As I posted yesterday, all three of my kids are Corbynistas - much to their Dad's distress. My daughter even tried to put a Labour poster up in our front window. They feel - quite rightly - that things are not working right now, that well-paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream. They see Brexit as the old messing things up for the young. The political establishment has let them down big time. And Corbyn is definitely not the political establishment. They will vote for him.
This is a perfect example of the political success of the last 30-40 years. We've gone from wanting jobs (1970s and 1980s) to wanting/expecting 'well-paid jobs'. The political establishment (which must surely include people who've been MPs for over 30 years) have obviously got something right.
They see Brexit as the old messing things up for the young. The political establishment has let them down big time. And Corbyn is definitely not the political establishment. They will vote for him.
It's a curious logic, given the 68 year old Corbyn has been anti-EU his whole career, including voting to leave in the 70s, and basically sat out the referendum this time round. Not exactly a champion of remainery.
I doubt they could tell you many of his policies. They just see someone who has not been in government for the last 40 years and who recognises that young people are generally not given much thought by politicians.
As I posted yesterday, all three of my kids are Corbynistas - much to their Dad's distress. My daughter even tried to put a Labour poster up in our front window. They feel - quite rightly - that things are not working right now, that well-paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream. They see Brexit as the old messing things up for the young. The political establishment has let them down big time. And Corbyn is definitely not the political establishment. They will vote for him.
So things are not working right now, well paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream - and they do have a point - yet Brexit will mess things up for them ???
One of the reasons why the polls will be wrong (again) is laid out here in the header;
'The pollsters are operating very differently to last time with online now predominant and a focus on reaching and getting the views of those who can often be overlooked – those with little interest in politics.'
If you genuinely have little interest in politics why would you complete a poll; never mind one that's online?
I fear the pollsters samples will be found wanting again and the only real way to resolve it is to conduct multi-style polls (some phone, some online, some in-person) and give appropriate incentives for completing them (not just £10 if you answer 300 polls over a five year period).
Yes it occurred to me yesterday that the problem w the polls could be that only people invested in politics answer them, and that those people are more likely to react to the minutiae of news reports, and also have a pride in the letting people know their vote may be changing having understood the latest goings on.
I think most normal people know who they're voting for and don't give it any thought.
But why the recent big swing towards Labour?
Is it ex Labour don't knows returning to Labour?
A variety of things. Labour voters from 2015 who planned to abstain because of Corbyn, have now rallied to the party, increasing certainty to vote in polls. Labour have pulled in support from other left wing voters, a section of UKIP voters, and non-voters. But, this support does have a ceiling, and runs the risk of drifting away/not turning out on the day.
Don't misrepresent me. I have said that we need to take on the Islamist ideology which underpins the terrorists not Islam. This is exactly what former extremists such as those in the Quilliam Foundation - who know what they are talking about - have said. I think that we need to work with Muslims to create a strong firewall between Islam and the Islamists precisely because the latter seek to claim that their ideology does derive from and represent true Islam.
It is the failure to do so adequately which has allowed a dangerous meme to develop among some that IS (and Al Qaeda and other violent ideologies) represent true Islam and which has persuaded some young Muslims to take up violent jihad. That - surely - needs to be countered by showing them how wrong they are about their understanding of Islam and what it means to be a good Muslim.
And it is the presenting the need to tackle Islamism with taking on Islam - and in fairness people do say that though many might mean the former - which leads to it never happening. For fear of offence. Fear of some mob overreaction.
Plus the fact that Islamism does have something to do with Islam - in the sense that IS and their ilk do point to bits in the Koran and elsewhere and past Muslim practice - for justification for much of what they do. Now it may well be a misrepresentation or a perversion or a completely wrong interpretation. But it is uncomfortably close. And so one reason why people don't challenge Islamism is because it might force uncomfortable questions to be asked about the extent to which mainstream Islam or certain strains of it have implicitly condoned or turned a blind eye to the more extreme/violent versions/interpretations of it.
Another example of this is a somewhat naive taking some mosques at their word that they are moderate. The East London mosque makes a great play of saying that it is moderate etc, has politicians visiting it and so on but when you look at the speakers it hosts some of them are very extreme indeed. There is a gap between what some say in public and what they do when no-one is looking. We need to call them out on this stuff.
One of the reasons why the polls will be wrong (again) is laid out here in the header;
'The pollsters are operating very differently to last time with online now predominant and a focus on reaching and getting the views of those who can often be overlooked – those with little interest in politics.'
If you genuinely have little interest in politics why would you complete a poll; never mind one that's online?
I fear the pollsters samples will be found wanting again and the only real way to resolve it is to conduct multi-style polls (some phone, some online, some in-person) and give appropriate incentives for completing them (not just £10 if you answer 300 polls over a five year period).
Yes it occurred to me yesterday that the problem w the polls could be that only people invested in politics answer them, and that those people are more likely to react to the minutiae of news reports, and also have a pride in the letting people know their vote may be changing having understood the latest goings on.
I think most normal people know who they're voting for and don't give it any thought.
But why the recent big swing towards Labour?
Is it ex Labour don't knows returning to Labour?
Because people that study manifestos and watch the news are the type of people that volunteer to be in polls, and also the type that like to make statements based on it. Most people don't.
I would say that polls are good for measuring how well read people who follow politics keenly feel, but no good at how people who only take an interest on polling day do
As I posted yesterday, all three of my kids are Corbynistas - much to their Dad's distress. My daughter even tried to put a Labour poster up in our front window. They feel - quite rightly - that things are not working right now, that well-paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream. They see Brexit as the old messing things up for the young. The political establishment has let them down big time. And Corbyn is definitely not the political establishment. They will vote for him.
I hope you explained to them that Corbyn was Brexiteer.
I'm not sure why they are being dismissed as dodgy, they were the best pollster at the 2015 election and, AIUI, middle of the pack at the referendum last year.
Unfortunately, for the Tories, you're probably correct. I noticed yesterday a strange mouth gyration from her worthy of the great gurner himself. It shouldn't matter, but seeing as Jezza, the old scruff himself, is making an effort at presentation, she shows she's not a natural performer.
She does have an odd mouth movement when asked a searching question, open, down and to one side. Corbyn just looks tired and grumpy. Farron looks like one of those teenagers that ages before their time and tries to be all mature but can't hide the squeak of youth and inexperience.
That looks a lot less likely now. I will not vote Labour while Corbyn leads the party, but I do think that he has shown it is possible to run a campaign and get a hearing without kow-towing to the right press. We will see what the result will be - I still cannot see beyond a big Tory win - but things don't look so bleak for Labour as they did at the start of the campaign. There is a way back.
That's the problem. Labour MPs still can't support Corbyn as leader. They are not standing on his manifesto, they are standing against it in many cases. That's not a formula for government
They are spineless makeweights who will support Corbyn if he wins
Absolute rubbish! Those who resigned did so on principle. The ones who gave up their shadow cabinet seats did so because of the arbitrary nature of Hilary Benn's sacking and the fact they had witnessed at first hand how useless he was as an administrator and leader.
The only ones I have contempt for (and it's slight ) are those who rejoined the shadow cabinet immediately after the coup failed.
They did it because they made a political calculation he was going to lose and wanted to be on the winning side. They were wrong.
Would you hold the Tory Remainers to the same standards. Mrs May for example putting herself forward as PM when she was a senior member of a 6 on the wrong side of a the referendum defeat? Shouldn't she have joined Cameron and fallen on her sword?
May was as close to neutral as you could be in the referendum, so she kept Brexiteers on board without being someone the EU would loathe like Boris, Gove or Leadsom
I thought her painfully obvious triangulation during Brexit would scupper her leadership bid.
Difficult Issue number 4 - Healthcare. The elephant in the room is people visiting GPs that aren't ill and just want to have a chat. Everyone should pay £20 to see a GP for appointment like we do to have a checkup with a dentist. This would reduce the burden on the taxpayer and also subsidise pensioners and people on benefits that aren't in work. GPs make a ridiculous amount of money for basically being an agony aunt because they don't have the time to tackle health as the surgery is overburdened with patients.
So low paid workers should have to pay to see their doctor - even though taking the time to do so is likely to reduce their earnings - while rich pensioners and layabouts can do so for free ???
The same low paid workers pay to use the dentist. The mindset of going to the dentist and the GP should be exactly the same. I pay to much tax, national insurance already and I want the burden to comedown and the only that can be done is cut spending on things like the NHS. I've seen my GP once in 11 years.
GPs get paid a stupid amount of money for not doing much in reality compared to other jobs.
You seem happy to subsidise pensioners and people on benefits who aren't in work.
Why is it actual workers you have a down on - the people who actually create wealth, keep the country running and pay taxes ?
I lose 44% of my salary every month. I pay £2800 in deductions every month (two of those deductions are pension -5% and student loan) but over 12 months when your deducted 34,000 every year I think that is to much.
I worked 18 hour days at the start of my career making 18k and I left the company to make more money. I aspire to have a quality of life. I don't accept what I'm given. Why I should I pay or subsidise for people that went home at 5.30pm when I dug in and got the job done?
Why do you think there should be any correlation between effort and reward? This isn't school where you get prizes for trying hard.
no productivity is what gets results and if you work for the right company that is the difference between a high wage and a bad wage. If a company does not reward your productivity then you leave and work somewhere else.
As I posted yesterday, all three of my kids are Corbynistas - much to their Dad's distress. My daughter even tried to put a Labour poster up in our front window. They feel - quite rightly - that things are not working right now, that well-paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream. They see Brexit as the old messing things up for the young. The political establishment has let them down big time. And Corbyn is definitely not the political establishment. They will vote for him.
So things are not working right now, well paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream - and they do have a point - yet Brexit will mess things up for them ???
Things are already messed up for them.
Precisely. The golden days are long past, as a result on being a rich country with piss-poor productivity in an globalised world, where we don't earn enough and expect high and continuingly increasing living standards which used to be obtained of the back of other countries and no longer can be. BrExit may not improve things any, because its more likely to become the excuse for a range of existing problems.
some GPs get paid a stupid amount of money for not doing much in reality compared to other jobs.
Two of my close relatives are GPs, neither of them make more than 50K despite working their nuts off for 12 hrs a day because the practise only has half the doctors it should, they cater to a sink estate in rural England where they are able to sell nothing more than a very basic service. GPs in better off areas that are able to offer extra services do nicely.
Many of the extra services (like flu jabs) which GPs get paid for are free for qualifying groups like the elderly. So not linked to the wealth of the area.
Failure of certain groups to take advantage of 'free' extra services (which GPs get paid to do) is more about the culture of the local people. GPs have to expend effort to change the local culture and encourage prevention of bad health.
As I posted yesterday, all three of my kids are Corbynistas - much to their Dad's distress. My daughter even tried to put a Labour poster up in our front window. They feel - quite rightly - that things are not working right now, that well-paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream. They see Brexit as the old messing things up for the young. The political establishment has let them down big time. And Corbyn is definitely not the political establishment. They will vote for him.
So things are not working right now, well paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream - and they do have a point - yet Brexit will mess things up for them ???
Things are already messed up for them.
As they see it, Brexit restricts their opportunities.
As I said before this will boil down to whether Kiddies for Corbyn translates into actual turnout and votes or if the March of the despicable youth is Bart Simpsons election campaign for class president made real. At least we were radical when we were punks, not all up the bottom of an establishment party candidate.
Difficult Issue number 4 - Healthcare. The elephant in the room is people visiting GPs that aren't ill and just want to have a chat. Everyone should pay £20 to see a GP for appointment like we do to have a checkup with a dentist. This would reduce the burden on the taxpayer and also subsidise pensioners and people on benefits that aren't in work. GPs make a ridiculous amount of money for basically being an agony aunt because they don't have the time to tackle health as the surgery is overburdened with patients.
So low paid workers should have to pay to see their doctor - even though taking the time to do so is likely to reduce their earnings - while rich pensioners and layabouts can do so for free ???
The same low paid workers pay to use the dentist. The mindset of going to the dentist and the GP should be exactly the same. I pay to much tax, national insurance already and I want the burden to comedown and the only that can be done is cut spending on things like the NHS. I've seen my GP once in 11 years.
GPs get paid a stupid amount of money for not doing much in reality compared to other jobs.
You seem happy to subsidise pensioners and people on benefits who aren't in work.
Why is it actual workers you have a down on - the people who actually create wealth, keep the country running and pay taxes ?
I lose 44% of my salary every month. I pay £2800 in deductions every month (two of those deductions are pension -5% and student loan) but over 12 months when your deducted 34,000 every year I think that is to much.
I worked 18 hour days at the start of my career making 18k and I left the company to make more money. I aspire to have a quality of life. I don't accept what I'm given. Why I should I pay or subsidise for people that went home at 5.30pm when I dug in and got the job done?
So you don't want to subsidise people who work but are happy to subsidise people who don't work.
And why shouldn't workers go home at 5.30 if that's when their contractual hours end ?
Perhaps if you want them to work longer hours they could be paid to do so ?
I still do that. The pre-qualifying article should be up on my blog (enormo-haddock.blogspot.com) in 30-60 minutes or so (depending on whether any value appears).
Difficult Issue number 4 - Healthcare. The elephant in the room is people visiting GPs that aren't ill and just want to have a chat. Everyone should pay £20 to see a GP for appointment like we do to have a checkup with a dentist. This would reduce the burden on the taxpayer and also subsidise pensioners and people on benefits that aren't in work. GPs make a ridiculous amount of money for basically being an agony aunt because they don't have the time to tackle health as the surgery is overburdened with patients.
So low paid workers should have to pay to see their doctor - even though taking the time to do so is likely to reduce their earnings - while rich pensioners and layabouts can do so for free ???
The same low paid workers pay to use the dentist. The mindset of going to the dentist and the GP should be exactly the same. I pay to much tax, national insurance already and I want the burden to comedown and the only that can be done is cut spending on things like the NHS. I've seen my GP once in 11 years.
GPs get paid a stupid amount of money for not doing much in reality compared to other jobs.
You seem happy to subsidise pensioners and people on benefits who aren't in work.
Why is it actual workers you have a down on - the people who actually create wealth, keep the country running and pay taxes ?
I lose 44% of my salary every month. I pay £2800 in deductions every month (two of those deductions are pension -5% and student loan) but over 12 months when your deducted 34,000 every year I think that is to much.
I worked 18 hour days at the start of my career making 18k and I left the company to make more money. I aspire to have a quality of life. I don't accept what I'm given. Why I should I pay or subsidise for people that went home at 5.30pm when I dug in and got the job done?
Why do you think there should be any correlation between effort and reward? This isn't school where you get prizes for trying hard.
As I said before this will boil down to whether Kiddies for Corbyn translates into actual turnout and votes or if the March of the despicable youth is Bart Simpsons election campaign for class president made real. At least we were radical when we were punks, not all up the bottom of an establishment party candidate.
Labour has a very large ground operation to deploy in seats where it will matter.
Corbyn says he will force Premier League teams to give 5% of profit to grass roots football... the Premier League say they already give more than that!
Jeremy Corbyn: the man with the deliverable policies!
My wife tends to nullify my vote on most things. I voted leave, she voted remain, I voted Ukip in 2015, she stuck with the LDs.
Unless we move to the Muslim tradition, I fear my votes are more an exercise in exercise - walking to the polling station to get some steps on my fit-bit (a present from my son).
Difficult Issue number 4 - Healthcare. The elephant in the room is people visiting GPs that aren't ill and just want to have a chat. Everyone should pay £20 to see a GP for appointment like we do to have a checkup with a dentist. This would reduce the burden on the taxpayer and also subsidise pensioners and people on benefits that aren't in work. GPs make a ridiculous amount of money for basically being an agony aunt because they don't have the time to tackle health as the surgery is overburdened with patients.
So low paid workers should have to pay to see their doctor - even though taking the time to do so is likely to reduce their earnings - while rich pensioners and layabouts can do so for free ???
The same low paid workers pay to use the dentist. The mindset of going to the dentist and the GP should be exactly the same. I pay to much tax, national insurance already and I want the burden to comedown and the only that can be done is cut spending on things like the NHS. I've seen my GP once in 11 years.
GPs get paid a stupid amount of money for not doing much in reality compared to other jobs.
You seem happy to subsidise pensioners and people on benefits who aren't in work.
Why is it actual workers you have a down on - the people who actually create wealth, keep the country running and pay taxes ?
I lose 44% of my salary every month. I pay £2800 in deductions every month (two of those deductions are pension -5% and student loan) but over 12 months when your deducted 34,000 every year I think that is to much.
I worked 18 hour days at the start of my career making 18k and I left the company to make more money. I aspire to have a quality of life. I don't accept what I'm given. Why I should I pay or subsidise for people that went home at 5.30pm when I dug in and got the job done?
So you don't want to subsidise people who work but are happy to subsidise people who don't work.
And why shouldn't workers go home at 5.30 if that's when their contractual hours end ?
Perhaps if you want them to work longer hours they could be paid to do so ?
You could slso make the argument that those who get the job done and get home to see their family shouldn't suffer because of the inefficient over promoted workers that stay late to catch up.
As I said before this will boil down to whether Kiddies for Corbyn translates into actual turnout and votes or if the March of the despicable youth is Bart Simpsons election campaign for class president made real. At least we were radical when we were punks, not all up the bottom of an establishment party candidate.
Labour has a very large ground operation to deploy in seats where it will matter.
My wife tends to nullify my vote on most things. I voted leave, she voted remain, I voted Ukip in 2015, she stuck with the LDs.
Unless we move to the Muslim tradition, I fear my votes are more an exercise in exercise - walking to the polling station to get some steps on my fit-bit (a present from my son).
Then you vote LibDem and enjoy at least a day of marital harmony. Sorted.
He lied about not meeting the IRA. He is and always has been a liar. The idea that he is an honest politician is for the birds.
Another example: his claim - when seeking to explain why he invites people like Gerry Adams or Raed Salah (the notorious anti-Semite) to Parliament - that he will speak to anyone anywhere and everyone should have a right to be heard. At the same time he was actively demonstrating against allowing the Israeli Foreign Minister to be let into the country. So his claim is untrue. He does not believe that. He is not principled and he is not honest.
He uses spin - and so do his close supporters such as McDonnell and Milne - just as much as any other politician.
BTW, what's this dodgy Sun poll referred to downthread? Missed it altogether, for whatever it's worth.
In minor news, the LibDem leaflet in Broxtowe is interesting for being aggressive and nervous at the same time - it attacks every other candidate personally, but sometimes with a get-out word, e.g. saying "the Labour candidate is apparently so left-wing that he makes Corbyn look like Thatcher". No explanation of "apparently" for this bizarre claim, which goes beyond what the Tories are saying.
As I posted yesterday, all three of my kids are Corbynistas - much to their Dad's distress. My daughter even tried to put a Labour poster up in our front window. They feel - quite rightly - that things are not working right now, that well-paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream. They see Brexit as the old messing things up for the young. The political establishment has let them down big time. And Corbyn is definitely not the political establishment. They will vote for him.
I hope you explained to them that Corbyn was Brexiteer.
We have had our Corbyn conversation. I love my kids and do not want to fall out with them. They are young and they are frustrated, as young people always are.
I agree with you. I also think sensible Labour moderates will be learning lessons about not being afraid of the power of the right wing press - that is the really valuable lesson that Corbyn has taught. The Tories have accepted the notion of the state as a powerful force for good. For a Labour leader without Corbyn's past and an ability to see beyond the comfort zone, that is a powerful positive; as is the fact that the Tories really aren't very good.
It sounds peverse, but I genuinely fear a Labour win, as unlikely as it is. In the long run it is better to have the Tories governing from the centre being opposed from the left, than having a hopeless PM elected on an undeliverable left wing manifesto. This would lead to economic chaos, and would embolden the hard right forces in the Tory party, who would win at the first opportunity as they always do. Its a really difficult one.
Again, I agree. I genuinely don't know whether I can vote on 8th June. I just do not see a choice and my Tory MP is going to win whatever I do.
She wants to clear the way though for whatever that is. Her problem was that as was, with a majority of 13, between the bastards and the opposition she had no room to manoeuvre.
Also, the end of the A50 negotiation period was dangerously close to the next election campaign. Now it isn't.
..or so you hope!
Well, it doesn't need to be. But, yeah, we could all do with an electoral break for a few years, we've had four significant votes since September 2014.
OMG the unspeakable horror of being asked to participate in deciding who governs you and how. Good grief. The horror of it.
That is a direct quote from someone called Pankhurst, I believe. Or maybe Tressel. I forget.
When I say "we all", I mean us politics geeks, not the general public.
some GPs get paid a stupid amount of money for not doing much in reality compared to other jobs.
Two of my close relatives are GPs, neither of them make more than 50K despite working their nuts off for 12 hrs a day because the practise only has half the doctors it should, they cater to a sink estate in rural England where they are able to sell nothing more than a very basic service. GPs in better off areas that are able to offer extra services do nicely.
Many of the extra services (like flu jabs) which GPs get paid for are free for qualifying groups like the elderly. So not linked to the wealth of the area.
Failure of certain groups to take advantage of 'free' extra services (which GPs get paid to do) is more about the culture of the local people. GPs have to expend effort to change the local culture and encourage prevention of bad health.
In view of the aforementioned working off of nuts due to an understaffed practise there is no time left in the day for work that isnt directly involved in treating patients. As it is patients are getting testy and starting to blame their favourite bogeymen for the delays in getting an appointment.
Interesting comments from Paul Mason on Newsnight who I think to be fair has been quite bullish about Lab prospects from the start of the campaign:
1) He always thought it would be quite easy for Lab to get up to 35% by gathering all votes from the left. But then much harder to go much higher as that requires centrist votes.
2) He thinks big problem for Lab could well be piling up large numbers of extra votes in seats they win anyway - ie much less efficient votes to seats efficiency.
How on earth anyone ANYWHERE near the centre ground could remotely consider voting for a party lead by Corbyn, McDonnell & Abbott is utterly beyond me.
Can any Corbyn apologist remind me what part of Germany's interventionist foreign policy lead to a terrorist mowing down 12 souls in Berlin last christmas ?
He lied about not meeting the IRA. He is and always has been a liar. The idea that he is an honest politician is for the birds.
Another example: his claim - when seeking to explain why he invites people like Gerry Adams or Raed Salah (the notorious anti-Semite) to Parliament - that he will speak to anyone anywhere and everyone should have a right to be heard. At the same time he was actively demonstrating against allowing the Israeli Foreign Minister to be let into the country. So his claim is untrue. He does not believe that. He is not principled and he is not honest.
He uses spin - and so do his close supporters such as McDonnell and Milne - just as much as any other politician.
So do his seemingly growing list of apologists on this very site.
Good line. It's an area he is pretty boastful about. Too late to have an impact though.
How do you know it won't make an impact?
Of course I don't know, it's an opinion - those in labour who disliked him will already have known this stuff and seem to be returning anyway, that's critical in terms of a small-comfortable to landslide tory majority, as labour needs its vote to hold up in those relatively close seats that might be vulnerable.
As I said before this will boil down to whether Kiddies for Corbyn translates into actual turnout and votes or if the March of the despicable youth is Bart Simpsons election campaign for class president made real. At least we were radical when we were punks, not all up the bottom of an establishment party candidate.
Labour has a very large ground operation to deploy in seats where it will matter.
Good line. It's an area he is pretty boastful about. Too late to have an impact though.
How do you know it won't make an impact?
Of course I don't know, it's an opinion - those in labour who disliked him will already have known this stuff and seem to be returning anyway, that's critical in terms of a small-comfortable to landslide tory majority, as labour needs its vote to hold up in those relatively close seats that might be vulnerable.
So low paid workers should have to pay to see their doctor - even though taking the time to do so is likely to reduce their earnings - while rich pensioners and layabouts can do so for free ???
The same low paid workers pay to use the dentist. The mindset of going to the dentist and the GP should be exactly the same. I pay to much tax, national insurance already and I want the burden to comedown and the only that can be done is cut spending on things like the NHS. I've seen my GP once in 11 years.
GPs get paid a stupid amount of money for not doing much in reality compared to other jobs.
You seem happy to subsidise pensioners and people on benefits who aren't in work.
Why is it actual workers you have a down on - the people who actually create wealth, keep the country running and pay taxes ?
I lose 44% of my salary every month. I pay £2800 in deductions every month (two of those deductions are pension -5% and student loan) but over 12 months when your deducted 34,000 every year I think that is to much.
I worked 18 hour days at the start of my career making 18k and I left the company to make more money. I aspire to have a quality of life. I don't accept what I'm given. Why I should I pay or subsidise for people that went home at 5.30pm when I dug in and got the job done?
Why do you think there should be any correlation between effort and reward? This isn't school where you get prizes for trying hard.
no productivity is what gets results and if you work for the right company that is the difference between a high wage and a bad wage. If a company does not reward your productivity then you leave and work somewhere else.
Wealth is only increased through higher productivity in both the private and public sectors.
Productivity (value added per full time equivalent employee) has been stagnant for the last decade in the UK.
The internet for example has huge potential to improve productivity - but it does need some investment up front to realise the benefit. Public and private sectors have been slow to invest.
In the last decade GDP has only increased in line with the population increase. People should not expect any increase in living standards until the output per head starts to increase.
So you don't want to subsidise people who work but are happy to subsidise people who don't work.
And why shouldn't workers go home at 5.30 if that's when their contractual hours end ?
Perhaps if you want them to work longer hours they could be paid to do so ?
Most people want to work. A small % of people don't and efforts are being made by the dwp to get them back into work. The people that do lose their jobs are temporary and they shold be supported as much as possible. I support any back to work scheme like paying for transport, paying for clothes for an interview because that investment is better than having them on the dole.
I work everyday. Most jobs with responsibility involve working out of contractual hours. I know people in Retail, Transport, Construction, Real Estate, Finance etc they don't work till 5.30pm. We have contracts and clients to deliver results or we lose business and if we all just pack up and stop working at 5.30pm then the business would die.
I can say hand on heart client contracts have been maintained by working those extra hours that your not contractually obliged to work but we do it anyway. If the company benefits so does the employee, if they don't reward you for it then leave and work somewhere that will.
I agree with you. I also think sensible Labour moderates will be learning lessons about not being afraid of the power of the right wing press - that is the really valuable lesson that Corbyn has taught. The Tories have accepted the notion of the state as a powerful force for good. For a Labour leader without Corbyn's past and an ability to see beyond the comfort zone, that is a powerful positive; as is the fact that the Tories really aren't very good.
It sounds peverse, but I genuinely fear a Labour win, as unlikely as it is. In the long run it is better to have the Tories governing from the centre being opposed from the left, than having a hopeless PM elected on an undeliverable left wing manifesto. This would lead to economic chaos, and would embolden the hard right forces in the Tory party, who would win at the first opportunity as they always do. Its a really difficult one.
Again, I agree. I genuinely don't know whether I can vote on 8th June. I just do not see a choice and my Tory MP is going to win whatever I do.
She wants to clear the way though for whatever that is. Her problem was that as was, with a majority of 13, between the bastards and the opposition she had no room to manoeuvre.
Also, the end of the A50 negotiation period was dangerously close to the next election campaign. Now it isn't.
..or so you hope!
Well, it doesn't need to be. But, yeah, we could all do with an electoral break for a few years, we've had four significant votes since September 2014.
OMG the unspeakable horror of being asked to participate in deciding who governs you and how. Good grief. The horror of it.
That is a direct quote from someone called Pankhurst, I believe. Or maybe Tressel. I forget.
When I say "we all", I mean us politics geeks, not the general public.
Don't misrepresent me. I have said that we need to take on the Islamist ideology which underpins the terrorists not Islam. This is exactly what former extremists such as those in the Quilliam Foundation - who know what they are talking about - have said. I think that we need to work with Muslims to create a strong firewall between Islam and the Islamists precisely because the latter seek to claim that their ideology does derive from and represent true Islam.
It is the failure to do so adequately which has allowed a dangerous meme to develop among some that IS (and Al Qaeda and other violent ideologies) represent true Islam and which has persuaded some young Muslims to take up violent jihad. That - surely - needs to be countered by showing them how wrong they are about their understanding of Islam and what it means to be a good Muslim.
And it is the presenting the need to tackle Islamism with taking on Islam - and in fairness people do say that though many might mean the former - which leads to it never happening. For fear of offence. Fear of some mob overreaction.
Plus the fact that Islamism does have something to do with Islam - in the sense that IS and their ilk do point to bits in the Koran and elsewhere and past Muslim practice - for justification for much of what they do. Now it may well be a misrepresentation or a perversion or a completely wrong interpretation. But it is uncomfortably close. And so one reason why people don't challenge Islamism is because it might force uncomfortable questions to be asked about the extent to which mainstream Islam or certain strains of it have implicitly condoned or turned a blind eye to the more extreme/violent versions/interpretations of it.
Another example of this is a somewhat naive taking some mosques at their word that they are moderate. The East London mosque makes a great play of saying that it is moderate etc, has politicians visiting it and so on but when you look at the speakers it hosts some of them are very extreme indeed. There is a gap between what some say in public and what they do when no-one is looking. We need to call them out on this stuff.
*Sigh* Here we go again. At least Sean's posts are shorter.
As I posted yesterday, all three of my kids are Corbynistas - much to their Dad's distress. My daughter even tried to put a Labour poster up in our front window. They feel - quite rightly - that things are not working right now, that well-paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream. They see Brexit as the old messing things up for the young. The political establishment has let them down big time. And Corbyn is definitely not the political establishment. They will vote for him.
I hope you explained to them that Corbyn was Brexiteer.
We have had our Corbyn conversation. I love my kids and do not want to fall out with them. They are young and they are frustrated, as young people always are.
Young people seem that have this illusion that its terribly hard to work in other places in the world outside the EU. The problem appears to be the entitlement that other countries should welcome you, and put up with you when you don't bring anything to the party. In the last decade or so I have worked in three different countries outside the EU for longish periods with only minimal hassles, and mostly had a lot of fun and done a lot of interesting things, you just need to bring something that they want.
F1: still waiting for the markets to arrive on Ladbrokes. Still peeved at myself for not backing Vettel at 2.87 for pole. Looking not quite nailed on, but damned close to it.
As I posted yesterday, all three of my kids are Corbynistas - much to their Dad's distress. My daughter even tried to put a Labour poster up in our front window. They feel - quite rightly - that things are not working right now, that well-paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream. They see Brexit as the old messing things up for the young. The political establishment has let them down big time. And Corbyn is definitely not the political establishment. They will vote for him.
So things are not working right now, well paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream - and they do have a point - yet Brexit will mess things up for them ???
Things are already messed up for them.
As they see it, Brexit restricts their opportunities.
You mean it restricts what they want to think of as their opportunities.
Anyone with useful skills and the right mentality will be able to work in the EU - just as they can work in North America or Australasia or in even stranger places.
What Brexit will do is give some people an excuse - "I would have been a big international success but Brexit stopped it."
The inconvenient truth for people in affluent countries is that if you can't succeed at home you're not likely to succeed anywhere else.
But for all our moaning about the state of Britain we should remember how very fortunate we are to have been born in this country and (in the case of the majority of PBers) into nice, middle class families.
I still do that. The pre-qualifying article should be up on my blog (enormo-haddock.blogspot.com) in 30-60 minutes or so (depending on whether any value appears).
Mr. Dancer, I thought you would be interested to learn that this morning I discovered that my phone's predictive text top suggestion for "enor" was "enormo-haddock.blogspot.com"...
As I posted yesterday, all three of my kids are Corbynistas - much to their Dad's distress. My daughter even tried to put a Labour poster up in our front window. They feel - quite rightly - that things are not working right now, that well-paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream. They see Brexit as the old messing things up for the young. The political establishment has let them down big time. And Corbyn is definitely not the political establishment. They will vote for him.
Why is a well paid job a pipe dream for your children? Or why do they think it is?
Reports coming through of a (possible) cyber attack on BA affecting flight booking, check-in at UK airports
UK Airports? London Air don't fly from other parts of the UK, except to London.
Apparently BA IT systems are down worldwide. At Heathrow they are now calling flights by having people walk around the terminal shouting out the flight numbers.
That looks a lot less likely now. I will not vote Labour while Corbyn leads the party, but I do think that he has shown it is possible to run a campaign and get a hearing without kow-towing to the right press. We will see what the result will be - I still cannot see beyond a big Tory win - but things don't look so bleak for Labour as they did at the start of the campaign. There is a way back.
That's the problem. Labour MPs still can't support Corbyn as leader. They are not standing on his manifesto, they are standing against it in many cases. That's not a formula for government
They are spineless makeweights who will support Corbyn if he wins
Absolute rubbish! Those who resigned did so on principle. The ones who gave up their shadow cabinet seats did so because of the arbitrary nature of Hilary Benn's sacking and the fact they had witnessed at first hand how useless he was as an administrator and leader.
The only ones I have contempt for (and it's slight ) are those who rejoined the shadow cabinet immediately after the coup failed.
They did it because they made a political calculation he was going to lose and wanted to be on the winning side. They were wrong.
Would you hold the Tory Remainers to the same standards. Mrs May for example putting herself forward as PM when she was a senior member of a government on the wrong side of a the referendum defeat? Shouldn't she have joined Cameron and fallen on her sword?
All I'm saying is that people expecting Labour MPs to stand up against PM Corbyn when there is a chance of ministerial cars will be sadly disappointed. You have a higher opinion of them - fair enough, but I don't think we will convince each other
It is a shame the young will have to live with the luddite and selfish decisions made by their less educated parents and grandparents.
Given the unrealistic nature of the labour manifesto, the uneducated elderly are making the better choice this time.
It's funny though - it'd be great for young people to finally show up, but for Corbyn of all people! I've mildly complimented him at times but I've never quite understood thE fervour, as much of what he says is trite cliché.
I don't find it so surprising. After the ugliness of Trump Libya Syria Gaza and Iraq leading to Paris Nice and Manchester a hippy revival led by the young with attendant peaceniks feels overdue. Corbyn and Abbott doing an Easy Rider hit's the zeigeist.
That looks a lot less likely now. I will not vote Labour while Corbyn leads the party, but I do think that he has shown it is possible to run a campaign and get a hearing without kow-towing to the right press. We will see what the result will be - I still cannot see beyond a big Tory win - but things don't look so bleak for Labour as they did at the start of the campaign. There is a way back.
That's the problem. Labour MPs still can't support Corbyn as leader. They are not standing on his manifesto, they are standing against it in many cases. That's not a formula for government
They are spineless makeweights who will support Corbyn if he wins
Absolute rubbish! Those who resigned did so on principle. The ones who gave up their shadow cabinet seats did so because of the arbitrary nature of Hilary Benn's sacking and the fact they had witnessed at first hand how useless he was as an administrator and leader.
The only ones I have contempt for (and it's slight ) are those who rejoined the shadow cabinet immediately after the coup failed.
They did it because they made a political calculation he was going to lose and wanted to be on the winning side. They were wrong.
Would you hold the Tory Remainers to the same standards. Mrs May for example putting herself forward as PM when she was a senior member of a government on the wrong side of a the referendum defeat? Shouldn't she have joined Cameron and fallen on her sword?
All I'm saying is that people expecting Labour MPs to stand up against PM Corbyn when there is a chance of ministerial cars will be sadly disappointed. You have a higher opinion of them - fair enough, but I don't think we will convince each other
They'll fall in behind Corbyn quicker than you can click your fingers. John Woodcock's stance is an utter nonsense.
Edited extra bit: on that note, the time may be perfect for a soft, centrish party to newly emerge. May is not liked, Corbyn is not trusted. There's a huge gaping void for a fiscally dry and socially liberal new party.
It's the social liberalism people don't like about Corbyn and the fiscal dryness people don't like about May! The gap in the market is for exactly the opposite...
Good point. That was the sort of direction that seemed to be where UKIP were heading once they got big enough to have a proper party conference and think these things through.
That looks a lot less likely now. I will not vote Labour while Corbyn leads the party, but I do think that he has shown it is possible to run a campaign and get a hearing without kow-towing to the right press. We will see what the result will be - I still cannot see beyond a big Tory win - but things don't look so bleak for Labour as they did at the start of the campaign. There is a way back.
That's the problem. Labour MPs still can't support Corbyn as leader. They are not standing on his manifesto, they are standing against it in many cases. That's not a formula for government
They are spineless makeweights who will support Corbyn if he wins
Absolute rubbish! Those who resigned did so on principle. The ones who gave up their shadow cabinet seats did so because of the arbitrary nature of Hilary Benn's sacking and the fact they had witnessed at first hand how useless he was as an administrator and leader.
The only ones I have contempt for (and it's slight ) are those who rejoined the shadow cabinet immediately after the coup failed.
They did it because they made a political calculation he was going to lose and wanted to be on the winning side. They were wrong.
Would you hold the Tory Remainers to the same standards. Mrs May for example putting herself forward as PM when she was a senior member of a government on the wrong side of a the referendum defeat? Shouldn't she have joined Cameron and fallen on her sword?
All I'm saying is that people expecting Labour MPs to stand up against PM Corbyn when there is a chance of ministerial cars will be sadly disappointed. You have a higher opinion of them - fair enough, but I don't think we will convince each other
It's an interesting thread and could be significant if indicative of wider thought on the far left. What he says about Labour centrists is particularly notable, given that just a few weeks back he was in the deselect them all camp.
I'm not sure why they are being dismissed as dodgy, they were the best pollster at the 2015 election and, AIUI, middle of the pack at the referendum last year.
They are not members of the BPC. Do not weight variables properly. Just hopes a large sample will sort things out.
In January, I was car hunting and I found a car on autotrader, BMW 5 Series, only 3k miles with all the latest kit inside up in lincoln for 23k absolute bargain. I called their office on sunday evening and there was no answer obviously it was closed but I left a voicemail with my contact number and told him that I wanted to see if it was still available, a few clarification questions on the mileage and kit inside and third that if all ok I would make a deposit when he called me back.
The car salesman called me back in 20mins. He was at home on a sunday evening and picked up his voicemail and replied to me. He didn't have to, he could have waited till monday but he didn't.
Andrew Cooper is spot on in that tweet. If Corbyn does acutally manage to get the DNVs out to vote then all bets are off (so to speak).
I however am still on the DNVs will DNV train.
Whilst I agree with you, it should be remembered that's what Lord Cooper said before the EU ref and made him confident that Remain would win by 10-20%.
It's an interesting thread and could be significant if indicative of wider thought on the far left. What he says about Labour centrists is particularly notable, given that just a few weeks back he was in the deselect them all camp.
I agree; suddenly Mason is trying to be about reaching out to the centre...even to the Tories on defence and Brexit (tweets 11-13)
I'm not sure why they are being dismissed as dodgy, they were the best pollster at the 2015 election and, AIUI, middle of the pack at the referendum last year.
They are not members of the BPC. Do not weight variables properly. Just hopes a large sample will sort things out.
9% for Greens looks absurdly high. They're best ignored - not quite a voodoo poll but not much better.
It is a shame the young will have to live with the luddite and selfish decisions made by their less educated parents and grandparents.
Given the unrealistic nature of the labour manifesto, the uneducated elderly are making the better choice this time.
It's funny though - it'd be great for young people to finally show up, but for Corbyn of all people! I've mildly complimented him at times but I've never quite understood thE fervour, as much of what he says is trite cliché.
I don't find it so surprising. After the ugliness of Trump Libya Syria Gaza and Iraq leading to Paris Nice and Manchester a hippy revival led by the young with attendant peaceniks feels overdue. Corbyn and Abbott doing an Easy Rider hit's the zeigeist.
It is a shame the young will have to live with the luddite and selfish decisions made by their less educated parents and grandparents.
Your remark demonstrates a very narrow-minded view of education. Prior to the mass-participation in university directly from school many people continued their education over a long period of time alongside full-time work. Many made use of night-schools, the OU, the WEA and other organisations or studied independently or with the help of an employer.
I have worked in both academia and industry and over time I became increasingly despairing at the calibre of graduates applying for jobs. We had recruitment campaigns which failed repeatedly to find a suitable recent graduate (and this was at one of the leading companies in my sector).
I don't know what age group you primarily mix with but you should get out more and actually talk to elderly people. They may surprise you.
My recently-deceased father-in-law had a childhood disrupted by war and limited formal education opportunities but he was a voracious reader and I would wager that his knowledge of military history would be superior to yours. He was a staunch trade-unionist and Labour man but if he had lived he would not have been voting for Corbyn.
Frankly, your posts paint you as an ageist, narrow-minded, shallow smart-aleck.
Not really. Just an aging bitter Remainer who didn't go to university (though I have guest lectured a few times) On another day I might have written what you did but occasionally my bitterness towards the Leavers (demographic 78% pro hanging 80% over 65 80% poorly educated) gets the better of me.*
One thing that mystified me is the claims, not even two weeks ago, that Labour were gloomy and looking at 140 seats. Fast forward a fortnight and there is talk, albeit panicked, of hung parliaments and the like. You don't go from 140 seats to HP in 5 years, let alone a fortnight. It's either that criminal levels of expectation management were in play or the result will make all the closing in talk look very silly. It's not both. People do not change their minds en masse like this, ever.it was either always close, or never has been,
The car salesman called me back in 20mins. He was at home on a sunday evening and picked up his voicemail and replied to me. He didn't have to, he could have waited till monday but he didn't.
The salesman will be on comission, it will be very much in his interest to service every call as rapidly as possible, a salaried office drone, not so much.
One of the massive differences you notice in most of Asia (and especially here in the Philippines) is that all shop assistants are on commission either directly, or as the representative of a brand, they are therefore almost universally knowledgeable about their products, very keen to sell you something, and very keen to build a relationship so you come back to them next time. When I go home to the UK and try and buy something in (household name whitegood store) and see a group of sullen staff trying very hard not to serve me, and knowing nothing about their products if you eventually corner one, the contrast is stark.
Andrew Cooper is spot on in that tweet. If Corbyn does acutally manage to get the DNVs out to vote then all bets are off (so to speak).
I however am still on the DNVs will DNV train.
I wonder how many of the DNVs are in existing safe Labour strongholds anyway - London, Liverpool, Manchester, the NE?
Many of them. Labour seats have lower turnouts than Tory ones.
If Labour seats were to suddenly have the same turnouts as Tory ones I wonder what that would do to:
1 Seat totals - presumably not much 2 Vote Share nationally 3 The "par" scores each party requires to do better than last time/get most seats/get a majority.
Interesting comments from Paul Mason on Newsnight who I think to be fair has been quite bullish about Lab prospects from the start of the campaign:
1) He always thought it would be quite easy for Lab to get up to 35% by gathering all votes from the left. But then much harder to go much higher as that requires centrist votes.
2) He thinks big problem for Lab could well be piling up large numbers of extra votes in seats they win anyway - ie much less efficient votes to seats efficiency.
How on earth anyone ANYWHERE near the centre ground could remotely consider voting for a party lead by Corbyn, McDonnell & Abbott is utterly beyond me.
Can any Corbyn apologist remind me what part of Germany's interventionist foreign policy lead to a terrorist mowing down 12 souls in Berlin last christmas ?
Why should anyone in the centre vote for a Tory government which has cut 25% from the Police budget since 2010 ?
Austerity has to go. Let normality return.
If Austerity means piling on even more debt, what will Labours print and spend plans do?
As I posted yesterday, all three of my kids are Corbynistas - much to their Dad's distress. My daughter even tried to put a Labour poster up in our front window. They feel - quite rightly - that things are not working right now, that well-paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream. They see Brexit as the old messing things up for the young. The political establishment has let them down big time. And Corbyn is definitely not the political establishment. They will vote for him.
Why is a well paid job a pipe dream for your children? Or why do they think it is?
A well-pad job that puts them on the property ladder or even gives them the freedom to rent and save a bit of money at the same time. There are not many of them around. I earned more at his age in the early 90s (£15,000 pa) than he does now (£12,000 pa). If there are loads of opportunities, they just don't see them. I have told all three of mine that they are better off working for themselves and building something, and that is what my eldest is now trying to do. But it involves doing a lot of stuff for free in his spare time and trying to create a brand. It'll pay off and he will be fine, but when you are doing it on top of a poorly paid, boring job, and having to live at home with a mountain of debt on your head things do not always look great. The young lack experience and context, as we all know; but from where I sit it seems to me that I had it a whole lot easier than my three do now.
I'm not sure why they are being dismissed as dodgy, they were the best pollster at the 2015 election and, AIUI, middle of the pack at the referendum last year.
They are not members of the BPC. Do not weight variables properly. Just hopes a large sample will sort things out.
9% for Greens looks absurdly high. They're best ignored - not quite a voodoo poll but not much better.
Its 9% for Others - so at least 4% of that would be for the SNP.
The car salesman called me back in 20mins. He was at home on a sunday evening and picked up his voicemail and replied to me. He didn't have to, he could have waited till monday but he didn't.
The salesman will be on comission, it will be very much in his interest to service every call as rapidly as possible, a salaried office drone, not so much.
One of the massive differences you notice in most of Asia (and especially here in the Philippines) is that all shop assistants are on commission either directly, or as the representative of a brand, they are therefore almost universally knowledgeable about their products, very keen to sell you something, and very keen to build a relationship so you come back to them next time. When I go home to the UK and try and buy something in (household name whitegood store) and see a group of sullen staff trying very hard not to serve me, and knowing nothing about their products if you eventually corner one, the contrast is stark.
Salary jobs should be performaced based.
You get a flat salary plus a fee for delivering a contract/result/getting a job done to time.
One thing that mystified me is the claims, not even two weeks ago, that Labour were gloomy and looking at 140 seats. Fast forward a fortnight and there is talk, albeit panicked, of hung parliaments and the like. You don't go from 140 seats to HP in 5 years, let alone a fortnight. It's either that criminal levels of expectation management were in play or the result will make all the closing in talk look very silly. It's not both. People do not change their minds en masse like this, ever.it was either always close, or never has been,
Talk of a hung parliament is bad news for Lib Dems.
'There’s never been an election campaign where a party was chalking up 20%+ poll leads only to see a decline to single figure leads in a week and a half and one pollster having it at 5%.'
I do recall the 1970 election when just five days before polling day NOP gave Labour a 12.4% lead. Just two days ahead of the election ,Marplan predicted a 9.6% Labour lead. The Tories went on to win by circa 2.5%.
some GPs get paid a stupid amount of money for not doing much in reality compared to other jobs.
Two of my close relatives are GPs, neither of them make more than 50K despite working their nuts off for 12 hrs a day because the practise only has half the doctors it should, they cater to a sink estate in rural England where they are able to sell nothing more than a very basic service. GPs in better off areas that are able to offer extra services do nicely.
I thought GP salaries let alone any other incomes were far higher than £50k.
Interesting comments from Paul Mason on Newsnight who I think to be fair has been quite bullish about Lab prospects from the start of the campaign:
1) He always thought it would be quite easy for Lab to get up to 35% by gathering all votes from the left. But then much harder to go much higher as that requires centrist votes.
2) He thinks big problem for Lab could well be piling up large numbers of extra votes in seats they win anyway - ie much less efficient votes to seats efficiency.
How on earth anyone ANYWHERE near the centre ground could remotely consider voting for a party lead by Corbyn, McDonnell & Abbott is utterly beyond me.
Can any Corbyn apologist remind me what part of Germany's interventionist foreign policy lead to a terrorist mowing down 12 souls in Berlin last christmas ?
Why should anyone in the centre vote for a Tory government which has cut 25% from the Police budget since 2010 ?
Austerity has to go. Let normality return.
Also senior people in your party want to shut MI5 and disarm the police - sound like a plan to you?
What about "the peoples militia" that some of the more bat shit crazies in the movement want?
As I posted yesterday, all three of my kids are Corbynistas - much to their Dad's distress. My daughter even tried to put a Labour poster up in our front window. They feel - quite rightly - that things are not working right now, that well-paid jobs and leaving home, let alone owning their own places, are a pipedream. They see Brexit as the old messing things up for the young. The political establishment has let them down big time. And Corbyn is definitely not the political establishment. They will vote for him.
Why is a well paid job a pipe dream for your children? Or why do they think it is?
A well-pad job that puts them on the property ladder or even gives them the freedom to rent and save a bit of money at the same time. There are not many of them around. I earned more at his age in the early 90s (£15,000 pa) than he does now (£12,000 pa). If there are loads of opportunities, they just don't see them. I have told all three of mine that they are better off working for themselves and building something, and that is what my eldest is now trying to do. But it involves doing a lot of stuff for free in his spare time and trying to create a brand. It'll pay off and he will be fine, but when you are doing it on top of a poorly paid, boring job, and having to live at home with a mountain of debt on your head things do not always look great. The young lack experience and context, as we all know; but from where I sit it seems to me that I had it a whole lot easier than my three do now.
The consequences of the untrammeled immigration that you support.
Comments
Things are already messed up for them.
Another example of this is a somewhat naive taking some mosques at their word that they are moderate. The East London mosque makes a great play of saying that it is moderate etc, has politicians visiting it and so on but when you look at the speakers it hosts some of them are very extreme indeed. There is a gap between what some say in public and what they do when no-one is looking. We need to call them out on this stuff.
I would say that polls are good for measuring how well read people who follow politics keenly feel, but no good at how people who only take an interest on polling day do
I'm not sure why they are being dismissed as dodgy, they were the best pollster at the 2015 election and, AIUI, middle of the pack at the referendum last year.
Corbyn just looks tired and grumpy.
Farron looks like one of those teenagers that ages before their time and tries to be all mature but can't hide the squeak of youth and inexperience.
Only word from BA is that they are doing "maintenance" on their systems (aka frantically trying to get them working again)
Edit/ BA system outage now apparently worldwide, not just UK
I also thought Hilary would win easily.
Failure of certain groups to take advantage of 'free' extra services (which GPs get paid to do) is more about the culture of the local people. GPs have to expend effort to change the local culture and encourage prevention of bad health.
And why shouldn't workers go home at 5.30 if that's when their contractual hours end ?
Perhaps if you want them to work longer hours they could be paid to do so ?
I still do that. The pre-qualifying article should be up on my blog (enormo-haddock.blogspot.com) in 30-60 minutes or so (depending on whether any value appears).
I quite like Emily. And she has a very nice voice.
My wife tends to nullify my vote on most things. I voted leave, she voted remain, I voted Ukip in 2015, she stuck with the LDs.
Unless we move to the Muslim tradition, I fear my votes are more an exercise in exercise - walking to the polling station to get some steps on my fit-bit (a present from my son).
Cameron: 32
Brown: 26
May: 49
Corbyn: 16
Another example: his claim - when seeking to explain why he invites people like Gerry Adams or Raed Salah (the notorious anti-Semite) to Parliament - that he will speak to anyone anywhere and everyone should have a right to be heard. At the same time he was actively demonstrating against allowing the Israeli Foreign Minister to be let into the country. So his claim is untrue. He does not believe that. He is not principled and he is not honest.
He uses spin - and so do his close supporters such as McDonnell and Milne - just as much as any other politician.
Hamas are our friends after all.
'Whilst he's having a kick about the PM is chairing a cobra meeting'
Productivity (value added per full time equivalent employee) has been stagnant for the last decade in the UK.
The internet for example has huge potential to improve productivity - but it does need some investment up front to realise the benefit. Public and private sectors have been slow to invest.
In the last decade GDP has only increased in line with the population increase. People should not expect any increase in living standards until the output per head starts to increase.
So you don't want to subsidise people who work but are happy to subsidise people who don't work.
And why shouldn't workers go home at 5.30 if that's when their contractual hours end ?
Perhaps if you want them to work longer hours they could be paid to do so ?
Most people want to work. A small % of people don't and efforts are being made by the dwp to get them back into work. The people that do lose their jobs are temporary and they shold be supported as much as possible. I support any back to work scheme like paying for transport, paying for clothes for an interview because that investment is better than having them on the dole.
I work everyday. Most jobs with responsibility involve working out of contractual hours. I know people in Retail, Transport, Construction, Real Estate, Finance etc they don't work till 5.30pm. We have contracts and clients to deliver results or we lose business and if we all just pack up and stop working at 5.30pm then the business would die.
I can say hand on heart client contracts have been maintained by working those extra hours that your not contractually obliged to work but we do it anyway. If the company benefits so does the employee, if they don't reward you for it then leave and work somewhere that will.
I however am still on the DNVs will DNV train.
Anyone with useful skills and the right mentality will be able to work in the EU - just as they can work in North America or Australasia or in even stranger places.
What Brexit will do is give some people an excuse - "I would have been a big international success but Brexit stopped it."
The inconvenient truth for people in affluent countries is that if you can't succeed at home you're not likely to succeed anywhere else.
But for all our moaning about the state of Britain we should remember how very fortunate we are to have been born in this country and (in the case of the majority of PBers) into nice, middle class families.
Brave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1cDECkN2xg
See Trump.
https://twitter.com/paulmasonnews/status/868403122925907968
(Apologies to Arsenal fans)
The car salesman called me back in 20mins. He was at home on a sunday evening and picked up his voicemail and replied to me. He didn't have to, he could have waited till monday but he didn't.
Next they'll be talking about fair votes.
I can't visualise Corbyn wearing a Union Jack imagery either.
* Approximate
It's either that criminal levels of expectation management were in play or the result will make all the closing in talk look very silly. It's not both. People do not change their minds en masse like this, ever.it was either always close, or never has been,
One of the massive differences you notice in most of Asia (and especially here in the Philippines) is that all shop assistants are on commission either directly, or as the representative of a brand, they are therefore almost universally knowledgeable about their products, very keen to sell you something, and very keen to build a relationship so you come back to them next time. When I go home to the UK and try and buy something in (household name whitegood store) and see a group of sullen staff trying very hard not to serve me, and knowing nothing about their products if you eventually corner one, the contrast is stark.
1 Seat totals - presumably not much
2 Vote Share nationally
3 The "par" scores each party requires to do better than last time/get most seats/get a majority.
You get a flat salary plus a fee for delivering a contract/result/getting a job done to time.
Talk of a hung parliament is bad news for Lib Dems.
*sighs*
I'll give it five minutes.
I do recall the 1970 election when just five days before polling day NOP gave Labour a 12.4% lead. Just two days ahead of the election ,Marplan predicted a 9.6% Labour lead. The Tories went on to win by circa 2.5%.
What about "the peoples militia" that some of the more bat shit crazies in the movement want?