General Election June 8th

[David Gwilliam]

Full disclosure: I am Old Labour (Harold Wilson/Jim Callaghan) or in todays terms I like John Mann and Yvette Cooper. When I heard that Jess Phillips had told Diane Abbot to eff off I thought that is my kind of Labour MP.

I find it jarring when I hear the Prime Minister referred to as May. This is pure sexism on my part. I have no problem with references to Blair Brown or Cameron. It is not being partisan- I would find it equally jarring to hear reference to Yvette Cooper as Cooper. This is illogical on my part and may be a generational thing. Thatcher was the exception because she was so unpleasant and abrasive.

The fixed term parliament rule has thankfully failed. There have been times (November 1910 and October 1974) when an early election was necessary.

The collapse of Labour in Scotland meant that in the last election all four parts of the UK voted for a different party. This seems likely to happen again.

Apart from Northern Ireland religion plays little part in the election. We take this for granted but in many European countries it is fundamental e.g. Mrs Merkl is leader of the Christian Democrats. The Tory party (no connection with the Conservative Party) formed largely in order to protect the Church of England.

In announcing the election Mrs May complained about “the unelected House of Lords”. This amused me. In Edwardian times when Arthur Balfour was leader of the Conservatives Lloyd George denounced the Lords as “Mr Balfour’s poodle.”

People sneer at UKIP and Nigel Farage. Their reason for existence was to get Brexit. Mrs May is delivering Brexit. They have been successful. We may have to wait until the 2040s for a historian to work out whether Brexit was good for Britain or not. I look forward to reading their work.

On a note of sheer trivia if Jeremy Corbyn wins he will be the first Prime Minister to have a beard since Lord Salisbury in 1902. Corbyn and Salisbury do not have much else in common.

Beware of people predicting the results historians political scientists and journalists may pontificate but they are no better at predicting the future than anybody else. Correction: they are better than economists.

 

[FIF]

The Gulf war came about as a response to Iraq invading Kuwait you flaming sectopod. So in the same manner as the current threat of jihadist groups, we went in to stick up for the good guys. World war 2... same again, standing up against a tyrant. Hitler was in Germany but it doesn't mean you can leave him to go about his business killing off all the Jews and spreading his reach.

I'm not arguing with you because you clearly have set and not fully informed views.

I only mentioned the gulf war because I guessed that you'd heard of it and it was in reference to your rather silly comment about bad terrorist guys existing in the early 90's. We've been interfering directly with other country's policies for our own gain for hundreds of years. The chickens are coming home to roost. Have you ever wondered why some other countries don't have the same terrorist problem as us and France and America? Have you thought why England is a high priority target?

The terrorists are wrong. I want to make that clear. We have been wrong too, many , many times. In life you tend to eventually reap what you sew.

 

[Ike O'Noclassed]

You are aware that Britain have been "interfering" in countries that have little or nothing to do with us since long before the 90's aren't you? Even the recent "first gulf war" started in 1990.

People are asking why the **** we put our noses into other country's business? We don't even want European countries having a say about ours when we are part of the EU.

Quite. In the good old days (the 1980s - the Thatcher Wonder Years) we supported the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, which with a fair amount of CIA help transformed into Al-Qaeda. Old Saddam Hussein was our friend, too, as we armed him in his war against Iran, which handy for him having Matrix Churchill supplying state of the art components for his weaponry to invade Kuwait.

Fortunately for the Tories - the average British voter seems to have the attention span somewhat less than a goldfish, which is why Corbyn's modest stating of the bleedin' obvious causes such puzzlement and outrage. Twas ever thus.

 

[David Gwilliam]

For those people like me who are amused by little things the election has been a bonus. My usual explanation to cold callers is that the accident I did not actually have occurred because Jesus stepped into the road ahead of me.

However, I have just irritated a cold caller by my firm belief that he was a LibDem and his party would not only replace my car but would send the other driver to prison. His exasperation was almost desperate when he denied knowing "This Tim Farron of yours" and tried to being me back to the subject of how his LibDems were going to replace any car in the country that had been in an accident.

Cold calling must be a monotonous job and it perhaps livens their coffee breaks to tell colleagues about people they rang who are quite mad. .

 

[Jeff]

Cold calling must be a monotonous job

I always tell them to **** off and get a proper job.

 

[Lako42]

I always tell them to **** off and get a proper job.

Always a good line for the campaigning local politician at the doorstep

 

[Robin127]

Last year I amused myself by asking them if the other party would be interested to know that they were encouraging a non-citizen to vote.

 

[OldGit]

 

[Brown Nose]

An unnamed Tory MP speaks out hilariously:

“It’s a completely different experience to what it was four weeks ago. It’s made my job a hell of a lot harder. It’s a completely different experience. I’m pretty ****ed off.

“People on the doorstep are telling me: ‘She’s going after pensioners, she doesn’t know what she’s doing, she doesn’t answer questions on the TV.’ I’ve switched from saying ‘vote for her’ to ‘vote for me’. It’s hard to understand how people in London who get paid a lot of money made such a clusterfuck.

“People voted for her because of what they thought she was like rather than what she is like. It’s totally shattered the confidence of the parliamentary party.

“Colleagues up and down the country are just ****ed off.

“She said she wasn’t going to call a general election, and they’ve totally ****ed it up.

“If you were going to write what not to do in a campaign then running it on strong and stable leadership and changing your mind on everything would be it. It’s like something out of Yes Minister.

“People are now beginning to vote for Jeremy Corbyn. I find that hard to understand.”

 

[Lako42]

In true Talkingballs style.........Absolute shambles

 

[TornadoShaunUK]

I'm not arguing with you because you clearly have set and not fully informed views.

I only mentioned the gulf war because I guessed that you'd heard of it and it was in reference to your rather silly comment about bad terrorist guys existing in the early 90's. We've been interfering directly with other country's policies for our own gain for hundreds of years. The chickens are coming home to roost. Have you ever wondered why some other countries don't have the same terrorist problem as us and France and America? Have you thought why England is a high priority target?

The terrorists are wrong. I want to make that clear. We have been wrong too, many , many times. In life you tend to eventually reap what you sew.

Sometimes interfering is the right thing to do, sometimes it isn't. Arguably all wars involve some degree of interception from somebody. If you help to defend someone you're going to incur the wrath of others.

Corbyn says terrorism is a result of the UK's foreign policy and comes across as if to absolve any blame what-so-ever on the terrorists themselves. I appreciate Corbyn's sentiment but I just find him to be someone who seems to live in the clouds. His stance on Trident is the same. We've got the likes of North Korea developing intercontinental missiles, and not so secret nuclear tests and he wants to abolish Trident? It's one of those things you need but just hope to never have to use. Safety above cost. We've then got Brexit, while I wouldn't necessarily be against the idea of 'going down the Norway route' and working out some sort of deal to join the EEA - the thought of Corbyn sucking off a scumbag like Juncker on behalf of the country is almost enough to put me off voting for him in itself.

This time I'll probably just do what I should have done every other election and just not bother voting for anyone. Labour, Conservative.. they're all the same - feckin hopeless.

 

[City Fan]

Sometimes interfering is the right thing to do, sometimes it isn't. Arguably all wars involve some degree of interception from somebody. If you help to defend someone you're going to incur the wrath of others.

Corbyn says terrorism is a result of the UK's foreign policy and comes across as if to absolve any blame what-so-ever on the terrorists themselves. I appreciate Corbyn's sentiment but I just find him to be someone who seems to live in the clouds. His stance on Trident is the same. We've got the likes of North Korea developing intercontinental missiles, and not so secret nuclear tests and he wants to abolish Trident? It's one of those things you need but just hope to never have to use. Safety above cost. We've then got Brexit, while I wouldn't necessarily be against the idea of 'going down the Norway route' and working out some sort of deal to join the EEA - the thought of Corbyn sucking off a scumbag like Juncker on behalf of the country is almost enough to put me off voting for him in itself.

This time I'll probably just do what I should have done every other election and just not bother voting for anyone. Labour, Conservative.. they're all the same - feckin hopeless.

I'm with you. I don't think I'll bother voting either.

There's no point voting for Lib Dem or Green as they'll never get in. And I can't bring myself to vote for either Labour or Conservative. Disasters the both of them.

 

[FIF]

I'm with you. I don't think I'll bother voting either.

There's no point voting for Lib Dem or Green as they'll never get in. And I can't bring myself to vote for either Labour or Conservative. Disasters the both of them.

They will if you and enough others vote for them. That's how a democratic vote works.

 

[City Fan]

They will if you and enough others vote for them. That's how a democratic vote works.

Thanks - I did need it explaining.

 

[Mawsley]

In true Talkingballs style.........Absolute shambles

I've been convinced that BM is secretly the mastermind behind her election campaign machine.

 

[TornadoShaunUK]

I've been voting Tory for the last few years. Remembering the last time I voted Labour we had Blair who got us into the 2003 Iraq war and then Brown who sold off all our Gold bullion on the cheap to pay for all the nice things he promised but couldn't afford. But yep, this time around there are numerous things I dislike about both candidates and with Labour's recent track record on finances I see Corbyn's promises of a £10 an hour living wage and the like as nothing more than words.

 

[City Fan]

I've been voting Tory for the last few years. Remembering the last time I voted Labour we had Blair who got us into the 2003 Iraq war and then Brown who sold off all our Gold bullion on the cheap to pay for all the nice things he promised but couldn't afford. But yep, this time around there are numerous things I dislike about both candidates and with Labour's recent track record on finances I see Corbyn's promises of a £10 an hour living wage and the like as nothing more than words.

He talks about the fact that no Brexit deal is the worst possible outcome because it will affect jobs etc.

Yet he doesn't seem to realise that a higher corporation tax and higher minimum wage could well drive jobs out of the UK.

 

[give_us_a_wave]

So...decrying Corbyn for being likely to be too pro Europe over Brexit. Better leave it to no-nonsense Hard Brexit Theresa to stuff those uppity foreign bastards.

Corbyn = Opposed to the EU on various grounds for more or less forever.

May = Remain campaigner 12 months ago (although hedged her bets carefully by only campaigning slightly just in case the other side won.Consummate self-serving politician) She did however give a private speech to some Goldman Sachs types where she said unequivocally that leaving the EU would be a disaster for British business.

Interesting what short memories people have.

Besides...Brexit is ****ing irrelevant to this election. Thats why the Tories are so desperate to make it the centrepiece.

Most elections are fought on the economy. Ladies & gentlemen, we are heading for recession. Inflation is on the up, productivity down, everyone is skint & it's going to get worse. The Tories know this & THAT is why the election was called. If they left it til 2020 Brexit would be over & done with & they'd be going to the country on the back of an economic slump.

That's the real story. Remember that next year when things really start to bite.

As for Brexit. Big joke. Everything is already decided. 70% of the political class in the UK are Remain & they'll be doing the negotiating. All this flag waving bollocks is for the benefit of morons. When the deal is announced 80% of the country won't understand a word of it. But it'll have some buzz words like "independence" & "control" in it which'll be enough to satisfy the Sun readers before they go off & look for some foreigners to give a good kicking to.

After that we'll all be skint as the Govt spends vast amounts of public money on bribing Nissan, Toyota & every other foreign company to stay in the UK rather than relocate to Europe. Unless of course they manage to do a deal that keeps us in the single market which will mean allowing free movement. Which means the entire referendum was a waste of time. Which it probably was.

Either way we'll be back in Europe in 20 years when all the under 30s who overwhelmingly voted Remain are running the country & we're all dead or in care homes. Unless Putin invades Latvia or some such.

 

[Blue Maniac]

I would very much like to be able to vote for whoever I want without being called a moron.

Tough

I work with some of those most affected by the policies of the Conservatives and I reserve the right to be disgusted by their absolutely deliberate and persistent efforts to **** over the weakest in our society. I think that's why I can't really handle people attempting to be rationale about voting for them. They still 'believe' that withholding money from the weak and giving it to the strong is the right thing to do because the strong invest and create wealth that benefits the weak. That is in spite of decades of evidence of the complete opposite. Anyone would think it was just a ruse to pull up the ladder and chuckle at the idiocy of the proles.

Exactly all of this.

I've been convinced that BM is secretly the mastermind behind her election campaign machine.

My first ever fully intentional shambles.

 

[pork pie fox]

Tough

Exactly all of this.

My first ever fully intentional shambles.

Where have you been BM? Busy?