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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The latest Ipsos MORI finding should worry all politicians

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  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,749

    Two more interesting surveys/reports:

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/05/thinktank-calls-for-major-overhaul-of-britains-economy

    https://news.sky.com/story/sky-data-poll-public-ready-for-change-as-uk-economy-is-unfair-and-not-working-11490328

    ‪With the Tory and Labour leaderships knee-deep in nostalgia, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, all the forward-kooking, interesting ideas are coming from the centre-left. ‬

    Yes, really quite interesting findings. GDP growth figures do raise the question "Whose Growth?"

    Any Brexit that fails to address that fundamental feeling of being left behind is not going to be popular.
  • OllyTOllyT Posts: 5,006

    It doesn't matter how many polls haver remain in front. We are leaving , end of story.

    I think most accept that, what I'm looking at is how soon we can get a referendum on rejoining.

    On the 59-41 poll if that was a repeated poll of the same group of people do we know what the shift in opinion has been?
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,749

    Foxy said:

    Foxy said:

    It doesn't matter how many polls haver remain in front. We are leaving , end of story.

    Though if there has been a genuine movement in opinion against Brexit leaving anyway does provide its own challenge to British democracy.
    IF we decided to remain, there would be riots, I kid you not.
    Are you saying leavers are violent thugs? ;)
    They will attack with a phalanx of zimmer frames.
    In a stand-up fight between Remain voters v Leave voters, I reckon the whiny wimpy spineless Remainers would get a hell of a pasting.....

    Under 50s v Over 50s. Hmmmm.

    But we have a 52:48 numerical edge....
    You used to, 41:59 now :)
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,208

    Dura_Ace said:



    HMG has agreed Chequers as its negotiating position.

    It's a negotiating position for internal tory use only. It doesn't really bear any relation to external reality.
    It’s the basis on which HMG is negotiating with the European Union.
    Which is nice. Pity that the EU have rejected it as they were always going to do. To refer back to the OP will our politicians waste further weeks arguing in parliament about the various nuances of the rejected Chequers deal ("perhaps the EU will change their mind...") demonstrating their lack of grasp on reality?

    The UK options are as they were. Rescind Article 50. Exit to EEA and work out a longer term solution at leisure, or catastrophic crash Brexit. Politically the first two have been rejected by both party leaders - crash out as the default option may politically be the least worst option in a very narrow short term reading of whats at stake (not the future of the UK, just the future of the Theresa May administration)

    No wonder people are increasingly sick of politicians.
    People voted for an undeliverable proposition and now blame those failing to deliver that proposition, rather than themselves for choosing it.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,628

    Foxy said:

    Foxy said:

    It doesn't matter how many polls haver remain in front. We are leaving , end of story.

    Though if there has been a genuine movement in opinion against Brexit leaving anyway does provide its own challenge to British democracy.
    IF we decided to remain, there would be riots, I kid you not.
    Are you saying leavers are violent thugs? ;)
    They will attack with a phalanx of zimmer frames.
    In a stand-up fight between Remain voters v Leave voters, I reckon the whiny wimpy spineless Remainers would get a hell of a pasting.....
    At first.

    Then a civil war would start amongst the leavers, with one faction led by 'Walter Softy' JRM and the other by lazy buffoon Boris, with the former wanting to blow up Europe and the latter wanting anything that will give him power. As the leavers fight amongst themselves, the remain forces are decimated by laughter-induced injuries.
    But way before then, the Remainers would have gone home in a huff - to start a blog about how well they fought in the battle.....
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,708
    edited September 2018
    Random OT RT but per the Bob Woodward book, when Trump goes into the Oval Office alone, the ghost of LBJ sneaks up behind him and flicks his ears.


    Edit: Probably a hoax and not in fact in the Bob Woodward book, but still almost definitely true.

    https://twitter.com/RogueSNRadvisor/status/1037018634353168384
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,413
    Foxy said:

    Two more interesting surveys/reports:

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/05/thinktank-calls-for-major-overhaul-of-britains-economy

    https://news.sky.com/story/sky-data-poll-public-ready-for-change-as-uk-economy-is-unfair-and-not-working-11490328

    ‪With the Tory and Labour leaderships knee-deep in nostalgia, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, all the forward-kooking, interesting ideas are coming from the centre-left. ‬

    Yes, really quite interesting findings. GDP growth figures do raise the question "Whose Growth?"

    Any Brexit that fails to address that fundamental feeling of being left behind is not going to be popular.
    GPs are taking too much money for their prensions :-)
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,631

    Random OT RT but per the Bob Woodward book, when Trump goes into the Oval Office alone, the ghost of LBJ sneaks up behind him and flicks his ears.

    https://twitter.com/RogueSNRadvisor/status/1037018634353168384

    Are all the typos in that quote actually in the book?
  • mattmatt Posts: 3,789
    Scott_P said:
    Not quite sure about this veneration of the BOE. I had some interaction with them in the 2002 - 2007 period and everything they said and did suggested that they were living in the past and had no real feel for how the financial system had changed (this is not FAOD a comment on the regulatory system, just attitudes and thought processes). Closed thinking. Fish rotting etc perhaps?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,206
    So Brexit the top issue, immigration the third top issue and lack of faith in politicians also enters the top 10.

    If Brexit ultimately proves to be BINO or is even reversed before being fully delivered suggests bad news for the mainstream politocians and good news for the populists, indirectly for both UKIP or a successor (UKIP was ahead of the LDs with Survation yesterday) or indirectly for Corbyn
  • Sandpit said:

    Random OT RT but per the Bob Woodward book, when Trump goes into the Oval Office alone, the ghost of LBJ sneaks up behind him and flicks his ears.

    https://twitter.com/RogueSNRadvisor/status/1037018634353168384

    Are all the typos in that quote actually in the book?
    Well spotted, it's almost definitely made up.

    The ghost doing the ear-flicking would have been Calvin Coolidge.
  • OllyTOllyT Posts: 5,006

    Mrs C, it's illogical to claim that those who didn't vote supported one side of the argument. You can just as easily add them to the Leave side. Neither makes sense. Those who chose not to vote chose not to express their view. It's a valid decision in a democracy.


    Wasn't Mrs C's point that those that didn't vote are unlikely to take up arms in the event of Brexit not happening. In that sense they would join the remainers staying at home watching the leave riots on the telly.
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,413
    HYUFD said:

    So Brexit the top issue, immigration the third top issue and lack of faith in politicians also enters the top 10.

    If Brexit ultimately proves to be BINO or is even reversed before being fully delivered suggests bad news for the mainstream politocians and good news for the populists, indirectly for both UKIP or a successor (UKIP was ahead of the LDs with Survation yesterday) or indirectly for Corbyn

    why would the bozos who lost to Farage run the country any better ?
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,628

    Foxy said:

    Foxy said:

    It doesn't matter how many polls haver remain in front. We are leaving , end of story.

    Though if there has been a genuine movement in opinion against Brexit leaving anyway does provide its own challenge to British democracy.
    IF we decided to remain, there would be riots, I kid you not.
    Are you saying leavers are violent thugs? ;)
    They will attack with a phalanx of zimmer frames.
    In a stand-up fight between Remain voters v Leave voters, I reckon the whiny wimpy spineless Remainers would get a hell of a pasting.....

    Interesting how many Leavers seem comfortable with violence ....
    Yeah, because I'm really advocating that everyone who voted in the Referendum goes over to Belgium for a neutral ground to sort Brexit out, once and for all....

    No wonder your lot got beaten by a bus.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,206
    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
  • OllyTOllyT Posts: 5,006

    Foxy said:

    Foxy said:

    It doesn't matter how many polls haver remain in front. We are leaving , end of story.

    Though if there has been a genuine movement in opinion against Brexit leaving anyway does provide its own challenge to British democracy.
    IF we decided to remain, there would be riots, I kid you not.
    Are you saying leavers are violent thugs? ;)
    They will attack with a phalanx of zimmer frames.
    In a stand-up fight between Remain voters v Leave voters, I reckon the whiny wimpy spineless Remainers would get a hell of a pasting.....

    Interesting how many Leavers seem comfortable with violence ....
    I think we know by now how far some would sink in their determination to leave the EU, violence is just the next step on from trashing any institution or individual that appears to stand in your way.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 19,914
    OT. Good news for those fans of The White Hotel by DM Thomas. He's the member of the SeanT family who could write. A very fine novel and with the collaboration of Jon Amiel directing and dramatised by Dennis Potter it should be well worth two hours of anyone's time. How Potter has dealt with the language will be an interesting test of how grown up the BBC has become.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,206

    Part of the Conclusion from the Curtice Paper which has a 'topline' of 59:41 to Remain:

    ....attitudes towards whether the UK should be leaving the EU or not have, indeed, been remarkably stable. Britain is still more or less evenly divided between a body of voters who would vote Remain and another group that would vote Leave. Yet from the outset of the Brexit process support for Leave has generally proven a little less firm than that for Remain, and the difference between the willingness of the two sets of voters to vote the same way again may also have widened a little. Meanwhile, those who did not vote in 2016 are noticeably more inclined to say they would now vote Remain rather than Leave.

    As a result, instead of a narrow majority in favour of leaving the EU recorded in the referendum in June, there might now be a narrow majority in favour of Remain

    Survation (the most accurate pollster at the last general election) had Leave ahead yesterday so that poll is likely miles out as even Curtice has admitted
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,206
    Foxy said:

    AndyJS said:

    rcs1000 said:

    It would only be interesting if :

    a. It was confirmed in multiple polls
    b. It was a motivator of votes, and was showing up in VI and (say) a parliamentary by-election.
    Yesterday's Survation put it at 50/50 with a 2% movement towards Leave.
    That was a rather unusual poll inits party political side, with UKIP up 4% and LD down 4%, and a 4% Lab lead. it looks a bit of an outlier.
    As the last two general elections proved when Survation is called the outlier bet on Survation
  • HYUFD said:

    Part of the Conclusion from the Curtice Paper which has a 'topline' of 59:41 to Remain:

    ....attitudes towards whether the UK should be leaving the EU or not have, indeed, been remarkably stable. Britain is still more or less evenly divided between a body of voters who would vote Remain and another group that would vote Leave. Yet from the outset of the Brexit process support for Leave has generally proven a little less firm than that for Remain, and the difference between the willingness of the two sets of voters to vote the same way again may also have widened a little. Meanwhile, those who did not vote in 2016 are noticeably more inclined to say they would now vote Remain rather than Leave.

    As a result, instead of a narrow majority in favour of leaving the EU recorded in the referendum in June, there might now be a narrow majority in favour of Remain

    Survation (the most accurate pollster at the last general election) had Leave ahead yesterday so that poll is likely miles out as even Curtice has admitted
    A 6% swing from Leave to Remain. That's actually a pretty big swing in two years.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,631
    Scott_P said:
    So Labour spent the whole day yesterday leading the news with their antisemitism enquiry, and after an hours-long meeting of their NEC they still couldn’t agree to simply use the standard definition without caveat, thus pleasing no-one and keeping the story running for longer. Did I get that right?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,206
    Survation also had even 18 to 34 year olds wanting powers reclaimed from the ECJ, so much for young voters inevitably marching onwards to push the UK into a Federal EU Superstate then even if they did vote Remain
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,206

    HYUFD said:

    Part of the Conclusion from the Curtice Paper which has a 'topline' of 59:41 to Remain:

    ....attitudes towards whether the UK should be leaving the EU or not have, indeed, been remarkably stable. Britain is still more or less evenly divided between a body of voters who would vote Remain and another group that would vote Leave. Yet from the outset of the Brexit process support for Leave has generally proven a little less firm than that for Remain, and the difference between the willingness of the two sets of voters to vote the same way again may also have widened a little. Meanwhile, those who did not vote in 2016 are noticeably more inclined to say they would now vote Remain rather than Leave.

    As a result, instead of a narrow majority in favour of leaving the EU recorded in the referendum in June, there might now be a narrow majority in favour of Remain

    Survation (the most accurate pollster at the last general election) had Leave ahead yesterday so that poll is likely miles out as even Curtice has admitted
    A 6% swing from Leave to Remain. That's actually a pretty big swing in two years.
    Survation had Remain narrowly ahead in its final EU referendum poll so actually a swing to Leave on that basis
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,206

    HYUFD said:

    So Brexit the top issue, immigration the third top issue and lack of faith in politicians also enters the top 10.

    If Brexit ultimately proves to be BINO or is even reversed before being fully delivered suggests bad news for the mainstream politocians and good news for the populists, indirectly for both UKIP or a successor (UKIP was ahead of the LDs with Survation yesterday) or indirectly for Corbyn

    why would the bozos who lost to Farage run the country any better ?
    Farage would probably come back as head of UKIP or a UKIP successor party if it is BINO or Brexit is reversed
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,749
    Roger said:

    OT. Good news for those fans of The White Hotel by DM Thomas. He's the member of the SeanT family who could write. A very fine novel and with the collaboration of Jon Amiel directing and dramatised by Dennis Potter it should be well worth two hours of anyone's time. How Potter has dealt with the language will be an interesting test of how grown up the BBC has become.

    It does sound rather good:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2018/white-hotel

    I shall try to listen in on Saturday afternoon.
  • Two more interesting surveys/reports:

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/05/thinktank-calls-for-major-overhaul-of-britains-economy

    https://news.sky.com/story/sky-data-poll-public-ready-for-change-as-uk-economy-is-unfair-and-not-working-11490328

    ‪With the Tory and Labour leaderships knee-deep in nostalgia, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, all the forward-kooking, interesting ideas are coming from the centre-left. ‬

    I agree that our corporate governance culture is far too short-termist, doesn’t invest enough, and cares far too much about short-term returns to institutional shareholders.

    But, I don’t agree with most of those policies (many of which are neo-socialist) because I don’t think they’d do anything to solve it, other than raise costs and decrease employment and investment.

    Industrial strategy, a public R&D investment bank and more devolution to cities and regions of public spending are all good ideas, and ones this Government is already starting to make progress upon.

    I’d be open to realistic suggestions that decreases tax on employment and increased it on asset wealth provided I could be convinced it wouldn’t damage free enterprise.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,628
    Sandpit said:

    Scott_P said:
    So Labour spent the whole day yesterday leading the news with their antisemitism enquiry, and after an hours-long meeting of their NEC they still couldn’t agree to simply use the standard definition without caveat, thus pleasing no-one and keeping the story running for longer. Did I get that right?
    Well, until the newly-formed NEC in October decides to overturn September's meeting, yes.
  • Mr. T, despite the idiotic reporting from some, including Sky News the day after when there was a shameful video with three masked cretins claiming they'd looted due to government cuts, the 2011 looting was not remotely political in nature. It occurred due to the weak response of police to the initial outburst (over the shooting of Mark Duggan [think that's the name]). Then, opportunistic thieves and thugs used social media to exploit the opportunity the weakness afforded to go on a little thieving, fire-starting rampage.

    If riots occurred on a large scale (regardless of the cause) we might very well see a similar phenomenon recur, if the initial police response is a limp as before.
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    Foxy said:

    Roger said:

    OT. Good news for those fans of The White Hotel by DM Thomas. He's the member of the SeanT family who could write. A very fine novel and with the collaboration of Jon Amiel directing and dramatised by Dennis Potter it should be well worth two hours of anyone's time. How Potter has dealt with the language will be an interesting test of how grown up the BBC has become.

    It does sound rather good:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2018/white-hotel

    I shall try to listen in on Saturday afternoon.
    It is an utterly, utterly astonishing book. Not to mention, rather seminal to the Great Antisemitism Debate.

    Surely a bit posthumous from Potter, though?
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 8,301

    Two more interesting surveys/reports:

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/05/thinktank-calls-for-major-overhaul-of-britains-economy

    https://news.sky.com/story/sky-data-poll-public-ready-for-change-as-uk-economy-is-unfair-and-not-working-11490328

    ‪With the Tory and Labour leaderships knee-deep in nostalgia, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, all the forward-kooking, interesting ideas are coming from the centre-left. ‬

    Some very interesting ideas. Taxing wealth and work the same is certainly more radical than anything Jezza proposed. Much of the rest was in the Labour manifesto in one form or another.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,749
    Ishmael_Z said:

    Foxy said:

    Roger said:

    OT. Good news for those fans of The White Hotel by DM Thomas. He's the member of the SeanT family who could write. A very fine novel and with the collaboration of Jon Amiel directing and dramatised by Dennis Potter it should be well worth two hours of anyone's time. How Potter has dealt with the language will be an interesting test of how grown up the BBC has become.

    It does sound rather good:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2018/white-hotel

    I shall try to listen in on Saturday afternoon.
    It is an utterly, utterly astonishing book. Not to mention, rather seminal to the Great Antisemitism Debate.

    Surely a bit posthumous from Potter, though?
    99p on Kindle at present too.

  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 8,301

    Two more interesting surveys/reports:

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/05/thinktank-calls-for-major-overhaul-of-britains-economy

    https://news.sky.com/story/sky-data-poll-public-ready-for-change-as-uk-economy-is-unfair-and-not-working-11490328

    ‪With the Tory and Labour leaderships knee-deep in nostalgia, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, all the forward-kooking, interesting ideas are coming from the centre-left. ‬

    Some very interesting ideas. Taxing wealth and work the same is certainly more radical than anything Jezza proposed. Much of the rest was in the Labour manifesto in one form or another.
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    Foxy said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    Foxy said:

    Roger said:

    OT. Good news for those fans of The White Hotel by DM Thomas. He's the member of the SeanT family who could write. A very fine novel and with the collaboration of Jon Amiel directing and dramatised by Dennis Potter it should be well worth two hours of anyone's time. How Potter has dealt with the language will be an interesting test of how grown up the BBC has become.

    It does sound rather good:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2018/white-hotel

    I shall try to listen in on Saturday afternoon.
    It is an utterly, utterly astonishing book. Not to mention, rather seminal to the Great Antisemitism Debate.

    Surely a bit posthumous from Potter, though?
    99p on Kindle at present too.

    Thank you, lost my hard copy 2 house moves back.
  • Mr. rkrkrk, taxing wealth be a fantastic way to drive down saving rates even lower.

    I don't earn much and have saved what I can. If the Government decided that should be punished I'd be less than pleased. It's a ****ing idiotic notion.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,504
    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
    It’s sobering to think that back in 1975 the Tory Party was heavily pro-EEC (I know, I know) and had the support of it’s Press. In particular the Mail said, on the day we joined that ' ‘for ten years we have campaigned for this day. We have not wavered in our conviction that Britain’s best and brightest future is in Europe’

    And now look at the state we are in!
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992

    Foxy said:

    Foxy said:

    It doesn't matter how many polls haver remain in front. We are leaving , end of story.

    Though if there has been a genuine movement in opinion against Brexit leaving anyway does provide its own challenge to British democracy.
    IF we decided to remain, there would be riots, I kid you not.
    Are you saying leavers are violent thugs? ;)
    They will attack with a phalanx of zimmer frames.
    In a stand-up fight between Remain voters v Leave voters, I reckon the whiny wimpy spineless Remainers would get a hell of a pasting.....

    Me sir, me sir, pick me sir.
  • Pro_RataPro_Rata Posts: 5,291
    edited September 2018
    The truth of Chequers for me is that May has actually tried, if anything, too hard to resolve the contradictory spirit of the referendum. It was clear leave voters wanted freedom of movement to end, we would be out of the SM. It was clear they wanted the contribution money spent on other things, her proposal would end it and some accountancy has been done to release some money into the NHS. A very large majority voted in what they felt we their own economic interests, and below the headline exits she has endeavoured to keep as much as possible of the trading structure in place - as was indeed promised across the Leave campaign.

    To square all that, however, meant throwing away any off the shelf options and going for something complicated and very custom. Something that required a massive dollop of goodwill. Something massively difficult, even without Tory factionalism.

    In dealing with the wishes of the Brexit voters, she set herself the most thankless negotiating brief of any British PM since Chamberlain. Note, that to extend this analogy requires not Boris as Churchill, but as one of those recklessly driving the tanks over the Polish border, himself the betrayer.

    Succeed or fail, May's efforts have earned respect from me and the last thing I regard them as is betrayal.
  • HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    So Brexit the top issue, immigration the third top issue and lack of faith in politicians also enters the top 10.

    If Brexit ultimately proves to be BINO or is even reversed before being fully delivered suggests bad news for the mainstream politocians and good news for the populists, indirectly for both UKIP or a successor (UKIP was ahead of the LDs with Survation yesterday) or indirectly for Corbyn

    why would the bozos who lost to Farage run the country any better ?
    Farage would probably come back as head of UKIP or a UKIP successor party if it is BINO or Brexit is reversed
    It won't be any different to previously or present. It will be the "Look at the size of my ego" Party. It has always amazed me that the electorate, whom my father always told me was sophisticated bless him, does not see past this charlatan, and his Tory brother in lies, Boris Johnson
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,631

    Two more interesting surveys/reports:

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/05/thinktank-calls-for-major-overhaul-of-britains-economy

    https://news.sky.com/story/sky-data-poll-public-ready-for-change-as-uk-economy-is-unfair-and-not-working-11490328

    ‪With the Tory and Labour leaderships knee-deep in nostalgia, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, all the forward-kooking, interesting ideas are coming from the centre-left. ‬

    I agree that our corporate governance culture is far too short-termist, doesn’t invest enough, and cares far too much about short-term returns to institutional shareholders.

    But, I don’t agree with most of those policies (many of which are neo-socialist) because I don’t think they’d do anything to solve it, other than raise costs and decrease employment and investment.

    Industrial strategy, a public R&D investment bank and more devolution to cities and regions of public spending are all good ideas, and ones this Government is already starting to make progress upon.

    I’d be open to realistic suggestions that decreases tax on employment and increased it on asset wealth provided I could be convinced it wouldn’t damage free enterprise.
    Agreed, and would add something on business rates for retail which is being hammered by online competition, incentives for companies to hire apprentices rather than immigrants, and one or more economic free zones in the North of England exempt from most property and payroll taxes.
  • FF43 said:

    Dura_Ace said:



    HMG has agreed Chequers as its negotiating position.

    It's a negotiating position for internal tory use only. It doesn't really bear any relation to external reality.
    It’s the basis on which HMG is negotiating with the European Union.
    Which is nice. Pity that the EU have rejected it as they were always going to do. To refer back to the OP will our politicians waste further weeks arguing in parliament about the various nuances of the rejected Chequers deal ("perhaps the EU will change their mind...") demonstrating their lack of grasp on reality?

    The UK options are as they were. Rescind Article 50. Exit to EEA and work out a longer term solution at leisure, or catastrophic crash Brexit. Politically the first two have been rejected by both party leaders - crash out as the default option may politically be the least worst option in a very narrow short term reading of whats at stake (not the future of the UK, just the future of the Theresa May administration)

    No wonder people are increasingly sick of politicians.
    People voted for an undeliverable proposition and now blame those failing to deliver that proposition, rather than themselves for choosing it.
    People voted for all kinds of things in their heads. The ballot paper asked should we leave the European Union. Leaving to EEA fulfils the vote and doesn't smash the economy - and aside from rescind A50 or catastrophioc crash brexit is the only option left.
  • Foxy said:

    Foxy said:

    It doesn't matter how many polls haver remain in front. We are leaving , end of story.

    Though if there has been a genuine movement in opinion against Brexit leaving anyway does provide its own challenge to British democracy.
    IF we decided to remain, there would be riots, I kid you not.
    Are you saying leavers are violent thugs? ;)
    They will attack with a phalanx of zimmer frames.
    In a stand-up fight between Remain voters v Leave voters, I reckon the whiny wimpy spineless Remainers would get a hell of a pasting.....
    At first.

    Then a civil war would start amongst the leavers, with one faction led by 'Walter Softy' JRM and the other by lazy buffoon Boris, with the former wanting to blow up Europe and the latter wanting anything that will give him power. As the leavers fight amongst themselves, the remain forces are decimated by laughter-induced injuries.
    But way before then, the Remainers would have gone home in a huff - to start a blog about how well they fought in the battle.....
    Nah, they'll be dancing whilst wearing EU-stylised clothing. Nothing lays beats like smashing glass!

    (I daresay some kind soul can provide the gif)
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992

    Septimius Severus was born today.

    There was a chap who knew how to be both fox and lion, as Machiavelli wrote.

    JRM has another son? His poor wife. ...
    LOL
  • not_on_firenot_on_fire Posts: 4,449
    edited September 2018
    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
    Christ, why you have this fixation with something that happened nearly 15 years ago and is ancient history to almost everyone? You mention it at least once a day
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992
    Roger said:

    OT. Good news for those fans of The White Hotel by DM Thomas. He's the member of the SeanT family who could write. A very fine novel and with the collaboration of Jon Amiel directing and dramatised by Dennis Potter it should be well worth two hours of anyone's time. How Potter has dealt with the language will be an interesting test of how grown up the BBC has become.

    Agree and disagree. Fantastic novel (I liked Ararat also) but I would rather not see it on the tellybox. cf Handmaid's Tale, Swann's Way, etc, etc. It's all there in my mind why on earth would I want to change that?
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,413

    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
    It’s sobering to think that back in 1975 the Tory Party was heavily pro-EEC (I know, I know) and had the support of it’s Press. In particular the Mail said, on the day we joined that ' ‘for ten years we have campaigned for this day. We have not wavered in our conviction that Britain’s best and brightest future is in Europe’

    And now look at the state we are in!
    the state we are currently in is called the European Union

    we never got asked if we wanted to join it
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,857
    Scott_P said:
    Nothing new here. King said basically the same thing on Newsnight last year.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgtFG4WNbNU

    And Rifkind's position doesn't make sense. It's the fact that the politics ARE complicated that explains why King has said we should be prepared for no deal.

  • Sandpit said:

    Scott_P said:
    So Labour spent the whole day yesterday leading the news with their antisemitism enquiry, and after an hours-long meeting of their NEC they still couldn’t agree to simply use the standard definition without caveat, thus pleasing no-one and keeping the story running for longer. Did I get that right?
    Well, until the newly-formed NEC in October decides to overturn September's meeting, yes.
    The problem Labour has to attend to is where does this anti-Semitism spring from. Most believe it is related to Palestine. I think this is just an excuse. My belief is that it was encapsulated in that racist poster that Corbyn failed to condemn.

    The root cause of Hard Left anti-Semitism is based on the same paranoid prejudice of the Far Right - a belief that the capitalist system is a system designed for the benefit of the Jews - the Jewish Conspiracy. That is the real reason Corbyn and his allies hate Jews. Their support of Palestine is simply an effect, not the cause. He is simply a left wing racist, and he and his fellow travellers and supporters should be called out as such.
  • HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
    It’s sobering to think that back in 1975 the Tory Party was heavily pro-EEC (I know, I know) and had the support of it’s Press. In particular the Mail said, on the day we joined that ' ‘for ten years we have campaigned for this day. We have not wavered in our conviction that Britain’s best and brightest future is in Europe’

    And now look at the state we are in!
    the state we are currently in is called the European Union

    we never got asked if we wanted to join it
    Total rubbish, it was part of Heath's manifesto and it was massively popular as a policy. Plus we are not in a state called the EU. It is a supranational body. You really do make yourself look foolish with these Daily Express type distortions.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992

    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
    It’s sobering to think that back in 1975 the Tory Party was heavily pro-EEC (I know, I know) and had the support of it’s Press. In particular the Mail said, on the day we joined that ' ‘for ten years we have campaigned for this day. We have not wavered in our conviction that Britain’s best and brightest future is in Europe’

    And now look at the state we are in!
    the state we are currently in is called the European Union

    we never got asked if we wanted to join it
    Total rubbish, it was part of Heath's manifesto and it was massively popular as a policy. Plus we are not in a state called the EU. It is a supranational body. You really do make yourself look foolish with these Daily Express type distortions.
    He proves the point that if we do get BINO Leavers would be too stupid to understand.
  • Mr. Foremain, can't recall ever voting for Heath myself.

    And the EU didn't come into existence until a couple of decades ago.

    And we were promised a referendum on Lisbon which was then reneged upon by Brown.
  • HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
    It’s sobering to think that back in 1975 the Tory Party was heavily pro-EEC (I know, I know) and had the support of it’s Press. In particular the Mail said, on the day we joined that ' ‘for ten years we have campaigned for this day. We have not wavered in our conviction that Britain’s best and brightest future is in Europe’

    And now look at the state we are in!
    the state we are currently in is called the European Union

    we never got asked if we wanted to join it
    Total rubbish, it was part of Heath's manifesto and it was massively popular as a policy. Plus we are not in a state called the EU. It is a supranational body. You really do make yourself look foolish with these Daily Express type distortions.
    Heath wanted to join the European Union? Funny I thought we joined the European Economic Community.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 19,914
    TOPPING said:

    Roger said:

    OT. Good news for those fans of The White Hotel by DM Thomas. He's the member of the SeanT family who could write. A very fine novel and with the collaboration of Jon Amiel directing and dramatised by Dennis Potter it should be well worth two hours of anyone's time. How Potter has dealt with the language will be an interesting test of how grown up the BBC has become.

    Agree and disagree. Fantastic novel (I liked Ararat also) but I would rather not see it on the tellybox. cf Handmaid's Tale, Swann's Way, etc, etc. It's all there in my mind why on earth would I want to change that?
    I agree with almost all of that except that this is radio so your memory and imagination can still play a big part

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2018/white-hotel
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,413

    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
    It’s sobering to think that back in 1975 the Tory Party was heavily pro-EEC (I know, I know) and had the support of it’s Press. In particular the Mail said, on the day we joined that ' ‘for ten years we have campaigned for this day. We have not wavered in our conviction that Britain’s best and brightest future is in Europe’

    And now look at the state we are in!
    the state we are currently in is called the European Union

    we never got asked if we wanted to join it
    Total rubbish, it was part of Heath's manifesto and it was massively popular as a policy. Plus we are not in a state called the EU. It is a supranational body. You really do make yourself look foolish with these Daily Express type distortions.
    ooh staright to the bluster

    check your blood presuure ducky
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,504

    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
    It’s sobering to think that back in 1975 the Tory Party was heavily pro-EEC (I know, I know) and had the support of it’s Press. In particular the Mail said, on the day we joined that ' ‘for ten years we have campaigned for this day. We have not wavered in our conviction that Britain’s best and brightest future is in Europe’

    And now look at the state we are in!
    the state we are currently in is called the European Union

    we never got asked if we wanted to join it
    We consistently voted for politicians and parties which said they did. We can’t have referendums every two minutes; we’re too large a nation to be governed a ‘town meeting’ process.

    At least at the moment, that is. Communication technology may one day advance far enough for nations to be able to operate on such a basis, although that will require some means of educating people so that demagoguery doesn’t rule
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,176

    Two more interesting surveys/reports:

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/05/thinktank-calls-for-major-overhaul-of-britains-economy

    https://news.sky.com/story/sky-data-poll-public-ready-for-change-as-uk-economy-is-unfair-and-not-working-11490328

    ‪With the Tory and Labour leaderships knee-deep in nostalgia, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, all the forward-kooking, interesting ideas are coming from the centre-left. ‬

    It argues that the shareholder-driven model of capitalism is outmoded and partly to blame for Britain slipping down international league tables for investment and productivity, which measures the output per hour of each worker and is seen as the cornerstone of economic progress because it drives up wages.

    And

    Without the investment needed to cope with developments such as automation and the adoption of digital services, the commission warns, the UK is likely to face another decade of stagnant wages, rising household debts and deteriorating infrastructure.

    So which is it? Are they worried about productivity or the effects of automation?

    Policing the gift tax would be interesting, though worthwhile in my opinion. What concerns me more is that I've been priced out of being able to afford to buy in my home town, but these people would like to punish my family by taxing my parents wealth. We never asked for QE, ultra low interest rates and mass immigration. We never asked for the housing bubble.
  • Since when did the EU become a state? Its like the people on Facebook demanding the restoration of the Palestinian state - what state? Latest one was the "shocking confession" by ex Israeli PM Golda Meir that she "had a Palestinian Passport". Yeah. Mandate Palestine. Again, not a state.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992
    Roger said:

    TOPPING said:

    Roger said:

    OT. Good news for those fans of The White Hotel by DM Thomas. He's the member of the SeanT family who could write. A very fine novel and with the collaboration of Jon Amiel directing and dramatised by Dennis Potter it should be well worth two hours of anyone's time. How Potter has dealt with the language will be an interesting test of how grown up the BBC has become.

    Agree and disagree. Fantastic novel (I liked Ararat also) but I would rather not see it on the tellybox. cf Handmaid's Tale, Swann's Way, etc, etc. It's all there in my mind why on earth would I want to change that?
    I agree with almost all of that except that this is radio so your memory and imagination can still play a big part

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2018/white-hotel
    Ah interesting - thanks. Not wholly convinced; how many times has one switched on for the R4 play only to switch off again shortly afterwards, generally because the actors simply don't seem to be able to convey the dramatic intensity on the one hand, or the play is not good enough on the other.

    Then again, with Potter at the helm and a decent cast this will have a good a chance as any.
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 8,301

    Mr. rkrkrk, taxing wealth be a fantastic way to drive down saving rates even lower.

    I don't earn much and have saved what I can. If the Government decided that should be punished I'd be less than pleased. It's a ****ing idiotic notion.

    Yes I did think that would get Tories rather irate. Whilst I do think we need to tax wealth more, I think there are lower hanging fruit in the form of exceptionally wasteful and ineffective incentives to save for high earners which could easily be used to encourage lower earners to save.
  • Since when did the EU become a state?

    1993
  • TOPPING said:

    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
    It’s sobering to think that back in 1975 the Tory Party was heavily pro-EEC (I know, I know) and had the support of it’s Press. In particular the Mail said, on the day we joined that ' ‘for ten years we have campaigned for this day. We have not wavered in our conviction that Britain’s best and brightest future is in Europe’

    And now look at the state we are in!
    the state we are currently in is called the European Union

    we never got asked if we wanted to join it
    Total rubbish, it was part of Heath's manifesto and it was massively popular as a policy. Plus we are not in a state called the EU. It is a supranational body. You really do make yourself look foolish with these Daily Express type distortions.
    He proves the point that if we do get BINO Leavers would be too stupid to understand.
    Sadly it has always been my contention that our relationship is and was far too complicated for the electorate to understand, which is why it should never have gone to such a simplistic referendum.

    I have been accused as being an "intellectual snob" by our populist posters on here and else where, but the more I see comments like that recent one of Alanbrooke's the more convinced I become of the opinion that if people are so badly informed on the subject, then they should be happy to delegate the decision to politicians in the hope that most of them are.
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,857

    Two more interesting surveys/reports:

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/05/thinktank-calls-for-major-overhaul-of-britains-economy

    https://news.sky.com/story/sky-data-poll-public-ready-for-change-as-uk-economy-is-unfair-and-not-working-11490328

    ‪With the Tory and Labour leaderships knee-deep in nostalgia, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, all the forward-kooking, interesting ideas are coming from the centre-left. ‬

    What I found most interesting about that IPPR report was that amongst the list of signatories was the head of the City of London corporation! A lot of these ideas aren't exactly new - you could look at a collection of Will Hutton newspaper columns - but they're pretty much the only vision being presented at this moment. Very much focused on industry it seems. What do we do about finance?
  • HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
    It’s sobering to think that back in 1975 the Tory Party was heavily pro-EEC (I know, I know) and had the support of it’s Press. In particular the Mail said, on the day we joined that ' ‘for ten years we have campaigned for this day. We have not wavered in our conviction that Britain’s best and brightest future is in Europe’

    And now look at the state we are in!
    the state we are currently in is called the European Union

    we never got asked if we wanted to join it
    Total rubbish, it was part of Heath's manifesto and it was massively popular as a policy. Plus we are not in a state called the EU. It is a supranational body. You really do make yourself look foolish with these Daily Express type distortions.
    ooh staright to the bluster

    check your blood presuure ducky
    Thank you for your concern, though please be reassured I have never allowed my blood pressure to be raised by the comments of the ignorant
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,413

    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
    It’s sobering to think that back in 1975 the Tory Party was heavily pro-EEC (I know, I know) and had the support of it’s Press. In particular the Mail said, on the day we joined that ' ‘for ten years we have campaigned for this day. We have not wavered in our conviction that Britain’s best and brightest future is in Europe’

    And now look at the state we are in!
    the state we are currently in is called the European Union

    we never got asked if we wanted to join it
    We consistently voted for politicians and parties which said they did. We can’t have referendums every two minutes; we’re too large a nation to be governed a ‘town meeting’ process.

    At least at the moment, that is. Communication technology may one day advance far enough for nations to be able to operate on such a basis, although that will require some means of educating people so that demagoguery doesn’t rule
    you are advocating approving mission creep. There comes a point when you have to consult the electorate especially when the politicians and the voters have drifted so far apart,

    as I have said before if we had had a vote at either Maastricht or Lisbon it would have carried, but we didnt. And as the poll above shows the public increasingly are losing trust in thosze leading them.
  • Since when did the EU become a state?

    1993
    You too are a reader of the Daily Express
  • Mr. rkrkrk, 'get Tories rather irate'.

    Nice way to dismiss the notion it's legitimate to be pissed off at the contemptible idea of taxing savings that were scraped together.

    Still, you've found a way to make the already terrible savings rate even worse. Well done.

    The site's at its best when things are at least objective, if not light-hearted. You may well have some response or other trying to justify mindless socialist greed (the tax take is what counts, not hammering individuals, motivated by greed or virtue signalling), but I won't be here to reply, so don't think any lack of response is due to personal dislike or lack of an argument.
  • Since when did the EU become a state?

    1993
    You too are a reader of the Daily Express
    ...and just to save me explaining what sovereignty means to all the swivel-eyed, here is an explanation why the EU is not, and never will be a sovereign state:

    https://www.quora.com/Why-can’t-the-European-Union-be-called-a-state-and-what-exactly-does-it-need-to-become-one

  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992

    TOPPING said:

    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you cories in 2004
    It’s sobering to think that back in 1975 the Tory Party was heavily pro-EEC (I know, I know) and had the support of it’s Press. In particular the Mail said, on the day we joined that ' ‘for ten years we have campaigned for this day. We have not wavered in our conviction that Britain’s best and brightest future is in Europe’

    And now look at the state we are in!
    the state we are currently in is called the European Union

    we never got asked if we wanted to join it
    Total rubbish, it was part of Heath's manifesto and it was massively popular as a policy. Plus we are not in a state called the EU. It is a supranational body. You really do make yourself look foolish with these Daily Express type distortions.
    He proves the point that if we do get BINO Leavers would be too stupid to understand.
    Sadly it has always been my contention that our relationship is and was far too complicated for the electorate to understand, which is why it should never have gone to such a simplistic referendum.

    I have been accused as being an "intellectual snob" by our populist posters on here and else where, but the more I see comments like that recent one of Alanbrooke's the more convinced I become of the opinion that if people are so badly informed on the subject, then they should be happy to delegate the decision to politicians in the hope that most of them are.
    In various economists' circles, people are openly discussing a re-run of the referendum as they believe that the first decision was made under ignorance. While elegant as a socio-economic theory, it would of course be impossible for any politician to advocate a second referendum citing the word "ignorance" at all, anywhere, at any time.
  • Talk of riots should concentrate minds on just who they want as Prime Minister to wield the powers of the Civil Contingencies Act.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,206

    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
    It’s sobering to think that back in 1975 the Tory Party was heavily pro-EEC (I know, I know) and had the support of it’s Press. In particular the Mail said, on the day we joined that ' ‘for ten years we have campaigned for this day. We have not wavered in our conviction that Britain’s best and brightest future is in Europe’

    And now look at the state we are in!
    Pro Common Market not EU
  • VerulamiusVerulamius Posts: 1,543
    Today is the day that the parliamentary boundary commissions are due to send their final proposals to the relevant Secretaries of State.

    It is now up to the SofS to lay the reports before parliament. We will then find out the final boundaries, as Parliament is unable to amend the proposals only approved or reject.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,631
    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you cories in 2004
    It’s sobering to think that back in 1975 the Tory Party was heavily pro-EEC (I know, I know) and had the support of it’s Press. In particular the Mail said, on the day we joined that ' ‘for ten years we have campaigned for this day. We have not wavered in our conviction that Britain’s best and brightest future is in Europe’

    And now look at the state we are in!
    the state we are currently in is called the European Union

    we never got asked if we wanted to join it
    Total rubbish, it was part of Heath's manifesto and it was massively popular as a policy. Plus we are not in a state called the EU. It is a supranational body. You really do make yourself look foolish with these Daily Express type distortions.
    He proves the point that if we do get BINO Leavers would be too stupid to understand.
    Sadly it has always been my contention that our relationship is and was far too complicated for the electorate to understand, which is why it should never have gone to such a simplistic referendum.

    I have been accused as being an "intellectual snob" by our populist posters on here and else where, but the more I see comments like that recent one of Alanbrooke's the more convinced I become of the opinion that if people are so badly informed on the subject, then they should be happy to delegate the decision to politicians in the hope that most of them are.
    In various economists' circles, people are openly discussing a re-run of the referendum as they believe that the first decision was made under ignorance. While elegant as a socio-economic theory, it would of course be impossible for any politician to advocate a second referendum citing the word "ignorance" at all, anywhere, at any time.
    Part of me would like to see a second referendum, purely to see what arguments are made by the Remain side in their attempts to convert those who voted Leave last time around.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,206

    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
    Christ, why you have this fixation with something that happened nearly 15 years ago and is ancient history to almost everyone? You mention it at least once a day
    As it was pivotal to the Leave win
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,206
    edited September 2018

    Since when did the EU become a state? Its like the people on Facebook demanding the restoration of the Palestinian state - what state? Latest one was the "shocking confession" by ex Israeli PM Golda Meir that she "had a Palestinian Passport". Yeah. Mandate Palestine. Again, not a state.

    The EU now attends the G7 and G20 and has its own currency and parliament and Head of State and will soon have its own army
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,504

    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    The last tweet in the header is interesting. Concern about Brexit is lowest in the Remain voting London and Scotland (NI not shown) and highest in the SE and SW, amongst older people, but mostly in the AB groups. It remains a Tory internal scrap, with just 52% of Labour voters mentioning it.

    Tories own Brexit. It will be their dead albatross hanging around their neck, like a giant chunky Theresa May necklace.

    53% of C2s concerned about Brexit, 52% of Labour voters ie over half too and Brexit the main issue with immigration third.

    Yet again you completely to fail to grasp anything about the reason more people voted for Brexit than for anything in post-war British history, particularly over sovereignty concerns but also over immigration and if anyone owns the latter it is Blair for his failure to impose transition controls on free movement from the new accession countries in 2004
    It’s sobering to think that back in 1975 the Tory Party was heavily pro-EEC (I know, I know) and had the support of it’s Press. In particular the Mail said, on the day we joined that ' ‘for ten years we have campaigned for this day. We have not wavered in our conviction that Britain’s best and brightest future is in Europe’

    And now look at the state we are in!
    the state we are currently in is called the European Union

    we never got asked if we wanted to join it
    We consistently voted for politicians and parties which said they did. We can’t have referendums every two minutes; we’re too large a nation to be governed a ‘town meeting’ process.

    At least at the moment, that is. Communication technology may one day advance far enough for nations to be able to operate on such a basis, although that will require some means of educating people so that demagoguery doesn’t rule
    you are advocating approving mission creep. There comes a point when you have to consult the electorate especially when the politicians and the voters have drifted so far apart,

    as I have said before if we had had a vote at either Maastricht or Lisbon it would have carried, but we didnt. And as the poll above shows the public increasingly are losing trust in thosze leading them.
    I’m not advocating approving mission creep. I’m a believer in evolution, especially as currently understood.
    Hover, Mr B, I agree with your second paragraph, and when one looks at the calibre of many leading politicians, such as Corbyn and Johnson,one cannot blame the public for losing trust!
  • "In various economists' circles, people are openly discussing a re-run of the referendum as they believe that the first decision wasmade under ignorance. While elegant as a socio-economic theory, it would of course be impossible for any politician to advocate a second referendum citing the word "ignorance" at all, anywhere, at any time"

    Indeed, Mr Topping, though most of them, including the charlatans on the Leave side know this to be the case. It is what snake-oil salesmen have always known; don't tell your best customers they are gullible twats
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992
    edited September 2018
    HYUFD said:

    Since when did the EU become a state? Its like the people on Facebook demanding the restoration of the Palestinian state - what state? Latest one was the "shocking confession" by ex Israeli PM Golda Meir that she "had a Palestinian Passport". Yeah. Mandate Palestine. Again, not a state.

    The EU now attends the G7 and G20 and has its own currency and parliament and Head of State and will soon have its own army
    AFAICR Mortimer attended the last Test Match but I didn't see him opening the bowling. Plus the EU has a currency that sovereign states could and did choose not to join; and I don't see an EU army any more than we have a NATO army.

    Other than that, spot on.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,631
    agingjb said:

    Talk of riots should concentrate minds on just who they want as Prime Minister to wield the powers of the Civil Contingencies Act.

    I’d happily vote for any politician who promises to repeal that draconian and un-British piece of Blairite folly.
  • Mr Sandpit, you ask a good question about what arguments could be used at a future referendum, and it is a tricky one to answer. The problem with referenda is that they are immensely volatile, which is why I don't think we will see another for 20 years on pretty much anything. A binary choice, such as was given in the last one was a dangerous strategy by Cameron who was arrogant about his ability to carry the day. Like unnecessary early general elections they are probably now unfashionable.

    If there were to be another there would be huge argument over whether it should be binary or perhaps offering Remain, EEA, WTO, and should it be transferable vote or simple majority. WHat should the question be to ensure unbiased outcomes?

    You can see how you can manipulate the "will-o-the-people" argument to get closest to the result you want. Plus if you argue that the last one was democracy in action, why is it not democratic to ask again, and if so at what juncture and how regularly?
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 13,677
    TOPPING said:



    AFAICR Mortimer attended the last Test Match but I didn't see him opening the bowling. Plus the EU has a currency that sovereign states could and did choose not to join; and I don't see an EU army any more than we have a NATO army.

    Other than that, spot on.

    If and when the EU does have armed forces the UK would not be able to resist the opportunity to participate from outside the EU because it would be a treasured opportunity to cut defence spending. Under the guise of capability sharing with coalition partners obviously...
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    Time for Labour to defuse the anti-Semitism row.

    https://twitter.com/stephenpollard/status/1037240146922545153

    Oh.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Foxy said:

    Two more interesting surveys/reports:

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/05/thinktank-calls-for-major-overhaul-of-britains-economy

    https://news.sky.com/story/sky-data-poll-public-ready-for-change-as-uk-economy-is-unfair-and-not-working-11490328

    ‪With the Tory and Labour leaderships knee-deep in nostalgia, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, all the forward-kooking, interesting ideas are coming from the centre-left. ‬

    Yes, really quite interesting findings. GDP growth figures do raise the question "Whose Growth?"

    Any Brexit that fails to address that fundamental feeling of being left behind is not going to be popular.
    Brexit won’t address that

    But it gives our politicians the power to

    And is the ability to sack them if they don’t
  • I awake (a little late this morning), to find Jezza has doubled-down:

    https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1037241350394183680
  • RogerRoger Posts: 19,914
    edited September 2018

    Sandpit said:

    Scott_P said:
    So Labour spent the whole day yesterday leading the news with their antisemitism enquiry, and after an hours-long meeting of their NEC they still couldn’t agree to simply use the standard definition without caveat, thus pleasing no-one and keeping the story running for longer. Did I get that right?
    Well, until the newly-formed NEC in October decides to overturn September's meeting, yes.
    The problem Labour has to attend to is where does this anti-Semitism spring from. Most believe it is related to Palestine. I think this is just an excuse. My belief is that it was encapsulated in that racist poster that Corbyn failed to condemn.

    The root cause of Hard Left anti-Semitism is based on the same paranoid prejudice of the Far Right - a belief that the capitalist system is a system designed for the benefit of the Jews - the Jewish Conspiracy. That is the real reason Corbyn and his allies hate Jews. Their support of Palestine is simply an effect, not the cause. He is simply a left wing racist, and he and his fellow travellers and supporters should be called out as such.
    It's probably more simple than that. He sees the Jews as disproportionately wealthy and he sees the Palestinians as being downtrodden by an imperialist power. An irresistable emnity for anyone on hard left. Though the first of these is a stereotype too far I don't see anything wrong with believing whatever he wants about Israel. No other country is out of bounds nor should they be.
  • Plus if you argue that the last one was democracy in action, why is it not democratic to ask again, and if so at what juncture and how regularly?

    It is. And if a party wins a general election with a referendum on re-joining in their manifesto, fair enough.
  • Lord Dubbs attempted on Newsnight to say the NEC decision should be the closing of matters and Labour should move on.

    I wonder how he feel this morning.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    edited September 2018
    https://twitter.com/quatremer/status/1037253547400880128

    "c'est trop tard, ce qui est dit est dit"
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,158
    edited September 2018
    Scott_P said:
    The man has clearly gone stark raving bonkers. He literally can't do a single interview without slipping in to Hitler, Hitler, Hitler....He really does need help.
  • TOPPING said:

    HYUFD said:

    Since when did the EU become a state? Its like the people on Facebook demanding the restoration of the Palestinian state - what state? Latest one was the "shocking confession" by ex Israeli PM Golda Meir that she "had a Palestinian Passport". Yeah. Mandate Palestine. Again, not a state.

    The EU now attends the G7 and G20 and has its own currency and parliament and Head of State and will soon have its own army
    AFAICR Mortimer attended the last Test Match but I didn't see him opening the bowling. Plus the EU has a currency that sovereign states could and did choose not to join; and I don't see an EU army any more than we have a NATO army.

    Other than that, spot on.
    What I don't understand from the "its all about sovereignty" extremists is why they are not concerned about the massive great f****ing airbase near me called "RAF" Lakenheath. If ever there were a surrender of our sovereignty this is it in extremis. Perhaps they are in favour of kicking out the yanks and pulling out of NATO and the jurisdiction of the UN? If so, please explain yourselves
  • StereotomyStereotomy Posts: 4,092

    Mr. rkrkrk, 'get Tories rather irate'.

    Nice way to dismiss the notion it's legitimate to be pissed off at the contemptible idea of taxing savings that were scraped together.

    Still, you've found a way to make the already terrible savings rate even worse. Well done.

    The site's at its best when things are at least objective, if not light-hearted. You may well have some response or other trying to justify mindless socialist greed (the tax take is what counts, not hammering individuals, motivated by greed or virtue signalling), but I won't be here to reply, so don't think any lack of response is due to personal dislike or lack of an argument.

    Presumably any such wealth tax would be orific progressive. What makes you think you'd meet the minimum threshold?
  • Scott_P said:
    The man has clearly gone stark raving bonkers. He literally can't do a single interview without slipping in to Hitler, Hitler, Hitler....He really does need help.
    I suppose there's no way Milne can stop him, but he could have kept Shami off the radio.

    "No shadow minister is available for interview this morning, sorry, bye."
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,158
    edited September 2018
  • Mr Sandpit, you ask a good question about what arguments could be used at a future referendum, and it is a tricky one to answer. The problem with referenda is that they are immensely volatile, which is why I don't think we will see another for 20 years on pretty much anything. A binary choice, such as was given in the last one was a dangerous strategy by Cameron who was arrogant about his ability to carry the day. Like unnecessary early general elections they are probably now unfashionable.

    If there were to be another there would be huge argument over whether it should be binary or perhaps offering Remain, EEA, WTO, and should it be transferable vote or simple majority. WHat should the question be to ensure unbiased outcomes?

    You can see how you can manipulate the "will-o-the-people" argument to get closest to the result you want. Plus if you argue that the last one was democracy in action, why is it not democratic to ask again, and if so at what juncture and how regularly?

    The peoples vote is a good a demonstration of how distrust in politicians is so common.

    It is not a peoples vote, it is a second referendum and lets call it what it is.

    Having said that I would not be averse to a second referendum though I am less certain not only of the questions but whether it would resolve anything. Indeed I have no idea how I would vote
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,504

    Plus if you argue that the last one was democracy in action, why is it not democratic to ask again, and if so at what juncture and how regularly?

    It is. And if a party wins a general election with a referendum on re-joining in their manifesto, fair enough.
    How about a party winning an election with re-joining but without a referendum? I can foresee circumstances in which that might happen.
  • Plus if you argue that the last one was democracy in action, why is it not democratic to ask again, and if so at what juncture and how regularly?

    It is. And if a party wins a general election with a referendum on re-joining in their manifesto, fair enough.
    You are comfortable with this argument because it suits your own new found bias because you think it isn't going to happen under our system of FPTP with either main party. You can pretend this is democratic if you want, but it won't wash with people who think a little more deeply about it
This discussion has been closed.