize a complex issue.
Before we had mass immigration from the kind of countries where women wear Burqas and suffer FGM, if people had been able to show that's what we'd get, no politician would have allowed it. Now that it is here, people oppose any attempt to sort it out for partisan reasons
A million Trump voting hicks come to live here, force their wives to wear veils and their daughters to be cut, and the same people horrified by UKIP would be demanding their deportation
FGM is like other forms of child abuse, not always best tackled by the adversarial nature of law. Often less hard edged methods by social work* are better.
*Social work obviously has its failures spread across the press, but like the intelligence sevices their successes are hidden.
One conviction ever in the UK vs hundreds in France doesn't seem to bear that out particularly well.
In that fashion, assuming that the party is smashed in the election, they might have enough MPs from their faction to meet the reduced threshold for nominating a new leader, even without implementing rule changes. Then an ideologically pure successor to Corbyn can be presented to the Far Left majority amongst the membership, consolidating their faction's control of the party.
So it is technically in the interests of the Left for Labour to do as badly as possible so long as they are in the ascendancy. Dire stuff.
I somehow doubt he was a "maybe" Tory....sounds very informed knowing not only who Crosby is, but also that he is running the Tory campaign again this time.
No wonder he didn't want May on his lawn. She was probably trying to park a tank...
Personally I wouldn't let TSE on my lawn....his choice of footwear would bloody ruin it.
Comments
DYOR.
http://fotos.fotoflexer.com/d9a6ff7f9f8e4e233a42daf90a373ef9.jpg
This is a job for the Bottom Inspectors!
I've got bets on the LDs there.