I remember a friend of mine in about 1995 effing and blinding that she would have to work an extra two months when the proposal to equalise the women's pension age was introduced.
Ditto.
Its quite a difference to the resigned acceptance from the young every time their pension age is pushed back.
I think in general people celebrate the fact the life expectancy has increased by 10% in two generations and accept that there is a price to be paid.
Work an extra 3 years so you can then enjoy an extra 3 years unable to wipe your own arse. Wonderful.
You'd rather those wiping their arse pay the price instead?
No, I'm saying that increased life expectancy isn't necessarily a good thing if the quality of life in those extra years is abysmal.
Look at the conversation on here this morning, if PB Tories are representative of Tories in general they really don't like Swinson. I reckon those who are going to defect to the Lib Dems already have and are therefore priced on.
I'm not sure Pbers are a good guide to wider opinion, ever. We are all very interested and many of us are actiuvely involved. It's a shock when any of us actually change our preferences.
Most people aren't like that at all. There is a category of floating voter which is really not going to decide till polling day - people who don't like Johnson or Corbyn or Swinson especially, are reluctant to give any of them a thumping vote of confidence, and will have a think on Dec 12 about whether and how to vote.
Yes, and it is important to increase the profile of supporting characters. Layla and Ed Davey are good for the LDs, and Tim Farron appeals too. Ditto for Labour, with McDonnell, Long Bailey, Rayner and Gardiner. Of course pushing the local candidate counts too.
One way of countering the poor polling of the leaders is making clear that it is a strong team, with differing voices and appeal. It is difficult for the Tories as most of their supporting characters are widely loathed, such as Gove, Raab and Patel.
I chatted to a bunch of liberal friends recently, all of whom plan to vote lib dem/anti Tory. Was very surprised to hear how much they disliked Swinson, but when pressed they couldn't identify why. Wasn't stopping them voting lib dem though.
This is not a comment about your friends, or a blanket allegation against people who dislike Jo Swinson, but I do sense, no I more than sense I know, that there is a gender factor in play here. If one looks at some of the words used to describe her, "shrill", "girl guide", "mumsnet" etc, one can see this clearly. Indeed it is closer to a fact than merely my opinion. For example, it cannot be rebutted by individuals who dislike Swinson saying that for them it has nothing to do with her being female. Nor by comments along the lines of "just because she's a woman, it doesn't mean that criticizing her is sexist." The first of those could be true or false but is not helpful since self-reported misogyny is close to zero. And the second is just obviously true but is not relevant.
What do I think of Jo Swinson? I suppose I should disclose this for the sake of completeness and transparency.
Not keen.
Yes, I couldn't help but wonder if it was a gender thing also (the friends were a mixed group of men and women). I suspect also that JS will improve in interviews/media appearances with practice and will get to be more liked.
There's not much to dislike, is there? I mean, School Ma'am, Girl Guide, Shrill etc aren't exactly poisonous.
Compare with for example with: Liar, Misogynist, Charlatan etc.....
Or, Anti-Semitic Trot.
Not quite in the same league, is she? And there's actually a bit more substance in the labels commonly attached to the Leaders of our two Great Parties.
Tories are Liverpool. Labour are Tottenham Hotspur
As long as we can defend our own shores. We should not be fighting wars abroad.
There might be benefits to at least appearing to have the potential to take action if we wanted though.
Frankly with the Tories also splurging the cash I'm surprised that the military would not get a significant boost, and whatever the top brass want they'll face direction to boost numbers.
Isn't it like the US Congress supposedly approving massive tank building programmes despite the army saying they don't need more tanks? In that example because it makes jobs.
I do not think the EU, Greenland,
Your point doesn't seem to relate to mine at all. It wouldn't be about being the policeman of the world, but whether we could, in fact, do anything proactive at all, just in case. That's not a foolproof argument of course, but how much of an armed forced we do need even for the sake of home defence only is a bit of a tricky question.
What I was alluding to is that we have little to fear from our neighbours so there seems little need for a bigger army. The airforce and navy can at least justify their existence in terms of a UK only role.
Idle armie are never advisable to have sitting around. Sometimes their Generals get ideas and fix on internal enemies....
I don't think that true. Our Navy is now centred around 1 or 2 carriers, with a few escorts and submarines. Carriers are useless for home defence, as planes are better based on land for that. Carriers are only needed for expeditionary warfare, such as we have been involved with in the Middle East.
Absolute rubbish.
When the 2004 Tsunami occurred the US sent the USS Abraham Lincoln to station it offshore Banda Aceh. It had a ready made hospital, large numbers of helicopters, provided a mobile air traffic control base and coordination centre for the combined relief effort and was able to produce fresh water and act as a hub for resupplying the people onshore. It also provided the support base for the National Oceanographic team monitoring for further earthquakes.
Aircraft carriers are as useful in peacetime as they are in war.
Look at the conversation on here this morning, if PB Tories are representative of Tories in general they really don't like Swinson. I reckon those who are going to defect to the Lib Dems already have and are therefore priced on.
I'm not sure Pbers are a good guide to wider opinion, ever. We are all very interested and many of us are actiuvely involved. It's a shock when any of us actually change our preferences.
Most people aren't like that at all. There is a category of floating voter which is really not going to decide till polling day - people who don't like Johnson or Corbyn or Swinson especially, are reluctant to give any of them a thumping vote of confidence, and will have a think on Dec 12 about whether and how to vote.
I am not rubbing shoulders with political geeks, but I cannot find ANYBODY who likes Johnson. Everyone thinks he is a complete a*se (except for one friend who is a card-carrying Conservative)
Oddly enough I am in a strong working class solid labour constituency and I can’t find anybody who can stand Corbyn. Plenty of them will still vote for him though.
"Mr Dogus's conduct has been questioned on several occasions in recent years.
He was accused of paying staff at his restaurants "poverty wages" of less than £4 an hour, and faced criticism from Labour activists after he donated £1,250 to the Conservative Party in 2013."
Comments
https://twitter.com/kevverage/status/1198603683434549249?s=20
Edit: turns out we're oven-ready for a new thread.
NEW THREAD
One way of countering the poor polling of the leaders is making clear that it is a strong team, with differing voices and appeal. It is difficult for the Tories as most of their supporting characters are widely loathed, such as Gove, Raab and Patel.
When the 2004 Tsunami occurred the US sent the USS Abraham Lincoln to station it offshore Banda Aceh. It had a ready made hospital, large numbers of helicopters, provided a mobile air traffic control base and coordination centre for the combined relief effort and was able to produce fresh water and act as a hub for resupplying the people onshore. It also provided the support base for the National Oceanographic team monitoring for further earthquakes.
Aircraft carriers are as useful in peacetime as they are in war.
He was accused of paying staff at his restaurants "poverty wages" of less than £4 an hour, and faced criticism from Labour activists after he donated £1,250 to the Conservative Party in 2013."
Some close friend of Corbyn that......