Grammar is not the thicko Robinson's strong point.
Interesting, a scumbag throws acid in a girl's face and you comment on somebody's grammar.
That's a peculiar sense of perspective.
Making the point that he's a knuckle-dragging thicko, like most of the hard right.
Really? Don't know much about him.
I'm just surprised to pick on his grammar rather than a bloke who has permanently disfigured a young girl.
Unusual to see someone fess up and say they got it wrong. If he read PB he'd know the spinners response would be to say he had backed it to be a white bloke even though he'd said it was definitely an Asian/Muslim
I see the NI abortion amendment will be up for a vote.
Good job the DUP won't be toxifying the Tories there then.
Most people see abortion as a necessary evil within the existing time limit, not something that must be promoted to avoid 'toxification'
Bet most people don't know women in NI can be prosecuted for having an abortion.
They can here too without a doctor confirming they need it for health reasons
How many people in mainland UK have been prosecuted for having an abortion vs those in NI.
The DUP are not trying to change abortion law on the mainland just protect it in NI where they have a majority
But the VAST majority of people disagree with them on gay marriage and abortion.
The thing is that most people here are single issue voters. Totally. I know of gay people who vote DUP. Incredible that that might seem.
Presumably those people will welcome the DUP getting the pork barrel for NI whilst their religious stand receives no concessions from the Conservatives?
As long as it keeps 'Themmuns' out they will be happy.
I see the NI abortion amendment will be up for a vote.
Good job the DUP won't be toxifying the Tories there then.
Most people see abortion as a necessary evil within the existing time limit, not something that must be promoted to avoid 'toxification'
Bet most people don't know women in NI can be prosecuted for having an abortion.
They can here too without a doctor confirming they need it for health reasons
How many people in mainland UK have been prosecuted for having an abortion vs those in NI.
The DUP are not trying to change abortion law on the mainland just protect it in NI where they have a majority
But the VAST majority of people disagree with them on gay marriage and abortion.
The thing is that most people here are single issue voters. Totally. I know of gay people who vote DUP. Incredible that that might seem.
Do they though? Many Catholics in NI will agree with the DUP on gay marriage and abortion if nothing else. Northern Ireland is one of the most socially conservative places in Europe
The only parties with liberal views on abortion in NI are Alliance, People before Profit, and the Greens.
Exactly even Martin McGuinness was against abortion on demand
I've spent a while playing around with the demographic data from Mori's long-running series on "How Britain Voted", and used it to create cohorts that were 21 years old for each election as it came (the centre of the 18-24 range) and used interpolation to follow them across the elections from 1974 (October) to 2017.
It's - strange.
The well-recorded "people get more Tory as they get older" does seem to be a They seem more variable (swingy) than before, and net more anti-Tory than their predecessors at similar ages, as well as resisting the pro-Tory push.
This is only very weak and preliminary conclusions taken from looking at the graph overlaying all of them - and the 2017 election could cause a significant part of this due to the unprecedented age divergence involved.
Anyone born from 1933 to 1962 will have memories of the Winter of discontent and old Labour governments unlike anyone born from 1971
Many of us have a deep dislike of the Tories as a result, and I dont think that will lessen over time.
Thatcher of course only got elected because the previous Labour government oversaw permanent strikes, falling gdp per capita, rising inflation and a country heading for bankruptcy
The 1970's had their problems, but it was a time of rising prosperity for average Britons, and a time where our Gini coefficient improved significantly.
The average Brit had a significant rise in standard of living over the decade, and 1976 was the happiest year on record.
In GDP per capita terms though in 1979 the UK had one of the lowest in Western Europe but by 1990 one of the highest, we were not called 'the sick man of Europe' in the 1970s for nothing
But a far higher Gini coefficient. That GDP was not evenly spread.
If everyone was in absolute poverty a country would have an excellent Gini coefficient too
Lenty of people did well in the eighties, but many were sidelined, particularly away from the SE. Some of those did alright in the end, but many still despised the Tories. That seems to have worn off a little in Scotland, but I speculate that many will instinctively keep their mistrust of the Tories into their old age. Mrs Thatcher never beat her 1979 voteshare, and that was only 43%. The majority were against her, and even more so for the young (who are now middle aged).
An even bigger majority were against Labour and an even bigger one still against the Alliance.
I see the NI abortion amendment will be up for a vote.
Good job the DUP won't be toxifying the Tories there then.
Most people see abortion as a necessary evil within the existing time limit, not something that must be promoted to avoid 'toxification'
Bet most people don't know women in NI can be prosecuted for having an abortion.
They can here too without a doctor confirming they need it for health reasons
How many people in mainland UK have been prosecuted for having an abortion vs those in NI.
The DUP are not trying to change abortion law on the mainland just protect it in NI where they have a majority
But the VAST majority of people disagree with them on gay marriage and abortion.
The thing is that most people here are single issue voters. Totally. I know of gay people who vote DUP. Incredible that that might seem.
Do they though? Many Catholics in NI will agree with the DUP on gay marriage and abortion if nothing else. Northern Ireland is one of the most socially conservative places in Europe
Look at the referendum result in RoI which is overwhelmingly Catholic.
I live in rural NI. Full of old people.
A direct quote from an elderly farmer to me last week was: "I couldn't give a stuff if someone was allowed to marry that stove (points). Fuck all to do with me."
Well not really. The council tenants could have saved their pennies if they were so inclined and purchased a property on the market like the rest of the population..
Most of them had no chance of doing that, and, even if they did, it would still mean a sharp division between those who got out and those who didn't.
In terms of reducing entrenched inequality, the right-to-buy was perhaps the most successful policy since the second world war.
You're right, we should extend it to private landlords.
@matt_dathan: Confirmed: Corbyn will whip Labour MPs to ABSTAIN on Queen's Speech amendment calling for UK to stay in single market. Rebellion time again
Mmmmh the income multiples required in London suggest otherwise
They suggest that, as in all great cities around the world, property in London is in high demand. Since the right-to-buy was at worst neutral in terms of supply (or in fact increased the supply on the market), I'm not sure why you think it was a factor in high London property prices.
I see the NI abortion amendment will be up for a vote.
Good job the DUP won't be toxifying the Tories there then.
Most people see abortion as a necessary evil within the existing time limit, not something that must be promoted to avoid 'toxification'
Bet most people don't know women in NI can be prosecuted for having an abortion.
They can here too without a doctor confirming they need it for health reasons
How many people in mainland UK have been prosecuted for having an abortion vs those in NI.
The DUP are not trying to change abortion law on the mainland just protect it in NI where they have a majority
But the VAST majority of people disagree with them on gay marriage and abortion.
The thing is that most people here are single issue voters. Totally. I know of gay people who vote DUP. Incredible that that might seem.
Do they though? Many Catholics in NI will agree with the DUP on gay marriage and abortion if nothing else. Northern Ireland is one of the most socially conservative places in Europe
Look at the referendum result in RoI which is overwhelmingly Catholic.
I live in rural NI. Full of old people.
A direct quote from an elderly farmer to me last week was: "I couldn't give a stuff if someone was allowed to marry that stove (points). Fuck all to do with me."
Sounds like a sensible bloke... it always amazes me why more people can't live and let live. Fortunately is seems more and more are these days but it's only in living memory that these things have changed - remember section 28?
I see the NI abortion amendment will be up for a vote.
Good job the DUP won't be toxifying the Tories there then.
Most people see abortion as a necessary evil within the existing time limit, not something that must be promoted to avoid 'toxification'
Bet most people don't know women in NI can be prosecuted for having an abortion.
They can here too without a doctor confirming they need it for health reasons
How many people in mainland UK have been prosecuted for having an abortion vs those in NI.
The DUP are not trying to change abortion law on the mainland just protect it in NI where they have a majority
But the VAST majority of people disagree with them on gay marriage and abortion.
The thing is that most people here are single issue voters. Totally. I know of gay people who vote DUP. Incredible that that might seem.
Do they though? Many Catholics in NI will agree with the DUP on gay marriage and abortion if nothing else. Northern Ireland is one of the most socially conservative places in Europe
Look at the referendum result in RoI which is overwhelmingly Catholic.
I live in rural NI. Full of old people.
A direct quote from an elderly farmer to me last week was: "I couldn't give a stuff if someone was allowed to marry that stove (points). Fuck all to do with me."
Abortion is still illegal in the Republic except where the mother's life is in danger and even now gay marriage is not legal in Northern Ireland when even the USA has legalised it
Well not really. The council tenants could have saved their pennies if they were so inclined and purchased a property on the market like the rest of the population..
Most of them had no chance of doing that, and, even if they did, it would still mean a sharp division between those who got out and those who didn't.
In terms of reducing entrenched inequality, the right-to-buy was perhaps the most successful policy since the second world war.
You're right, we should extend it to private landlords.
Well not really. The council tenants could have saved their pennies if they were so inclined and purchased a property on the market like the rest of the population..
Most of them had no chance of doing that, and, even if they did, it would still mean a sharp division between those who got out and those who didn't.
In terms of reducing entrenched inequality, the right-to-buy was perhaps the most successful policy since the second world war.
You're right, we should extend it to private landlords.
Why? The state was selling its own property. It wasn't taking and selling someone else's.
Mrs Thatcher introduced right to buy which did more than anything else to distort the property market.
You preferred the previous apartheid system?
No idea what you mean by that tbh.
Giving people 60% discount on a property is hardly the work of the free marketeer Mrs T professed to be. Until that time a property was something you lived in as opposed to investing in.
To a certain extent. More accurately, before Big Bang a property was something you lived in as opposed to invested in.
Mmmmh the income multiples required in London suggest otherwise
They suggest that, as in all great cities around the world, property in London is in high demand. Since the right-to-buy was at worst neutral in terms of supply (or in fact increased the supply on the market), I'm not sure why you think it was a factor in London house prices.
It was a factor everywhere, but your points about apartheid and equality are misguided. In London (and other places mainly in the SE) it has never been more difficult to get on the housing ladder. Until rtb was introduced it hadn't been so important.
My assertion, and one that you are ignoring, is that rtb distorted the market more than anything else and that I'm surprised it was introduced by a self proclaimed free marketeer.
I see the NI abortion amendment will be up for a vote.
Good job the DUP won't be toxifying the Tories there then.
Most people see abortion as a necessary evil within the existing time limit, not something that must be promoted to avoid 'toxification'
Bet most people don't know women in NI can be prosecuted for having an abortion.
They can here too without a doctor confirming they need it for health reasons
How many people in mainland UK have been prosecuted for having an abortion vs those in NI.
The DUP are not trying to change abortion law on the mainland just protect it in NI where they have a majority
The thing is that most people here are single issue voters. Totally. I know of gay people who vote DUP. Incredible that that might seem.
Not incredible at all. It just depends what issue you prioritise. There have always been gay Unionists.
But as you know, there's only one issue in NI that matters. The Union.
The SDLP lost their deposit in FST. They wouldn't have if anything else really mattered.
True. But, I've also encountered similar incredulity that gay people could vote Conservative (prior to Cameron's conversion to gay marriage) or for UKIP. But, obviously, plenty did so.
I see the NI abortion amendment will be up for a vote.
Good job the DUP won't be toxifying the Tories there then.
Most people see abortion as a necessary evil within the existing time limit, not something that must be promoted to avoid 'toxification'
Bet most people don't know women in NI can be prosecuted for having an abortion.
They can here too without a doctor confirming they need it for health reasons
How many people in mainland UK have been prosecuted for having an abortion vs those in NI.
The DUP are not trying to change abortion law on the mainland just protect it in NI where they have a majority
But the VAST majority of people disagree with them on gay marriage and abortion.
The thing is that most people here are single issue voters. Totally. I know of gay people who vote DUP. Incredible that that might seem.
Do they though? Many Catholics in NI will agree with the DUP on gay marriage and abortion if nothing else. Northern Ireland is one of the most socially conservative places in Europe
Look at the referendum result in RoI which is overwhelmingly Catholic.
I live in rural NI. Full of old people.
A direct quote from an elderly farmer to me last week was: "I couldn't give a stuff if someone was allowed to marry that stove (points). Fuck all to do with me."
Abortion is still illegal in the Republic except where the mother's life is in danger and even now gay marriage is not legal in Northern Ireland when even the USA has legalised it
My point is that the politicians are lagging the people on social issues. The people are nowhere near as socially conservative as the voting would suggest.
We (UUP) have a decision to make and many of us want to be avowedly liberal in an attempt to attract younger voters but, as many other say (not wrongly), we can't win votes without being seen as stronger (or at least as strong) on the union than the DUP. Because at the end of the day, most people whether young, old, straight, gay or neither, vote on Unionist/Nationalist lines and that issue trumps all others.
We can shake our heads and wonder why nobody seems to care about the appalling infrastructure, the HSC crisis or anything else. But facts are facts. When the constitutional question is front and centre, everything else falls by the wayside.
Mrs Thatcher introduced right to buy which did more than anything else to distort the property market.
You preferred the previous apartheid system?
No idea what you mean by that tbh.
Giving people 60% discount on a property is hardly the work of the free marketeer Mrs T professed to be. Until that time a property was something you lived in as opposed to investing in.
To a certain extent. More accurately, before Big Bang a property was something you lived in as opposed to invested in.
rtb contributed to the bubble/bang, which is my point.
My assertion, and one that you are ignoring, is that rtb distorted the market more than anything else and that I'm surprised it was introduced by a self proclaimed free marketeer.
I'm ignoring it because I largely agree with you. Like all good Tories, Maggie wasn't a free marketeer in the sense of someone who thinks that the state should never have any role. That's why, for example, when BT was privatised her government pioneered what has now become the internationally-adopted model of an independent regulator. She wanted to work with the market, not against it, and harness its creativity and capacity to improve quality and drive down costs, which she did extremely successfully.
Well not really. The council tenants could have saved their pennies if they were so inclined and purchased a property on the market like the rest of the population..
Most of them had no chance of doing that, and, even if they did, it would still mean a sharp division between those who got out and those who didn't.
In terms of reducing entrenched inequality, the right-to-buy was perhaps the most successful policy since the second world war.
You're right, we should extend it to private landlords.
Why? The state was selling its own property. It wasn't taking and selling someone else's.
Nail on head. The state ie taxpayers assets, sold property at 60% discount, scandalous.
Well not really. The council tenants could have saved their pennies if they were so inclined and purchased a property on the market like the rest of the population..
Most of them had no chance of doing that, and, even if they did, it would still mean a sharp division between those who got out and those who didn't.
In terms of reducing entrenched inequality, the right-to-buy was perhaps the most successful policy since the second world war.
You're right, we should extend it to private landlords.
Why? The state was selling its own property. It wasn't taking and selling someone else's.
Why would anyone choose to sell something off at 60% of market value. Almost as if there was ideological opposition to state ownership - beggar thy council economics.
My other half, a small "c" conservative, who voted Green in the Copeland by-election (in protest at some proposed abominable pylons in the Duddon Valley) was pleased the Tories did not get a massive majority because he thought that it would curtail their tendency to arrogance.
I suspect many others felt the same way.
There was an arrogance about the reason for calling the election in the first place and an arrogant assumption that the voters would fall into line. No-one - however much they may dislike or fear Corbyn - likes to be taken for granted.
I see the NI abortion amendment will be up for a vote.
Good job the DUP won't be toxifying the Tories there then.
Most people see abortion as a necessary evil within the existing time limit, not something that must be promoted to avoid 'toxification'
Bet most people don't know women in NI can be prosecuted for having an abortion.
They can here too without a doctor confirming they need it for health reasons
How many people in mainland UK have been prosecuted for having an abortion vs those in NI.
The DUP are not trying to change abortion law on the mainland just protect it in NI where they have a majority
.
Do they though? Many Catholics in NI will agree with the DUP on gay marriage and abortion if nothing else. Northern Ireland is one of the most socially conservative places in Europe
Look at the referendum result in RoI which is overwhelmingly Catholic.
I live in rural NI. Full of old people.
A direct quote from an elderly farmer to me last week was: "I couldn't give a stuff if someone was allowed to marry that stove (points). Fuck all to do with me."
Abortion is still illegal in the Republic except where the mother's life is in danger and even now gay marriage is not legal in Northern Ireland when even the USA has legalised it
My point is that the politicians are lagging the people on social issues. The people are nowhere near as socially conservative as the voting would suggest.
We can shake our heads and wonder why nobody seems to care about the appalling infrastructure, the HSC crisis or anything else. But facts are facts. When the constitutional question is front and centre, everything else falls by the wayside.
Many Scots are waking up to the same truth.
What would be surprising to outsiders (but not to you) is that there are clearly Alliance/DUP floating voters.
I see the NI abortion amendment will be up for a vote.
Good job the DUP won't be toxifying the Tories there then.
Most people see abortion as a necessary evil within the existing time limit, not something that must be promoted to avoid 'toxification'
Bet most people don't know women in NI can be prosecuted for having an abortion.
They can here too without a doctor confirming they need it for health reasons
How many people in mainland UK have been prosecuted for having an abortion vs those in NI.
The DUP are not trying to change abortion law on the mainland just protect it in NI where they have a majority
But the VAST majority of people disagree with them on gay marriage and abortion.
The thing is that most people here are single issue voters. Totally. I know of gay people who vote DUP. Incredible that that might seem.
Do they though? Many Catholics in NI will agree with the DUP on gay marrie
Look at the referendum resu89ll to do with me."
Abortion is still illegal in the Republic except where the mother's life is in danger and even now gay marriage is not legal in Northern Ireland when even the USA has legalised it
My point is that the politicians are lagging the people on social issues. The people are nowhere near as socially conservative as the voting would suggest.
We (UUP) have a decision to make and many of us want to be avowedly liberal in an attempt to attract younger voters but, as many other say (not wrongly), we can't win votes without being seen as stronger (or at least as strong) on the union than the DUP. Because at the end of the day, most people whether young, old, straight, gay or neither, vote on Unionist/Nationalist lines and that issue trumps all others.
We can shake our heads and wonder why nobody seems to care about the appalling infrastructure, the HSC crisis or anything else. But facts are facts. When the constitutional question is front and centre, everything else falls by the wayside.
Many Scots are waking up to the same truth.
Perhaps but on social issues alone the DUP and SF are not that far apart, even if Northern Ireland does eventually legalise gay marriage it will have been one of the last western countries to do so, on social issues at least Ulster has more in common with the southern US and Eastern Europe than it does with the mainland UK
For what it's worth, I didn't meet anyone actually voting Labour with a view to limiting the Tory majority - we tried that argument on the doorstep but I at least didn't get any takers. We did get people who were already Labour-leaning but not sure whether to bother, who were motivated by it, so it helped, but not in exactly the way Ed Smith describes.
That said, we weren't focusing on people we believed to be always Tory voters, so I might have missed them.
My assertion, and one that you are ignoring, is that rtb distorted the market more than anything else and that I'm surprised it was introduced by a self proclaimed free marketeer.
I'm ignoring it because I largely agree with you. Like all good Tories, Maggie wasn't a free marketeer in the sense of someone who thinks that the state should never have any role. That's why, for example, when BT was privatised her government pioneered what has now become the internationally-adopted model of an independent regulator. She wanted to work with the market, not against it, and harness its creativity and capacity to improve quality and drive down costs, which she did extremely successfully.
I think we agree however I'm just not comfortable with anybody being subsidised by the state in order to gain votes. I made the point about Brown flogging gold, I'm interested to hear your thoughts on that.
I've spent a while playing around with the demographic data from Mori's long-running series on "How Britain Voted", and used it to create cohorts that were 21 years old for each election as it came (the centre of the 18-24 range) and used interpolation to follow them across the elections from 1974 (October) to 2017.
It's - strange.
The well-recorded "people get more Tory as they get older" does seem to be a thing, but it's not a solid pattern. Obviously, the country as a whole has surged pro-Tory, anti-Tory, and pro-Tory since then, so that cycle is overlaid on it, but while the cohorts from 1933 births to 1962 births do seem to follow very similar patterns, the 1971 births onwards seem to be creating a new pattern. The 1966 birth cohort could go either way, but seem to be weakly following their predecessors.
They seem more variable (swingy) than before, and net more anti-Tory than their predecessors at similar ages, as well as resisting the pro-Tory push.
This is only very weak and preliminary conclusions taken from looking at the graph overlaying all of them - and the 2017 election could cause a significant part of this due to the unprecedented age divergence involved.
Anyone born from 1933 to 1962 will have memories of the Winter of discontent and old Labour governments unlike anyone born from 1971
Anyone my age or younger came of age at the height of Thatcherism and a very divisive and socially conservative time that was. Pop culture was quite alternative with punk and indy music as well as alternative comedy.
Many of us have a deep dislike of the Tories as a result, and I dont think that will lessen over time.
Thatcher of course only got elected because the previous Labour government oversaw permanent strikes, falling gdp per capita, rising inflation and a country heading for bankruptcy
Permanent strikes and rising inflation were more a constant feature of Heath's Tory Government 1970 - 1974. Until the Winter of Discontent of Jan/Feb 1979 there was much less disruption under the Labour Government. Inflation was also lower in May 1979 - just under 10% - than the13%/14% inherited in March 1974.
I see the NI abortion amendment will be up for a vote.
Good job the DUP won't be toxifying the Tories there then.
Most people see abortion as a necessary evil within the existing time limit, not something that must be promoted to avoid 'toxification'
Bet most people don't know women in NI can be prosecuted for having an abortion.
They can here too without a doctor confirming they need it for health reasons
How many people in mainland UK have been prosecuted for having an abortion vs those in NI.
The DUP are not trying to change abortion law on the mainland just protect it in NI where they have a majority
The thing is that most people here are single issue voters. Totally. I know of gay people who vote DUP. Incredible that that might seem.
Not incredible at all. It just depends what issue you prioritise. There have always been gay Unionists.
But as you know, there's only one issue in NI that matters. The Union.
The SDLP lost their deposit in FST. They wouldn't have if anything else really mattered.
True. But, I've also encountered similar incredulity that gay people could vote Conservative (prior to Cameron's conversion to gay marriage) or for UKIP. But, obviously, plenty did so.
The Left is very quick to pigeonhole groups and assign people to blocs that they presume should vote a certain way. They're always surprised and angry when their supposed client vote wanders off the plantation.
I've spent a while playing around with the demographic data from Mori's long-running series on "How Britain Voted", and used it to create cohorts that were 21 years old for each election as it came (the centre of the 18-24 range) and used interpolation to follow them across the elections from 1974 (October) to 2017.
It's - strange.
The well-recorded "people get more Tory as they get older" does seem to be a thing, but it's not a solid pattern. Obviously, the country as a whole has surged pro-Tory, anti-Tory, and pro-Tory since then, so that cycle is overlaid on it, but while the cohorts from 1933 births to 1962 births do seem to follow very similar patterns, the 1971 births onwards seem to be creating a new pattern. The 1966 birth cohort could go either way, but seem to be weakly following their predecessors.
They seem more variable (swingy) than before, and net more anti-Tory than their predecessors at similar ages, as well as resisting the pro-Tory push.
This is only very weak and preliminary conclusions taken from looking at the graph overlaying all of them - and the 2017 election could cause a significant part of this due to the unprecedented age divergence involved.
Anyone born from 1933 to 1962 will have memories of the Winter of discontent and old Labour governments unlike anyone born from 1971
Anyone my age or younger came of age at the height of Thatcherism and a very divisive and socially conservative time that was. Pop culture was quite alternative with punk and indy music as well as alternative comedy.
Many of us have a deep dislike of the Tories as a result, and I dont think that will lessen over time.
Thatcher of course only got elected because the previous Labour government oversaw permanent strikes, falling gdp per capita, rising inflation and a country heading for bankruptcy
Permanent strikes and rising inflation were more a constant feature of Heath's Tory Government 1970 - 1974. Until the Winter of Discontent of Jan/Feb 1979 there was much less disruption under the Labour Government. Inflation was also lower in May 1979 - just under 10% - than the13%/14% inherited in March 1974.
Thatcher of course had to defeat Heath first before she defeated Labour
"To change the mood a little, I've been posing down the pub I see in my reflection I'm looking slightly rough"
Well, perhaps, but I want to talk about gambling and betting and as this is a betting forum (of sorts), it seems a reasonable subject on which to opine.
I'm not a professional gambler - I would describe myself as a knowledgeable amateur and I admire those who play the exchanges as a way of life. I applaud their successes but greater kudos to those who come on here and divulge how much they've lost.
For everyone who sold CON seats at 393, there must have been someone who bought at 356 or higher or those who sold Labour at 230. Never mind - we are the sum total of our successes and failures.
Even when I'm in Vegas I play the low-end blackjack tables and if I can nick $100-$150 I'll make a run for it. Even in Vegas, $150 will keep you fed and watered for a while if you keep away from Wolfgang Puck.
There has been a huge growth in the gambling culture in this country but if I were Karen Bradley I'd ban scratchcards and FOBTs in betting shops. There are already casino-type operators in some High Streets and I'd revamp the Lottery to simply be a pot with a single meaningful prize of say £150 million per week with a £1 entry and a rollover adding £25 million per week until it's won.
I see the NI abortion amendment will be up for a vote.
Good job the DUP won't be toxifying the Tories there then.
Most people see abortion as a necessary evil within the existing time limit, not something that must be promoted to avoid 'toxification'
Bet most people don't know women in NI can be prosecuted for having an abortion.
They can here too without a doctor confirming they need it for health reasons
How many people in mainland UK have been prosecuted for having an abortion vs those in NI.
The DUP are not trying to change abortion law on the mainland just protect it in NI where they have a majority
The thing is that most people here are single issue voters. Totally. I know of gay people who vote DUP. Incredible that that might seem.
Not incredible at all. It just depends what issue you prioritise. There have always been gay Unionists.
But as you know, there's only one issue in NI that matters. The Union.
The SDLP lost their deposit in FST. They wouldn't have if anything else really mattered.
True. But, I've also encountered similar incredulity that gay people could vote Conservative (prior to Cameron's conversion to gay marriage) or for UKIP. But, obviously, plenty did so.
The Left is very quick to pigeonhole groups and assign people to blocs that they presume should vote a certain way. They're always surprised and angry when their supposed client vote wanders off the plantation.
"To change the mood a little, I've been posing down the pub I see in my reflection I'm looking slightly rough"
Well, perhaps, but I want to talk about gambling and betting and as this is a betting forum (of sorts), it seems a reasonable subject on which to opine.
I'm not a professional gambler - I would describe myself as a knowledgeable amateur and I admire those who play the exchanges as a way of life. I applaud their successes but greater kudos to those who come on here and divulge how much they've lost.
For everyone who sold CON seats at 393, there must have been someone who bought at 356 or higher or those who sold Labour at 230. Never mind - we are the sum total of our successes and failures.
Any thoughts ?
Letter I sent to Carswell/UKIP policy team in 2014 pt1
"A problem that particularly affects the working class is the growing number of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) in betting shops. I have worked in the bookmaking industry for nearly twenty years, and in that time there have been a lot of changes. The existence of the betting exchanges, namely Betfair, has meant that the bookie vs punter battle is all but over. Bookmakers are unable to compete with the margins that the exchanges bet to, but what they lose in custom they make up for in wages. As the exchanges are the ultimate guide to the betting market, they no longer have to employ as many odds compilers, they just copy the exchange and add a bit of margin. If the bookmaker is out of line with the exchanges, and punters try to take the bookie price, the bookie stops them betting, or limits them to pennies. To all intents and purposes the high St bookie should be dead. They don't take many bets, and they don't let people bet much.
But they are kept afloat by the FOBTs. These are basically Fruit Machines on crack cocaine. There is no edge for the punter as the machines are programmed to win a certain percentage. It is not about skill, they cannot be beaten. Bookmakers now have as many of these machines as possible in betting shops, and staff I have spoken to have told me they are instructed to teach punters how to play them, and stay open as long as possible even when there is barely any sport to bet on. Labour MP Tom Watson has done a great deal of work on the problems of FOBTs. They are a social menace, causing misery to many who cant afford to lose the money they are, and the anger on the part of the player when they lose is often also distressing for the employee, who is usually working alone late at night. The bookmakers that are applying to open shops in High Streets in poor areas (Newham is a particular example) are only doing so in order to pile these machines into them.
"My idea would be to make bookmakers who want FOBTs in their shops re apply for a license as an amusement arcade rather than a bookmaker, and remove their ability to take bets on sport in that shop if such a licence is granted. I predict that Bookmakers such as Ladbrokes, Coral and William Hill would baulk at this, but at the moment they are no more than fences for FOBTs anyway. They wont take bets off people who have any clue about betting, but are happy to let the poorest in society lose their wages in a machine which it is impossible to beat. Strange as it may sound, the name Ladbrokes/Hills/Corals adds a cloak of respectability to the mugging that takes place inside their shops. Attaching their name to an amusement arcade would (a) discourage them from applying as it would damage their brand, and (b) give the authorities the chance to deny permission for the arcade. Either would be a bonus for the man in the street.
Because they cannot be beaten, the bookies let anybody have anything they like in these machines
rethink gambling @rethinkgambling Dec 15 .@Coral You took this from a known #gambling #addict on Friday. Anything to say to his children this Christmas? pic.twitter.com/5JIfztXZrL
I have written a couple of articles on this deception here
To encourage the existence of a traditional bookmakers, I would offer an tax incentive for those who bet to a low margin and accept large bets in FOBT-less shops. At the moment they bet to very big margins and refuse to take many bets. The betting market in the far east is thriving by accepting enormous bets at low margin, and that is something I feel we could tap into. I have many contacts in the bookmaking game, both poacher and gamekeeper so to speak, and could help pack out a detailed policy if you decide to follow it up.
If we press this policy I feel it will be both a vote winner and enhance UKIPs reputation as the party that has the interests of the working class at heart"
Comments
In 25 out of the 35 SNP seats, Labour is in second place.
https://www.census.gov/popclock/
I live in rural NI. Full of old people.
A direct quote from an elderly farmer to me last week was: "I couldn't give a stuff if someone was allowed to marry that stove (points). Fuck all to do with me."
The SDLP lost their deposit in FST. They wouldn't have if anything else really mattered.
My assertion, and one that you are ignoring, is that rtb distorted the market more than anything else and that I'm surprised it was introduced by a self proclaimed free marketeer.
We (UUP) have a decision to make and many of us want to be avowedly liberal in an attempt to attract younger voters but, as many other say (not wrongly), we can't win votes without being seen as stronger (or at least as strong) on the union than the DUP. Because at the end of the day, most people whether young, old, straight, gay or neither, vote on Unionist/Nationalist lines and that issue trumps all others.
We can shake our heads and wonder why nobody seems to care about the appalling infrastructure, the HSC crisis or anything else. But facts are facts. When the constitutional question is front and centre, everything else falls by the wayside.
Many Scots are waking up to the same truth.
http://tuv.org.uk/irish-language-act-would-deliver-key-ira-green-book-objective/
Ask tories about when Brown flogged that gold
NEW THREAD
That said, we weren't focusing on people we believed to be always Tory voters, so I might have missed them.
"To change the mood a little, I've been posing down the pub
I see in my reflection I'm looking slightly rough"
Well, perhaps, but I want to talk about gambling and betting and as this is a betting forum (of sorts), it seems a reasonable subject on which to opine.
I'm not a professional gambler - I would describe myself as a knowledgeable amateur and I admire those who play the exchanges as a way of life. I applaud their successes but greater kudos to those who come on here and divulge how much they've lost.
For everyone who sold CON seats at 393, there must have been someone who bought at 356 or higher or those who sold Labour at 230. Never mind - we are the sum total of our successes and failures.
Even when I'm in Vegas I play the low-end blackjack tables and if I can nick $100-$150 I'll make a run for it. Even in Vegas, $150 will keep you fed and watered for a while if you keep away from Wolfgang Puck.
There has been a huge growth in the gambling culture in this country but if I were Karen Bradley I'd ban scratchcards and FOBTs in betting shops. There are already casino-type operators in some High Streets and I'd revamp the Lottery to simply be a pot with a single meaningful prize of say £150 million per week with a £1 entry and a rollover adding £25 million per week until it's won.
Any thoughts ?
"A problem that particularly affects the working class is the growing number of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) in betting shops. I have worked in the bookmaking industry for nearly twenty years, and in that time there have been a lot of changes. The existence of the betting exchanges, namely Betfair, has meant that the bookie vs punter battle is all but over. Bookmakers are unable to compete with the margins that the exchanges bet to, but what they lose in custom they make up for in wages. As the exchanges are the ultimate guide to the betting market, they no longer have to employ as many odds compilers, they just copy the exchange and add a bit of margin. If the bookmaker is out of line with the exchanges, and punters try to take the bookie price, the bookie stops them betting, or limits them to pennies. To all intents and purposes the high St bookie should be dead. They don't take many bets, and they don't let people bet much.
But they are kept afloat by the FOBTs. These are basically Fruit Machines on crack cocaine. There is no edge for the punter as the machines are programmed to win a certain percentage. It is not about skill, they cannot be beaten. Bookmakers now have as many of these machines as possible in betting shops, and staff I have spoken to have told me they are instructed to teach punters how to play them, and stay open as long as possible even when there is barely any sport to bet on. Labour MP Tom Watson has done a great deal of work on the problems of FOBTs. They are a social menace, causing misery to many who cant afford to lose the money they are, and the anger on the part of the player when they lose is often also distressing for the employee, who is usually working alone late at night. The bookmakers that are applying to open shops in High Streets in poor areas (Newham is a particular example) are only doing so in order to pile these machines into them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/tom-watson-mp/tom-watson-gambling-machines_b_4108634.html
Watson wants some kind of ban on them, Cameron is dithering."
"My idea would be to make bookmakers who want FOBTs in their shops re apply for a license as an amusement arcade rather than a bookmaker, and remove their ability to take bets on sport in that shop if such a licence is granted. I predict that Bookmakers such as Ladbrokes, Coral and William Hill would baulk at this, but at the moment they are no more than fences for FOBTs anyway. They wont take bets off people who have any clue about betting, but are happy to let the poorest in society lose their wages in a machine which it is impossible to beat. Strange as it may sound, the name Ladbrokes/Hills/Corals adds a cloak of respectability to the mugging that takes place inside their shops. Attaching their name to an amusement arcade would (a) discourage them from applying as it would damage their brand, and (b) give the authorities the chance to deny permission for the arcade. Either would be a bonus for the man in the street.
Because they cannot be beaten, the bookies let anybody have anything they like in these machines
rethink gambling @rethinkgambling Dec 15
.@Coral You took this from a known #gambling #addict on Friday. Anything to say to his children this Christmas? pic.twitter.com/5JIfztXZrL
I have written a couple of articles on this deception here
http://aboutasfarasdelgados.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/luis-louis-ladbrokes-life.html
and here
http://aboutasfarasdelgados.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/you-dont-have-to-be-hypocritical-coward.html
and here is a blog from a betting shop worker who knows the truth behind the supposed advice to "Bet responsibly"
https://contributoria.com/issue/2014-12/544128ff96bd93a404000051
To encourage the existence of a traditional bookmakers, I would offer an tax incentive for those who bet to a low margin and accept large bets in FOBT-less shops. At the moment they bet to very big margins and refuse to take many bets. The betting market in the far east is thriving by accepting enormous bets at low margin, and that is something I feel we could tap into. I have many contacts in the bookmaking game, both poacher and gamekeeper so to speak, and could help pack out a detailed policy if you decide to follow it up.
If we press this policy I feel it will be both a vote winner and enhance UKIPs reputation as the party that has the interests of the working class at heart"