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  • Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905
    Pagan2 said:

    By which you mean wouldn't pay it

    So thats probably all the adults in the 15.6 million odd households that recieve some sort of benefits out, pensioners out , adults under 40 out so how many are paying this again
    Back of a fag packet calculation: the number of people between 40 and retirement age is around 25 million, and if you're going to let all the ones who cost more in benefits then they pay in tax off the hook then that's maybe half of those not being burdened with the extra tax. Thus, to fund a shortfall of £1bn, each of the remaining unexcluded taxpayers would need to pay an extra £80 per year. It is then merely a matter of how many multiples of that billion pounds we actually need to cover the ever-increasing future costs of b̶r̶i̶b̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶d̶a̶y̶'̶s̶ ̶e̶l̶d̶e̶r̶l̶y̶ ̶v̶o̶t̶e̶r̶s̶ funding future care costs.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    HYUFD said:

    Wait and see if the lockdown and and then extended quarantine for most tourists impacts on the New Zealand economy by the autumn
    Polling Day is September 19. PM Jacinda Arden will be re-elected, all right - only question is, by how much?

    Specifically, will Labour win a majority? Methinks yes.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,087

    RE NZ 2020, the current PM & her government have perhaps the best record of any national regime for dealing with Covid. Plus opposition National Party dumped it's leader a few months ago, for a guy who made more gaffes than Joe Biden, then up and quit weeks before the general election.

    IF there was FPTP, Nats might end up similar to the Progressive Conservatives of Canada in 1993 when voters punished party for sins of former PM Brian Mulroney by reducing the governing majority party to a pathetic rump of TWO seats.

    Unlikely they would go as far down as the PCs as the main party to their right, New Zealand First, are polling just 2% whereas the populist right Reform Party got 18% in Canada in 1993
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,557

    Polling Day is September 19. PM Jacinda Arden will be re-elected, all right - only question is, by how much?

    Specifically, will Labour win a majority? Methinks yes.
    That would be a first in the post FPTP age, wouldn’t it?
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    ydoethur said:

    That would be a first in the post FPTP age, wouldn’t it?
    Not sure, but think you may be correct.
  • CatManCatMan Posts: 3,223
    OllyT said:


    It only started in 2000 and it was then not held from 2001 to 2004 due largely to the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner which gives a pretty good indication of what it's all about. It's a promotional but of fluff to line FIFAs coffers. It's about on a par with the pre-season club tournaments.

    According to Wikipedia "it struggles to attract interest in most of Europe".
    It's taken very seriously in South America though
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,692

    Are you a big fan of Yanis Varoufakis?
    Indeed I am.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,087
    edited July 2020
    MaxPB said:

    They should definitely make it 50 or 55. Our generation seems to have become the most put upon, unable to buy property because our parents' generation pulled the ladder up behind them, huge childcare costs and longer living parents resulting in huge care costs.

    We definitely have become the very definition of the "squeezed middle" politicians love talking about. I'm lucky to have a career that has affordede a fairly comfortable life and the chance to own my own home but loads of my friends are t so fortunate.
    Our generation also inherits far more on average than any previous generation did and also far more of use went to university than any previous generation did. Far more women also have professional careers too whereas previous generations were more likely to be housewives, hence higher childcare costs.

    Paying more in national insurance as you get closer to retirement to fund social care is inevitable
  • Indeed I am.
    Me too! :)
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 11,482
    ydoethur said:

    You can’t make meaningful comparisons before 1867 - arguably, 1885 - because so many seats were uncontested. Over half in 1832, for example. That skews the vote to a very great extent.

    You also can’t make meaningful comparisons because ‘parties’ as we understand them didn’t exist until 1846. However, the internet doesn’t understand that. For example, Wikipedia will earnestly assure you that in the election of April 1859 the Liberals won 65% of the vote, but the Liberals didn’t actually exist until June 1859.

    So I am quite content with my comment. Majority votes are very rare in our system, and votes of over 60% for one party are unheard of.
    If you're going to mess about with the facts then anything could be said. You're slightly wrong in the facts, it changes nothing about what you've said. and you should just correct it. I think it actually improves your argument that even in the 1800s it was generally the case too.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,557
    edited July 2020
    HYUFD said:

    Our generation also inherits far more on average than any previous generation did and also far more of use went to university
    It remains disputed how much ‘of use’ we are...
  • On this 40+ care home policy, what are the views of people turning 40? If you're much older you won't feel the full (or much) the full brunt of this. I wonder how you feel if you're just turning 40 and about to be (possibly) hit with a larger tax.

    In general I support the policy, just wondering how those around that age feel. What's the proportion of them voting Tory?
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 53,681
    HYUFD said:

    Yes, the Whigs got 67% in 1832 and the Tories 29% in the worst Tory result in British history in terms of the national popular vote

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1832_United_Kingdom_general_election
    Less than 900,000 people voted in that election...
  • ydoethur said:

    It remains disputed how much ‘of use’ we are...
    I'm of the view that the 50% uni target was a big mistake and far less of our lot should be going to university.

    I agree with @MaxPB's sentiment though, our lot are getting screwed. We don't vote Tory, they offer us nothing.
  • ydoethur said:

    That would be a first in the post FPTP age, wouldn’t it?
    Didn't the SNP win a majority with PR
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,942
    ydoethur said:

    That would be a first in the post FPTP age, wouldn’t it?
    In NZ yes. 2014 National were one seat short.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,295

    On this 40+ care home policy, what are the views of people turning 40? If you're much older you won't feel the full (or much) the full brunt of this. I wonder how you feel if you're just turning 40 and about to be (possibly) hit with a larger tax.

    In general I support the policy, just wondering how those around that age feel. What's the proportion of them voting Tory?

    IIRC the age at which more people voted Tory than Labour declined from 40 to 39 at the last election compared to 2017.
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,255
    tlg86 said:

    I guess that could apply to early Xs:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X

    Though I think it hurt late boomers more.

    The people who I think have had it best (so far!) are those who were coming of age during the 1990s.
    The point being that thee labels are pretty much meaningless. All 'generations' have had rough and smooth. Many Boomers bore the brunt of the mass unemployment and changes in working practices of the 1980s and wouldn't thank you for saying they 'had it easy'. Same goes for the early Gen-Xrs as you say.

    In every generation there are those who sit around and moan about how hard it is and those who do something about it. I have just turned 55 and have never been out of work in my life. Now some of that is luck but most of it is because I have had to do a whole load of really shit jobs to achieve that record. And to actually get ahead I have had to make sure I always pick the jobs and the locations others don't want to do - the ones that pay the extra danger money or the higher day rates because no one else is stupid enough to do them.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559

    Less than 900,000 people voted in that election...
    All indications (historically speaking) are that large majority of non-voters were also pro-Whig in 1832.

    Worst US major-party popular vote share in US was 1924 when Democrats under nominee John W. Davis (only nominee ever from West Virginia) garnered just 28.8%.

    Which btw was worse even that Stephen Douglas as "regular" Democrat in 1860 with 29.5%; note that Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge got 18.1% of pop vote that fateful election year.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    ydoethur said:

    I am sure you and many others will be devastated at the thought of London landlords being poor.
    The real victims are Edinburgh Airbnb landlords.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,692

    Less than 900,000 people voted in that election...
    FEWER than
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,557
    Omnium said:

    If you're going to mess about with the facts then anything could be said. You're slightly wrong in the facts, it changes nothing about what you've said. and you should just correct it. I think it actually improves your argument that even in the 1800s it was generally the case too.
    No, Wikipedia has not stated the facts correctly. Elections until secret balloting came in, for example, could be contested initially before a struggling candidate withdrew. At that point,the seat was uncontested. Immediately the withdrawn candidates’ (plural, because most seats were two member) votes were disallowed.

    So the votes for the winning candidate are counted in the statistical returns Wikipedia are using, but not the ones for candidates who would have been included otherwise. That makes them effectively worthless for the purpose you are using them for.

    But even that wasn’t true, to talk glibly of the ‘Whigs’ as a political part is anachronistic. Whigs served in the government of Lord Liverpool, and of Canning (Palmerston springs to mind). Heck, William Pitt the Younger was a Whig and he led a government now described as Tory for 19 years. So again, by saying ‘the Whigs got X percentage of the vote’ you are making a claim about them that doesn’t match the facts on the ground. They were not a party as you would understand it. They had no money, no organised system of candidate selection - they didn’t even have whips, an innovation of Peel in 1835. They were not a party, they were a loose group. The equivalent of the English, Welsh, Scottish Greens, not Labour.

    It wasn’t until 1834 and the Tamworth Manifesto that recognisable parties emerged, and the then ‘Conservative Party’ has only limited continuity with the current one, which really owes its ancestry to the Protectionist party of 1846.

    So again, I am comfortable with my statement. If you don’t like it, please remember the famous dictum of a scientist - ‘in every scenario there is a statement that is simple, easily understood and wrong.’
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,087

    On this 40+ care home policy, what are the views of people turning 40? If you're much older you won't feel the full (or much) the full brunt of this. I wonder how you feel if you're just turning 40 and about to be (possibly) hit with a larger tax.

    In general I support the policy, just wondering how those around that age feel. What's the proportion of them voting Tory?

    It sounds like they are planning to increase national insurance to pay for social care rather than increasing income tax or inheritance tax or introducing a wealth tax
  • Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905

    On this 40+ care home policy, what are the views of people turning 40? If you're much older you won't feel the full (or much) the full brunt of this. I wonder how you feel if you're just turning 40 and about to be (possibly) hit with a larger tax.

    In general I support the policy, just wondering how those around that age feel. What's the proportion of them voting Tory?

    I am a little bit north of 40 and would feel a lot more reassured if it became clear, through primary legislation, that this was actually an hypothecated insurance scheme to cover future care costs and not an exercise in fleecing us out of a load of cash with which to bribe today's pensioners.

    I honestly can't remember if I even bothered to vote in 2019. The local Conservative MP has been in office continuously since 1992 and currently has a majority of over 18,000, so either endorsing or rejecting him is a complete waste of time and energy. However, if this had been a Con-Lab marginal I would've made sure I turned out to back the Tory last time, because Corbyn.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,692

    I'm of the view that the 50% uni target was a big mistake and far less of our lot should be going to university.

    I agree with @MaxPB's sentiment though, our lot are getting screwed. We don't vote Tory, they offer us nothing.
    Far FEWER
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,538
    edited July 2020

    The point being that thee labels are pretty much meaningless. All 'generations' have had rough and smooth. Many Boomers bore the brunt of the mass unemployment and changes in working practices of the 1980s and wouldn't thank you for saying they 'had it easy'. Same goes for the early Gen-Xrs as you say.

    In every generation there are those who sit around and moan about how hard it is and those who do something about it. I have just turned 55 and have never been out of work in my life. Now some of that is luck but most of it is because I have had to do a whole load of really shit jobs to achieve that record. And to actually get ahead I have had to make sure I always pick the jobs and the locations others don't want to do - the ones that pay the extra danger money or the higher day rates because no one else is stupid enough to do them.
    Yep, my early Boomer parents had rationing as children. All I was saying was that the sweet spot seemed to be in Gen X. Thinking about what could go wrong for them I would suggest a mass collapse in private pension schemes. I'm working to the assumption that pensions Armageddon (including the public sector) will have happened long before I get close to retirement age, but it might happen at just the wrong moment for Gen X.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,557

    Didn't the SNP win a majority with PR
    I’m 99% sure the SNP don’t contest seats in New Zealand.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,557

    All indications (historically speaking) are that large majority of non-voters were also pro-Whig in 1832.

    Worst US major-party popular vote share in US was 1924 when Democrats under nominee John W. Davis (only nominee ever from West Virginia) garnered just 28.8%.

    Which btw was worse even that Stephen Douglas as "regular" Democrat in 1860 with 29.5%; note that Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge got 18.1% of pop vote that fateful election year.
    Although Douglas still came fourth in the electoral college, behind Lincoln, Breckinridge and Bell.
  • Andy_JS said:

    IIRC the age at which more people voted Tory than Labour declined from 40 to 39 at the last election compared to 2017.
    So depending on whether this is popular or not with that lot, it's either a big vote winner or a vote loser
  • Far FEWER
    Funny you should mention this, I was watching a video on speech today and saying far less is perfectly correct.
  • ydoethur said:

    I’m 99% sure the SNP don’t contest seats in New Zealand.
    Haha - well I just meant in general with PR systems.
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,255

    I'm of the view that the 50% uni target was a big mistake and far less of our lot should be going to university.

    I agree with @MaxPB's sentiment though, our lot are getting screwed. We don't vote Tory, they offer us nothing.
    Agree 100%. It has had a double negative impact of both providing many students with useless degrees instead of practical training or apprenticeships whilst at the same time devaluing those degrees and courses which would otherwise be considered of value.

    I think the Australian plans to overhaul university funding look to be exactly the thing we should be doing here.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823
    Alistair said:

    The real victims are Edinburgh Airbnb landlords.
    London ones too, Alistair. It's all so sad isn't it...
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    ydoethur said:

    No, Wikipedia has not stated the facts correctly. Elections until secret balloting came in, for example, could be contested initially before a struggling candidate withdrew. At that point,the seat was uncontested. Immediately the withdrawn candidates’ (plural, because most seats were two member) votes were disallowed.

    So the votes for the winning candidate are counted in the statistical returns Wikipedia are using, but not the ones for candidates who would have been included otherwise. That makes them effectively worthless for the purpose you are using them for.

    But even that wasn’t true, to talk glibly of the ‘Whigs’ as a political part is anachronistic. Whigs served in the government of Lord Liverpool, and of Canning (Palmerston springs to mind). Heck, William Pitt the Younger was a Whig and he led a government now described as Tory for 19 years. So again, by saying ‘the Whigs got X percentage of the vote’ you are making a claim about them that doesn’t match the facts on the ground. They were not a party as you would understand it. They had no money, no organised system of candidate selection - they didn’t even have whips, an innovation of Peel in 1835. They were not a party, they were a loose group. The equivalent of the English, Welsh, Scottish Greens, not Labour.

    It wasn’t until 1834 and the Tamworth Manifesto that recognisable parties emerged, and the then ‘Conservative Party’ has only limited continuity with the current one, which really owes its ancestry to the Protectionist party of 1846.

    So again, I am comfortable with my statement. If you don’t like it, please remember the famous dictum of a scientist - ‘in every scenario there is a statement that is simple, easily understood and wrong.’
    Believe what you say is correct with respect to the details of voting & partisanship.

    However, also think it right to say that in 1832 bulk of Whigs in & out of Parliament, voters & disfranchised, supported the pro-reform side in that year's GE. And same for the country as a whole, that year.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    MaxPB said:

    London ones too, Alistair. It's all so sad isn't it...
    London Airbnbers have it easy street compared to Edinburgh. No Fringe Festival this year to pay for a years mortgage in 3 weeks.

    Real tears pouring down my face.
  • Agree 100%. It has had a double negative impact of both providing many students with useless degrees instead of practical training or apprenticeships whilst at the same time devaluing those degrees and courses which would otherwise be considered of value.

    I think the Australian plans to overhaul university funding look to be exactly the thing we should be doing here.
    I would halve the number of people going to university, cut the number of degrees, cut the costs of the remainder of degrees and increase apprenticeships.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    ydoethur said:

    I’m 99% sure the SNP don’t contest seats in New Zealand.
    Might do pretty good down in Invercargill IF they did.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823

    I am a little bit north of 40 and would feel a lot more reassured if it became clear, through primary legislation, that this was actually an hypothecated insurance scheme to cover future care costs and not an exercise in fleecing us out of a load of cash with which to bribe today's pensioners.

    I honestly can't remember if I even bothered to vote in 2019. The local Conservative MP has been in office continuously since 1992 and currently has a majority of over 18,000, so either endorsing or rejecting him is a complete waste of time and energy. However, if this had been a Con-Lab marginal I would've made sure I turned out to back the Tory last time, because Corbyn.
    And then a future government will see how much the fund is worth and turn it into a general tax like Labour did with NI.
  • Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905
    And yet at the rate things are going his legal fighting fund may soon have more cash in it than the Labour Party's bank account.
  • I am a little bit north of 40 and would feel a lot more reassured if it became clear, through primary legislation, that this was actually an hypothecated insurance scheme to cover future care costs and not an exercise in fleecing us out of a load of cash with which to bribe today's pensioners.

    I honestly can't remember if I even bothered to vote in 2019. The local Conservative MP has been in office continuously since 1992 and currently has a majority of over 18,000, so either endorsing or rejecting him is a complete waste of time and energy. However, if this had been a Con-Lab marginal I would've made sure I turned out to back the Tory last time, because Corbyn.
    What do you think of Starmer? Has he won your vote back?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,557

    Believe what you say is correct with respect to the details of voting & partisanship.

    However, also think it right to say that in 1832 bulk of Whigs in & out of Parliament, voters & disfranchised, supported the pro-reform side in that year's GE. And same for the country as a whole, that year.
    Oh, I’m in no doubt the supporters of reform had a comfortable lead. If it had been a vote on universal suffrage, it might have been an even bigger one, until people realised just how limited the reforms were.

    That just can’t be said to be ‘67%’ as though it was a modern return from the ONS, nor can they be called a ‘party.’
  • alex_alex_ Posts: 7,518

    On this 40+ care home policy, what are the views of people turning 40? If you're much older you won't feel the full (or much) the full brunt of this. I wonder how you feel if you're just turning 40 and about to be (possibly) hit with a larger tax.

    In general I support the policy, just wondering how those around that age feel. What's the proportion of them voting Tory?

    Regardless of the merits or not, the main problems, as with any other "solutions" implemented to long term financial problems is that they need clear cross party support. It's absolutely no good introducing long term reforms if the opposition or a future government is not likely to stick to the policy if they see political capital to be made from not doing so.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823

    Agree 100%. It has had a double negative impact of both providing many students with useless degrees instead of practical training or apprenticeships whilst at the same time devaluing those degrees and courses which would otherwise be considered of value.

    I think the Australian plans to overhaul university funding look to be exactly the thing we should be doing here.
    Australia will need to handle the same drop on Chinese students we will have so a good idea, Richard.
  • alex_ said:

    Regardless of the merits or not, the main problems, as with any other "solutions" implemented to long term financial problems is that they need clear cross party support. It's absolutely no good introducing long term reforms if the opposition or a future government is not likely to stick to the policy if they see political capital to be made from not doing so.
    My view is Labour should support this but I think it should be a fund as opposed to a straight tax.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 53,681

    FEWER than
    "Less than" is perfectly acceptabubble :)
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,557
    I think if Andrew Adonis had gone into local government administration and worked as clerk to Brocton Parish Council, the gain to national life, particularly in education, would have been incalculable.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,692

    Funny you should mention this, I was watching a video on speech today and saying far less is perfectly correct.
    Far less of an amount, far fewer of a number.

    I drink far less beer.

    I drink far fewer bottles of beer.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 53,681

    Didn't the SNP win a majority with PR
    I'm pretty certain the SNP don't stand for elections in Puerto Rico :)
  • Far less of an amount, far fewer of a number.

    I drink far less beer.

    I drink far fewer bottles of beer.
    It's correct to say far less in every context, it is not incorrect. That was the main point the video was making.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,557
    edited July 2020

    Far less of an amount, far fewer of a number.

    I drink far less beer.

    I drink far fewer bottles of beer.
    That’s an outrageous statement.

    Drinking beer from bottles? I ask you...
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,255

    I would halve the number of people going to university, cut the number of degrees, cut the costs of the remainder of degrees and increase apprenticeships.
    I would vote for you.

    One of the great shames of the 50% idea from Major was that it removed the incentive for Government to fund those students doing courses that benefit our country - or at least gave them a perfect excuse to stop the funding.

    This was very short sighted and damaging for the country.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823

    My view is Labour should support this but I think it should be a fund as opposed to a straight tax.
    If Labour did that and required a 2/3rds majority to overturn that and pushed the age up to above 50 I'd actually be interested in voting for them. Sadly I don't believe Starmer has the balls to hit the pensioners and will pander to try and win their votes.
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 27,529
    On the issue of handouts to oldies can anyone explain why oldies still get reduced entry cost to many sporting events, museums etc ?

    I could understand it a generation or two back when there were fewer oldies and they generally had less money but why now ?

    Why should a 25 year old have to pay more than a 65 year old to watch the same game when its the 65 year old who has all the wealth, no debts and has the higher income ?
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    ydoethur said:

    Although Douglas still came fourth in the electoral college, behind Lincoln, Breckinridge and Bell.
    Yes, because Douglas won a lot of votes in states he ended up losing. For example, he garnered 312k in NY, 187k in Ohio, 160k in IL, 116k in IN and lost all four.

    Incidentally, in their home state, Honest Abe only carried IL against the Little Giant by +12k votes out of 340k total cast.
  • MaxPB said:

    If Labour did that and required a 2/3rds majority to overturn that and pushed the age up to above 50 I'd actually be interested in voting for them. Sadly I don't believe Starmer has the balls to hit the pensioners and will pander to try and win their votes.
    Isn't a 2/3rds majority irrelevant as the last election proved? A simple bill can bypass any majority that is required.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,557

    On the issue of handouts to oldies can anyone explain why oldies still get reduced entry cost to many sporting events, museums etc ?

    I could understand it a generation or two back when there were fewer oldies and they generally had less money but why now ?

    Why should a 25 year old have to pay more than a 65 year old to watch the same game when its the 65 year old who has all the wealth, no debts and has the higher income ?

    I’m dubious about that last point as a generalisation. How many elderly widows are surviving on the basic state pension because they worked in the home and their husband’s pension made no provision for them?
  • On the issue of handouts to oldies can anyone explain why oldies still get reduced entry cost to many sporting events, museums etc ?

    I could understand it a generation or two back when there were fewer oldies and they generally had less money but why now ?

    Why should a 25 year old have to pay more than a 65 year old to watch the same game when its the 65 year old who has all the wealth, no debts and has the higher income ?

    Why do they all get free TV licenses (or they did)?

    Why do young people not deserve them? The truth is neither do, in my view.

    The young in this country get absolutely shafted, they get absolutely fuck all from the Tories.
  • nichomarnichomar Posts: 7,483

    On the issue of handouts to oldies can anyone explain why oldies still get reduced entry cost to many sporting events, museums etc ?

    I could understand it a generation or two back when there were fewer oldies and they generally had less money but why now ?

    Why should a 25 year old have to pay more than a 65 year old to watch the same game when its the 65 year old who has all the wealth, no debts and has the higher income ?

    Because ‘it’s our right’
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,557

    Yes, because Douglas won a lot of votes in states he ended up losing. For example, he garnered 312k in NY, 187k in Ohio, 160k in IL, 116k in IN and lost all four.

    Incidentally, in their home state, Honest Abe only carried IL against the Little Giant by +12k votes out of 340k total cast.
    I know.

    I was trying to make a wry point about the long-standing shortcomings of the electoral college.

    Maybe I should have explained more.
  • I would vote for you.

    One of the great shames of the 50% idea from Major was that it removed the incentive for Government to fund those students doing courses that benefit our country - or at least gave them a perfect excuse to stop the funding.

    This was very short sighted and damaging for the country.
    You haven't heard my other views yet.

    I support public ownership of the railways, increases in tax on the wealthiest.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,557

    You haven't heard my other views yet.

    I support public ownership of the railways, increases in tax on the wealthiest.
    A 100% tax on Islington mansion owners with large legal funds? I’m listening...
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823

    Isn't a 2/3rds majority irrelevant as the last election proved? A simple bill can bypass any majority that is required.
    Yes, of course, however it is one of those hurdles that usually doesn't get easily breached because overturning the additional lock generates a lot more bad press than a technical change from hypothecation to general fund which would cause most people to go glassy eyed.
  • The truth is young people don't vote, that is why they/we get ignored.

    If we actually bothered to vote, perhaps we would not be ignored.

    Yet even Magic Grampa didn't do much for youth turnout, even in 2017. We like to complain but can't be bothered to vote.

    My Grandmother before she died, told me that I must vote. She didn't care who it was for but that I must vote. I have never forgotten it and I never will.
  • MaxPB said:

    Yes, of course, however it is one of those hurdles that usually doesn't get easily breached because overturning the additional lock generates a lot more bad press than a technical change from hypothecation to general fund which would cause most people to go glassy eyed.
    I agreed with the general point you were making though.

    A fund would be a really good idea.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,739

    You haven't heard my other views yet.

    I support public ownership of the railways, increases in tax on the wealthiest.
    50% wasn't from Major, It was from Blair in 1999....
  • Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905

    What do you think of Starmer? Has he won your vote back?
    I may have voted Labour at some point during the Blair era, but I certainly haven't for a long time so it's not a case of winning it back per se. In recent elections I've gone back and forth between Tory and Lib Dem, though like I said I don't recall having felt sufficiently motivated to bother last time.

    It is far too early to be making judgments concerning which side might or might not be worth backing in future. However, if further down the line I'm both completely reassured that the Far Left has been locked out of power and the Labour platform sounds sufficiently realistic and attractive then I might go and vote for it, yes. The prospect of Prime Minister Starmer certainly doesn't terrify me, which is setting the bar very low but a satisfactory start nonetheless.

    On the one hand voting is a bit of a pointless exercise around here because it's very safe for the Conservatives, but on the other hand if any one party sufficiently enthused me then I might opt to turn out and show support anyway. I'm not strongly ideologically wedded to either the left or the right so my endorsement is certainly there to be won.
  • ydoethur said:

    A 100% tax on Islington mansion owners with large legal funds? I’m listening...
    Nobody is safe.

    I would also be far more prepared to own up to my mistakes, unlike Corbyn. I've said many times I regret supporting him but at least I am honest enough to say so. I hope that counts for something.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823

    The truth is young people don't vote, that is why they/we get ignored.

    If we actually bothered to vote, perhaps we would not be ignored.

    Yet even Magic Grampa didn't do much for youth turnout, even in 2017. We like to complain but can't be bothered to vote.

    My Grandmother before she died, told me that I must vote. She didn't care who it was for but that I must vote. I have never forgotten it and I never will.

    I'd love to see a study between voting likelihood and how much tax a person pays. I'm sure it's linked, I think that's why people start to vote in their late twenties rather than early twenties when they aren't earning a lot.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    ydoethur said:

    I know.

    I was trying to make a wry point about the long-standing shortcomings of the electoral college.

    Maybe I should have explained more.
    Shortcomings of Electoral College obvious - but keeping Stephen Douglas out of the White House was NOT one of them.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,404
    Eight workers at my local grocery store have tested positive for CV19
  • eek said:

    50% wasn't from Major, It was from Blair in 1999....
    Was a big Labour mistake indeed.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,739

    Why do they all get free TV licenses (or they did)?

    Why do young people not deserve them? The truth is neither do, in my view.

    The young in this country get absolutely shafted, they get absolutely fuck all from the Tories.
    The young will get policies they want when they vote in significant enough numbers that their desires matter.

    They don't vote in significant enough numbers so their desires are ignored by politicians who focus on currying favour from older age groups who do vote.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,557

    Shortcomings of Electoral College obvious - but keeping Stephen Douglas out of the White House was NOT one of them.
    Having Breckinridge come nearer on the votes of only slaveholders and traitors, however...
  • MaxPB said:

    I'd love to see a study between voting likelihood and how much tax a person pays. I'm sure it's linked, I think that's why people start to vote in their late twenties rather than early twenties when they aren't earning a lot.
    Well that's a very interesting point. My peer group always seems to vote and always has but we also were earning well quite early on so that might be why...
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,557
    rcs1000 said:

    Eight workers at my local grocery store have tested positive for CV19

    Ah.

    That doesn’t sound good.
  • eek said:

    The young will get policies they want when they vote in significant enough numbers that their desires matter.

    They don't vote in significant enough numbers so their desires are ignored by politicians who focus on currying favour from older age groups who do vote.
    If you see above I noted this.

    I completely agree with you, if we could be bothered we wouldn't get shafted so much.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 51,120
    rcs1000 said:

    Eight workers at my local grocery store have tested positive for CV19

    Didn’t you say everyone in LA was walking round in masks?
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,692

    "Less than" is perfectly acceptabubble :)
    If only I'd had the chance to proof read your thesis...
  • Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905
    Useless factoid: the cafe where I went to lunch yesterday operates out of a pavillion originally opened by Shirley Williams in 1968 when she was the local MP. The commemorative plaque is still there.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,404
    IanB2 said:

    Didn’t you say everyone in LA was walking round in masks?
    The staff have a habit of hanging around round the back smoking and chatting without masks...
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,255

    You haven't heard my other views yet.

    I support public ownership of the railways, increases in tax on the wealthiest.
    Okay I won't vote for you and spurn you forever. :)

    But your university ideas are spot on.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    ydoethur said:

    Having Breckinridge come nearer on the votes of only slaveholders and traitors, however...
    Re: Breckinridge, large marjority of his voters were NOT slaveholders. And a substantial minority were NOT even traitors by your definition. Unless you think there were 179k traitors in Pennsylvania in 1860.

    Note PA was in fact a special case, and these were actually Breckinridge-Douglas "fusion" votes. Which shows the risk of making over-broad assumptions.
  • theProletheProle Posts: 1,303
    rcs1000 said:

    The staff have a habit of hanging around round the back smoking and chatting without masks...
    Out of interest - does anyone know what's going on in the Texas/Florida at the moment? A couple of weeks ago there was a lot of chatter about Houston running out of ICU beds, but I presume people aren't dying in the streets right now or we'd be hearing about it?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,404
    theProle said:

    Out of interest - does anyone know what's going on in the Texas/Florida at the moment? A couple of weeks ago there was a lot of chatter about Houston running out of ICU beds, but I presume people aren't dying in the streets right now or we'd be hearing about it?
    Houston has a page here: https://www.tmc.edu/coronavirus-updates/overview-of-tmc-icu-bed-capacity-and-occupancy/
  • Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905

    If you see above I noted this.

    I completely agree with you, if we could be bothered we wouldn't get shafted so much.
    It will get worse. The country is ageing and the assumption that today's pissed-off twentysomethings won't drift, on average, further and further towards conservatism as they age - i.e. that the Tories' courting of the grey vote will eventually bite them on the arse as the current generation of pensioners dies out - is heroic.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559

    Useless factoid: the cafe where I went to lunch yesterday operates out of a pavillion originally opened by Shirley Williams in 1968 when she was the local MP. The commemorative plaque is still there.
    Yours truly once had a fine piece of pie at very small restaurant outside of Ripley WV, locally famous because John F. Kennedy stopped and also had a piece of pie while campaigning in the 1960 West Virginia Primary.

    Same lady was still running the place. Showed me the stool where JFK sat at the counter. Also showed me autographed picture of her favorite president - George Herbert Walker Bush.
  • alex_alex_ Posts: 7,518

    You haven't heard my other views yet.

    I support public ownership of the railways, increases in tax on the wealthiest.
    I read the other day that the Tories have formally abandoned the 50% target, to strong criticism from Labour...
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 35,296
    ydoethur said:

    That’s an outrageous statement.

    Drinking beer from bottles? I ask you...
    Well he did say he is drinking fewer so he's trying to address the issue :wink:
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,404

    It will get worse. The country is ageing and the assumption that today's pissed-off twentysomethings won't drift, on average, further and further towards conservatism as they age - i.e. that the Tories' courting of the grey vote will eventually bite them on the arse as the current generation of pensioners dies out - is heroic.
    Remember, though, that people become more conservative as they age because they start to be the people with assets and property and the like. They seek to protect the system that they are now benificiaries of.

    If the 45 year olds of tomorrow have no stake in society, if they're not property owners or beginning to feel financially secure, they're not necessarily going to be in favour of policies that maintain the status quo.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,557

    Re: Breckinridge, large marjority of his voters were NOT slaveholders. And a substantial minority were NOT even traitors by your definition. Unless you think there were 179k traitors in Pennsylvania in 1860.

    Note PA was in fact a special case, and these were actually Breckinridge-Douglas "fusion" votes. Which shows the risk of making over-broad assumptions.
    Perhaps I should have remembered the words of Douglas himself: ‘I do not believe every Breckinridge man is a disunionist, but I do believe every disunionist is a Breckinridge man.’

    However, the Pennsylvania votes didn’t count in the end. It’s the South where his electoral votes came from.

    Admittedly, there are those who argue secession was a minority view even there.

    Anyway, I am off to bed. Good night, one and all.
  • alex_ said:

    I read the other day that the Tories have formally abandoned the 50% target, to strong criticism from Labour...
    Wasn't aware Labour had criticised it but that seems a mis-step to me.
  • Black_RookBlack_Rook Posts: 8,905
    rcs1000 said:

    Remember, though, that people become more conservative as they age because they start to be the people with assets and property and the like. They seek to protect the system that they are now benificiaries of.

    If the 45 year olds of tomorrow have no stake in society, if they're not property owners or beginning to feel financially secure, they're not necessarily going to be in favour of policies that maintain the status quo.
    It's a possibility. On the other hand, unless those people are utterly destitute then they'll probably have had such a hard slog to accumulate whatever assets then do have that they could be even less willing to hand a portion of them to the state than people from the previous generation who had more to spare.

    And then, of course, you finally get to retire and join the stickbanger class, after which the main objective of voting is to pick whichever side will do the best job of bleeding working taxpayers white to pay to look after you.

    This, of course, is a crude oversimplification, but you get the general idea.
  • ClippPClippP Posts: 1,964

    Funny you should mention this, I was watching a video on speech today and saying far less is perfectly correct.
    Who was saying that? Probably just one person´s opinion, and my opinion is probably just as good as his.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826

    Nobody is safe.

    I would also be far more prepared to own up to my mistakes, unlike Corbyn. I've said many times I regret supporting him but at least I am honest enough to say so. I hope that counts for something.
    In the spirit of that, I made the mistake of voting for New Labour in 2001 because I disliked Hague, liked Blair and thought "iron Chancellor" Brown could be trusted . . .
  • MrEdMrEd Posts: 5,578

    Agree 100%. It has had a double negative impact of both providing many students with useless degrees instead of practical training or apprenticeships whilst at the same time devaluing those degrees and courses which would otherwise be considered of value.

    I think the Australian plans to overhaul university funding look to be exactly the thing we should be doing here.
    I was just reading about that, it is an excellent idea and one we should fully copy over here. I also agree Blair's 50% target for university graduates was fundamentally stupid and, like many of his ideas (and actions), had very negative long-term effects (don't get me started about PPI....)
This discussion has been closed.