| General Election? 10:30 - Apr 18 with 41729 views | ElHoop |
What's May up to? - Downing St 11.15am. |  | | |  |
| General Election? on 09:58 - Apr 20 with 2670 views | wortonranger |
| General Election? on 09:32 - Apr 19 by FDC |
This article from a couple of months back on the Philosophy Politics and Economics course at Oxford was pretty amazing
" 13 April 2015 was a typical day in modern British politics. An Oxford University graduate in philosophy, politics and economics (PPE), Ed Miliband, launched the Labour party’s general election manifesto. It was examined by the BBC’s political editor, Oxford PPE graduate Nick Robinson, by the BBC’s economics editor, Oxford PPE graduate Robert Peston, and by the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Oxford PPE graduate Paul Johnson. It was criticised by the prime minister, Oxford PPE graduate David Cameron. It was defended by the Labour shadow chancellor, Oxford PPE graduate Ed Balls.
Elsewhere in the country, with the election three weeks away, the Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury, Oxford PPE graduate Danny Alexander, was preparing to visit Kingston and Surbiton, a vulnerable London seat held by a fellow Lib Dem minister, Oxford PPE graduate Ed Davey. In Kent, one of Ukip’s two MPs, Oxford PPE graduate Mark Reckless, was campaigning in his constituency, Rochester and Strood. Comments on the day’s developments were being posted online by Michael Crick, Oxford PPE graduate and political correspondent of Channel 4 News.
On the BBC Radio 4 website, the Financial Times statistics expert and Oxford PPE graduate Tim Harford presented his first election podcast. On BBC1, Oxford PPE graduate and Newsnight presenter Evan Davies conducted the first of a series of interviews with party leaders. In the print media, there was an election special in the Economist magazine, edited by Oxford PPE graduate Zanny Minton-Beddoes; a clutch of election articles in the political magazine Prospect, edited by Oxford PPE graduate Bronwen Maddox; an election column in the Guardian by Oxford PPE graduate Simon Jenkins; and more election coverage in the Times and the Sun, whose proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, studied PPE at Oxford."
PPE: the Oxford degree that runs Britain
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/feb/23/ppe-oxford-university-degree-t |
Oh dear I did the wrong subject ( yes I too am an Oxford graduate ) hang on , Teresa May did geography there, as did I. Where did I go right? ( or do I mean left?) |  | | |
| General Election? on 10:10 - Apr 20 with 2650 views | hubble |
I think the only realistic way the various opposition can win is to form an alliance. Political parties act like cults. They need to get past if anything is going to change. Put aside their factionalism and come together to offer the British public a cohesive vision that is a rational alternative to the cloak of nationalism that the Tories wear so gaudily.
Longer-term, I think the age of traditional party politics is over. Politicians are intermediaries basically, between people and their desire, ambitions and their money. And in a capitalist system, such intermediaries are always prone to corruption. The internet is the game-changer, because what it allows people to do is remove the intermediaries. Just as record companies are no longer necessary, and individual musicians and bands can interact with and sell directly to their fans, so people now have to option for a more representative system of governance. But it has to be transparent. The alternative, it seems to me is some kind of totalitarianism, because politicians and their corporate masters are only too aware of the power that the internet has to overthrow their centuries long hegemony, and they are ever seeking ways to curb this.
Interesting times. |  |
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| General Election? on 10:23 - Apr 20 with 2631 views | Rs_Holy |
| General Election? on 21:34 - Apr 19 by essextaxiboy |
401 out of 632 constituencies voted to leave the EU .
So if remainers voted Lib Dem and Leavers voted Tory , the Torys would have a 231 majority. |
Yeh but what about all the young voters who passionatley want to stay in Europe. Unfortunaly they couldnt vote in the referendum because it clashed with a gripping episode of Celebrity Big Brother!
If they could be bothered in the GE it might make a difference? |  | | |
| General Election? on 10:59 - Apr 20 with 2610 views | Phildo |
| General Election? on 10:10 - Apr 20 by hubble |
I think the only realistic way the various opposition can win is to form an alliance. Political parties act like cults. They need to get past if anything is going to change. Put aside their factionalism and come together to offer the British public a cohesive vision that is a rational alternative to the cloak of nationalism that the Tories wear so gaudily.
Longer-term, I think the age of traditional party politics is over. Politicians are intermediaries basically, between people and their desire, ambitions and their money. And in a capitalist system, such intermediaries are always prone to corruption. The internet is the game-changer, because what it allows people to do is remove the intermediaries. Just as record companies are no longer necessary, and individual musicians and bands can interact with and sell directly to their fans, so people now have to option for a more representative system of governance. But it has to be transparent. The alternative, it seems to me is some kind of totalitarianism, because politicians and their corporate masters are only too aware of the power that the internet has to overthrow their centuries long hegemony, and they are ever seeking ways to curb this.
Interesting times. |
I do think the current parties are not really aligned with each ones own traditional support so there does need to be a realignment. It has been slow coming and history suggests it needs big events for that to happen (the corn laws, WW1, WW2 etc). Perhaps in the long term Brexit will be the trigger as we are very much still at the beginning of that process. Technology has changed everything else but the political system has a lot of inbuilt systems stopping any sort of radical change.
The independence referendum did change things in Scotland in that labour are now an irrelevance there having been dominant for all of living memory.
A lot of labour MPs are moderate remainers who hate Corbyn and their own new mass membership. You would think they would be looking at forming a new grouping with the LDs and perhaps the remnants of the Cameroons but they do not because of a sort of tribal sense of belonging to the label Labour. You could say that for the others I have mentioned as well and their own party's eg Soubray and Clarke perhaps even Osborne in the Tories. May had her first campaign stop in Bolton yesterday as they think they can win back the north on a brexit populist wave. The trouble with populism is you can get thrown off that horse pretty quickly.
The system we have seems to work ok when you have two fairly evenly matched parties but does not work at all when things start to fracture as they are now. Not sure how it will resolve itself or that this election will move it on much. One thing it does is tend to keep 'Vikings raiders' like UKIP or the SWP away from power. In fairness the far left realised that low party membership gave them an opportunity to take over the Labour party and bypassing those problems and have done that successfully with Labour - they are now having problems getting people to vote for that though. |  | | |
| General Election? on 11:19 - Apr 20 with 2583 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| General Election? on 10:10 - Apr 20 by hubble |
I think the only realistic way the various opposition can win is to form an alliance. Political parties act like cults. They need to get past if anything is going to change. Put aside their factionalism and come together to offer the British public a cohesive vision that is a rational alternative to the cloak of nationalism that the Tories wear so gaudily.
Longer-term, I think the age of traditional party politics is over. Politicians are intermediaries basically, between people and their desire, ambitions and their money. And in a capitalist system, such intermediaries are always prone to corruption. The internet is the game-changer, because what it allows people to do is remove the intermediaries. Just as record companies are no longer necessary, and individual musicians and bands can interact with and sell directly to their fans, so people now have to option for a more representative system of governance. But it has to be transparent. The alternative, it seems to me is some kind of totalitarianism, because politicians and their corporate masters are only too aware of the power that the internet has to overthrow their centuries long hegemony, and they are ever seeking ways to curb this.
Interesting times. |
I'm very surprised that there hasn't been at least talks about an electoral pact between Labour and the Lib Dems. Traditionally, they may have been ideologically incompatible, but that doesn't seem to be as true anymore. |  |
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| General Election? on 11:32 - Apr 20 with 2568 views | stevec |
| General Election? on 07:24 - Apr 20 by johncharles |
They also pledged not to call an election until 2020. Don't trust Mrs. May to honour pledges. |
When an opposition doesn't want a General Election there is something seriously wrong with the opposition. |  | | |
| General Election? on 11:35 - Apr 20 with 2558 views | MrSheen |
| General Election? on 09:58 - Apr 20 by wortonranger |
Oh dear I did the wrong subject ( yes I too am an Oxford graduate ) hang on , Teresa May did geography there, as did I. Where did I go right? ( or do I mean left?) |
PPE graduate here, too busy constructing the new world order to post on here ever. Nyahahahahah. |  | | |
| General Election? on 17:06 - Apr 20 with 2442 views | CamberleyR |
| General Election? on 21:34 - Apr 19 by essextaxiboy |
401 out of 632 constituencies voted to leave the EU .
So if remainers voted Lib Dem and Leavers voted Tory , the Torys would have a 231 majority. |
401-231=170 majority
There are actually 650 constituencies so if they still achieved 401 seats, a 152 majority (notionally higher as Ulster Unionists have traditionally sided with the Conservatives on crucial votes). |  |
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| General Election? on 17:07 - Apr 20 with 2437 views | TacticalR |
| General Election? on 11:35 - Apr 20 by MrSheen |
PPE graduate here, too busy constructing the new world order to post on here ever. Nyahahahahah. |
As Trump said: 'Some, I assume, are good people'. |  |
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| General Election? on 17:28 - Apr 20 with 2409 views | MrSheen |
| General Election? on 17:07 - Apr 20 by TacticalR |
As Trump said: 'Some, I assume, are good people'. |
Most, on my experience. Honestly. | | | |
| General Election? on 18:09 - Apr 20 with 2369 views | essextaxiboy |
| General Election? on 17:06 - Apr 20 by CamberleyR |
401-231=170 majority
There are actually 650 constituencies so if they still achieved 401 seats, a 152 majority (notionally higher as Ulster Unionists have traditionally sided with the Conservatives on crucial votes). |
Thanks for pointing that out and increasing the notional Tory majority  |  | | |
| General Election? on 18:49 - Apr 20 with 2323 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
| General Election? on 18:37 - Apr 20 by essextaxiboy |
Ok here goes
The Spectator says Teresa May is the most Left wing Tory leader for years and that is about where my politics are .
So I would like her to achieve a huge majority in this election .
By doing that she will render the Lib Dems toothless and make the hard left in the Labour Party realise that under Corbyn they are just chatting to themselves . Hopefully they will oust him regroup and realise that unless you are near the centre they may have interesting policies but they will never implement them . I have voted for them before when they have come closer to me .
Just as importantly maybe more so she can negotiate with the EU without the hard Brexiteers in her own party having the power to undermine her .
That would leave her free to soften her approach if she saw fit and pee on Farrens camp fire in the process.
I hope the Tories win a couple of seats in Scotland and Labour win a few more than they have now . That may make Sturgeon realise that there is not the appetite for another vote that she imagines
We are members of NATO the G7 and have to negotiate Brexit , we have to deal with Trump, Putin and the EU , can anyone really see Farren or Corbyn doing that . They are peaceniks who would scale down our defences and put us at risk
There will be policies that I like from all parties probably , but we need a real politician , a pro who has sat down with these people before , who commands the respect of all of her MPs and respects the will of the people with a nod and a concession or two to those who voted the other way . I think May is the only cab on the rank
hope the test went ok ..
ETB |
A fecking hour waiting for a blood test wtf!!!!
Well I was the only one not whining and looking at my watch every 10 seconds
The Nurse said sorry for the wait and explained she had a difficult (illness) person to deal with, I just smiled and said don't worry.
She then took a whole arm of blood the biatch.
Thanks for taking the time to write that. I'll come back to you later or tomorrow just not in the mood atm. |  |
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| General Election? on 19:25 - Apr 20 with 2282 views | qprphil |
| General Election? on 22:36 - Apr 19 by Boston |
Phill....Would that flat have been on Llanover Rd? |
No Kings Drive, up by Wembley Town Hall. |  | | |
| General Election? on 19:34 - Apr 20 with 2272 views | TacticalR |
@essextaxiboy 'The Spectator says Teresa May is the most Left wing Tory leader for years'
What does The Spectator mean by 'left wing'? [Post edited 20 Apr 2017 19:35]
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| General Election? on 20:10 - Apr 20 with 2244 views | ngbqpr |
I'd say 90% of centre / left people I know in my 'echo chamber' want their parties (Lab Lib Green SNP) to form a progressive alliance as proposed by the Greens, agree in principle to a one term coalition...and thus have a fighting chance of blocking a Tory win. They would then introduce proportional representation which potentially could keep the Tories out for decades (or at least would make them moderate their more extreme views).
Alas Jezza & Timbo have already strangled this at birth, and will argue until results night about why they're going solo and will win voters over.
The Tories always put winning / holding onto power first, and thus patch up ideological differences when needed (eg during an election campaign). The left get so wrapped up in the nuances of the ideological debates (witness JC and TF now arguing over which party is more 'progressive') that they struggle to make the compromises needed to win. |  |
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| General Election? on 20:16 - Apr 20 with 2235 views | Hunterhoop |
| General Election? on 19:34 - Apr 20 by TacticalR |
@essextaxiboy 'The Spectator says Teresa May is the most Left wing Tory leader for years'
What does The Spectator mean by 'left wing'? [Post edited 20 Apr 2017 19:35]
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Indeed. And she's also one of the most socially illiberal too. A very good friend of mine worked for her in the Home Office (Indirectly, but closely, I should add) and civil liberties weren't exactly top of her priority list. In fact, they weren't even on the page. |  | | |
| General Election? on 20:30 - Apr 20 with 2214 views | essextaxiboy |
| General Election? on 20:10 - Apr 20 by ngbqpr |
I'd say 90% of centre / left people I know in my 'echo chamber' want their parties (Lab Lib Green SNP) to form a progressive alliance as proposed by the Greens, agree in principle to a one term coalition...and thus have a fighting chance of blocking a Tory win. They would then introduce proportional representation which potentially could keep the Tories out for decades (or at least would make them moderate their more extreme views).
Alas Jezza & Timbo have already strangled this at birth, and will argue until results night about why they're going solo and will win voters over.
The Tories always put winning / holding onto power first, and thus patch up ideological differences when needed (eg during an election campaign). The left get so wrapped up in the nuances of the ideological debates (witness JC and TF now arguing over which party is more 'progressive') that they struggle to make the compromises needed to win. |
So they would ignore a referendum result that rejected AV by 2 to 1 ? | | | |
| General Election? on 20:48 - Apr 20 with 2195 views | Hunterhoop |
| General Election? on 20:30 - Apr 20 by essextaxiboy |
So they would ignore a referendum result that rejected AV by 2 to 1 ? |
Yes, hopefully, and rightly so. A low turnout plebiscite, accompanied by a heavily biased Conservative written press is not a way to govern. Indeed a plebiscite is not a way to govern itself. It's why we elect a party to govern for a term, not have a referendum on every policy. | | | |
| General Election? on 21:14 - Apr 20 with 2163 views | ngbqpr |
| General Election? on 20:30 - Apr 20 by essextaxiboy |
So they would ignore a referendum result that rejected AV by 2 to 1 ? |
I said PR - not AV | |
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| General Election? on 21:23 - Apr 20 with 2152 views | Brightonhoop |
Good debate so far. Fairly respectful and no major fall outs.
i wont add to it currently, folks know my views, in a nutshell I dont think the NHS will survive another Tory win.
And I imagine Norf groaned when it was called on Tuesday lol. [Post edited 20 Apr 2017 21:49]
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| General Election? on 21:36 - Apr 20 with 2126 views | essextaxiboy |
| General Election? on 21:14 - Apr 20 by ngbqpr |
I said PR - not AV |
You did ..conceded
I googled PR referendum and got the AV one . I thought that both may have been on the ballot .. | | | |
| General Election? on 23:16 - Apr 20 with 2050 views | FDC |
| General Election? on 19:34 - Apr 20 by TacticalR |
@essextaxiboy 'The Spectator says Teresa May is the most Left wing Tory leader for years'
What does The Spectator mean by 'left wing'? [Post edited 20 Apr 2017 19:35]
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I raised an eyebrow at that too. Left of Genghis Khan I assume. |  | | |
| General Election? on 23:17 - Apr 20 with 2048 views | CliveWilsonSaid |
Admittedly I haven't watched it from the start but BBC Newsnight is basically like a party political broadcast tonight. I actually had to check it was Newsnight. |  |
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| General Election? on 23:19 - Apr 20 with 2048 views | FDC |
| General Election? on 20:16 - Apr 20 by Hunterhoop |
Indeed. And she's also one of the most socially illiberal too. A very good friend of mine worked for her in the Home Office (Indirectly, but closely, I should add) and civil liberties weren't exactly top of her priority list. In fact, they weren't even on the page. |
We only need to look at her record at the Home Office to get a measure of her politics. Liberal she ain't. Or competent for that matter. | | | |
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