| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... 13:58 - May 9 with 117831 views | hubble |
..posted by a good friend of mine on Facebook, thought I'd share it on here. He's a former professional footballer (briefly for Birmingham City) and a former copper, working mainly out of Camden police station. He grew up in Kilburn/Queens Park. He's now a writer (among other things).
Worth a read I think, hope you enjoy, whether you agree with him or not, even when he veers off-topic...
"Thoughts of the Week (part 1)
Let’s start with a subheading. ‘Dear, oh dear Diane Abbot!’
In the upcoming General Election campaign and apart from the ‘Leader’ (no, not Gary Glitter) no one is more important for the Labour Party campaign than the Shadow Home Secretary. Why’s this? You ask.
The reason is obvious: Theresa May —the strong woman, Ms subtle, but steely - was the former Home Secretary. A position which she used to inflict near terminal ravages of the nation’s police forces. Under her auspices we saw numbers cut, benefits cut and police stations closed willy-nilly to cash in, short-term, on the booming (especially in London) property market.
The short-sightedness of this policy is astounding. No matter the so-called austerity budget (which only seems to apply to the working classes, while the privileged elite continue to live the life of Riley) the question must be asked as to what will happen when there’s some serious social unrest — and you can feel it stirring. Remember 2011 when the riots broke out? We had anarchy and nihilism on the streets and the police force didn’t cope with it at all. Instead we had a grand mopping up campaign. Suddenly all those poor silly students who had been demonised as hard-core criminals after they smashed the windows of the Tory HQ — and received ridiculously harsh prison sentences for what were in the main first offences - were kicked out of the pokey and replaced by the new batch of rioters. The Criminal Justice system ground to a halt, the prison’s overflowed. The courts were as ram-jam packed as a back-in-the-day David Rodigan dance. In response what did the great Theresa May do? She further decimated the police force. She did the same to the prison service. The vaunted Border Force, our first defence, is comically short of manpower and morale as they attempt to hire staff on Mickey-Mouse contracts. Labour should be slaughtering Theresa May on what she’s done. Instead we got that car crash of an interview on LBC.
To be honest I resisted calls to listen to it for a time. Some of my more right-leaning pals were raving about it, but I thought they were overreacting due to a general contempt for the Hackney MP. I was wrong. When I actually got round to listening to it I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was stunningly incompetent, mind-blowingly nonsensical, embarrassing and shocking. Is this the Shadow Home Secretary who’s going to lead the challenge to Theresa May’s record? She should have stood down immediately and if not the great leader should have forced her hand, no matter past rendezvous in the sack. Of course it didn’t happen and Labour under Jeremy Corbyn has no hope in this election. What a shame it all is because there are loads of issues that they should be taking the government to task on. Just look at that bumbling Tommy Cooper impersonator of a Foreign Secretary, a million miles removed from a serious statesman: Mr Retraction — an embarrassment to the nation.
I’m voting Labour in the coming election, but not for Jeremy, more for the thought of the millions of people who are going to suffer under the coming five years of Tory rule: the working men and women who haven’t seen their wages rise, in real terms, for the last thirty years, while the fat cats, sharks and speculators are minted; the students starting out life saddled with debt; the millions who’ll never be able to afford a home; and in honour of the National Health Service, soon to be dismantled further, but remaining the brightest light in the nation’s modern history. What a rotten, unfair and unbalanced society we’ve become.
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| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 00:25 - Jun 2 with 1806 views | FDC |
#strongandstable
No Theresa May is better than a bad Theresa May, apparently.
EU shitting themselves at the prospect of facing the full might of our ferocious leader no doubt.
[Post edited 2 Jun 2017 0:29]
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| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 09:21 - Jun 2 with 1714 views | johncharles |
What's going to happen to the BBC if Theresa May wins ?
I can see political censorship just around the corner. [Post edited 2 Jun 2017 9:23]
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| Strong and stable my arse. |
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| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 09:35 - Jun 2 with 1695 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
Gove on this week last night was saying the tories were going to massively attack Corbyn next week (timing).
I guess that was a given anyway. |  |
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| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 10:20 - Jun 2 with 1666 views | robith |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 18:24 - Jun 1 by Hunterhoop |
I live in Conservative seat (Wandsworth), which has a fairly chunky Conservative majority (14k, I think). And yet, I have received zero campaign material into my letter box. I've seen nothing in the borough in terms of Conservative campaign material at all, until this morning on the way to work, where one well dressed 60 yr was forlornly handing out fliers.
Very odd.
Lib Dems have had some presence with leaflets, door to door, etc.
Nothing from Labour or the Greens (or UKIP, although not somewhere they're likely to pump much resource).
Anyway, point I was going to make was, even at a local level, it feels like the Tories are being remarkably complacent. Justice Greening is the sitting MP; she's not even sent out a parish update style note to constituents. Odd.
Definite feeling across the country that May is ballsing this right up. A hung parliament would be excellent on many levels. Ideally, I'd want no coalition formed, and force the buggers to all work together a tad, hopefully delivering Proportional Representation and a better way of doing politics in Britain for the long term. |
Even if she wins large on the day, she has fundamentally weakened her position, and hugely damaged her personal brand. Not only that but her whole campaign has been focused on her and sidelined the others, keeping their powder dry! The True BeLeaver knives will be out for her if she returns a sub 50 majority |  | | |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 10:44 - Jun 2 with 1644 views | essextaxiboy |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 00:25 - Jun 2 by FDC |
#strongandstable
No Theresa May is better than a bad Theresa May, apparently.
EU shitting themselves at the prospect of facing the full might of our ferocious leader no doubt.
[Post edited 2 Jun 2017 0:29]
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This is exactly what I mean by cherrypicking . Later in this feed it is confirmed that she said she would not be attending 3 weeks ago That is before all of thes YouGov polls .Offered Amber Rudd up and now after her dad died Justine Greening .. but thats not been included ..because it doesnt fit the narrative . |  | | |
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| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 10:49 - Jun 2 with 1634 views | connell10 |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 10:44 - Jun 2 by essextaxiboy |
This is exactly what I mean by cherrypicking . Later in this feed it is confirmed that she said she would not be attending 3 weeks ago That is before all of thes YouGov polls .Offered Amber Rudd up and now after her dad died Justine Greening .. but thats not been included ..because it doesnt fit the narrative . |
Tory MP for Thanet has been nicked for fiddling his expenses! Maybe im just cherry picking but that is one ripe juicy cherry isnt it me old mucker? |  |
| AND WHEN I DREAM , I DREAM ABOUT YOU AND WHEN I SCREAM I SCREAM ABOUT YOU!!!!! | | Poll: | best number 10 ever? |
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| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 10:50 - Jun 2 with 1628 views | essextaxiboy |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 10:20 - Jun 2 by robith |
Even if she wins large on the day, she has fundamentally weakened her position, and hugely damaged her personal brand. Not only that but her whole campaign has been focused on her and sidelined the others, keeping their powder dry! The True BeLeaver knives will be out for her if she returns a sub 50 majority |
If she "fails " in the election which dont forget using your definition is winning by 49 seats more than the rest added together .Lynton Crosby takes a massive share of the blame . The tactics , repeated mantra and sound bites , no debates etc have his prints all over them ..IMO | | | |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 10:57 - Jun 2 with 1615 views | essextaxiboy |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 10:49 - Jun 2 by connell10 |
Tory MP for Thanet has been nicked for fiddling his expenses! Maybe im just cherry picking but that is one ripe juicy cherry isnt it me old mucker? |
Not surprised in least , they were desperate to keep Farage out in Thanet , prob thought the fine to be well spent .More a lemon than a cherry that one I think .. | | | |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:02 - Jun 2 with 1603 views | Maggsinho |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 10:20 - Jun 2 by robith |
Even if she wins large on the day, she has fundamentally weakened her position, and hugely damaged her personal brand. Not only that but her whole campaign has been focused on her and sidelined the others, keeping their powder dry! The True BeLeaver knives will be out for her if she returns a sub 50 majority |
Agree about her brand being fatally damaged.
I can't remember where I saw it (it may have been an anonymous rant by a Tory MP) but an interesting opinion I read was that at the start of the election people said they would vote Tory based on who they thought Teresa May was. As she's unravelled and her weaknesses have been exposed then more people are voting based on who May really is - hence the movement in the polls.
Calling this election must go down as one of the biggest political miscalculations for a long while. |  | | |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:03 - Jun 2 with 1601 views | robith |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 10:50 - Jun 2 by essextaxiboy |
If she "fails " in the election which dont forget using your definition is winning by 49 seats more than the rest added together .Lynton Crosby takes a massive share of the blame . The tactics , repeated mantra and sound bites , no debates etc have his prints all over them ..IMO |
Winning is a relative concept. She had a governing majority. She called the election cos she was 20 points up and thought she'd get a Blair 1997 esque majority. That's now an average of 8 points, with some polls even saying hung parliament. Against an opponent 2 months ago people were calling the worst leader of the oppo of all time. In an election she said she wouldn't call. So I personally think it's fair to say if she doesn't significantly increase that majority, it is a failure on her.
And yeah, strange Crosby didn't modify strategy after...I dunno like 5 minutes of talking to May? I realised I used to get much angrier with Cameron than May because he actually got his point across. May makes me go into a catatonic state - it's like she's blowing air out | | | |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:06 - Jun 2 with 1598 views | connell10 |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 10:57 - Jun 2 by essextaxiboy |
Not surprised in least , they were desperate to keep Farage out in Thanet , prob thought the fine to be well spent .More a lemon than a cherry that one I think .. |
Nah mate , for the Torys that looks really bad just before a election, but keep spinning it! | |
| AND WHEN I DREAM , I DREAM ABOUT YOU AND WHEN I SCREAM I SCREAM ABOUT YOU!!!!! | | Poll: | best number 10 ever? |
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| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:15 - Jun 2 with 1585 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 10:57 - Jun 2 by essextaxiboy |
Not surprised in least , they were desperate to keep Farage out in Thanet , prob thought the fine to be well spent .More a lemon than a cherry that one I think .. |
If that were Labour you would be all over it like a rash | |
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| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:23 - Jun 2 with 1574 views | essextaxiboy |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:06 - Jun 2 by connell10 |
Nah mate , for the Torys that looks really bad just before a election, but keep spinning it! |
Just research it , | | | |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:24 - Jun 2 with 1568 views | essextaxiboy |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:15 - Jun 2 by 2Thomas2Bowles |
If that were Labour you would be all over it like a rash |
They probably chipped in ... | | | |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:27 - Jun 2 with 1566 views | FDC |
My Top 3 Favourite Retorts in Political Debate:
"Do some research!"
"Read some Orwell!"
"Read some John Stuart Mill!" (new entry)  | | | |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:32 - Jun 2 with 1549 views | Phildo |
When they announce that exit poll next week it is going to be interesting as at the moment it seems like anything is possible- landslide, hung parliament etc.
2 million voters came out of nowhere for the Brexit vote to upset the apple cart and may have got the habit of voting. No one has a clue. |  | | |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:48 - Jun 2 with 1517 views | stowmarketrange |
I thought anyone suspected of a criminal offence was barred from standing for parliament?At least he should withdraw and fight to clear his name,but that won't happen I suppose. |  | | |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:56 - Jun 2 with 1503 views | hoof_hearted |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:48 - Jun 2 by stowmarketrange |
I thought anyone suspected of a criminal offence was barred from standing for parliament?At least he should withdraw and fight to clear his name,but that won't happen I suppose. |
Surely it would have to be convicted not suspected? Innocent until proven guilty and all that. There is a hint of mischief about the timing of the decision from the CPS. Saves the taxpayer the cost of a by election later, I suppose! |  | | |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 12:17 - Jun 2 with 1471 views | stowmarketrange |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:56 - Jun 2 by hoof_hearted |
Surely it would have to be convicted not suspected? Innocent until proven guilty and all that. There is a hint of mischief about the timing of the decision from the CPS. Saves the taxpayer the cost of a by election later, I suppose! |
Maybe professional integrity might mean Standing aside until his name was cleared of the very offence that he might commit again this election? | | | |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 14:31 - Jun 2 with 1397 views | essextaxiboy |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 12:17 - Jun 2 by stowmarketrange |
Maybe professional integrity might mean Standing aside until his name was cleared of the very offence that he might commit again this election? |
He , wont . Because he is not up against Farage . They wanted him beaten at all costs | | | |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 14:33 - Jun 2 with 1395 views | essextaxiboy |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:06 - Jun 2 by connell10 |
Nah mate , for the Torys that looks really bad just before a election, but keep spinning it! |
Sorry for the abrupt (rude) reply .
In mitigation I was on my phone outside Gatwick South arrivals bogs .  | | | |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 14:34 - Jun 2 with 1390 views | robith |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:32 - Jun 2 by Phildo |
When they announce that exit poll next week it is going to be interesting as at the moment it seems like anything is possible- landslide, hung parliament etc.
2 million voters came out of nowhere for the Brexit vote to upset the apple cart and may have got the habit of voting. No one has a clue. |
Particularly because the last two exit polls have been very accurate | | | |
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