| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... 13:58 - May 9 with 113853 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 14:44 - Jun 8 with 1665 views | DannytheR |
Although a complete failure when it came to safeguarding the credit rating that was supposed to be the whole point of the exercise. [Post edited 8 Jun 2017 14:52]
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| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 14:51 - Jun 8 with 1645 views | Boston |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:58 - Jun 8 by robith |
Voted this morning. Usually I pontificate for ages, justifying a Labour vote to myself. But today I didn't even flinch. X straight in the box, even though my MP is a wet wipe of a centrist.
I thought finally being able to vote for a platform that truly aligned with own beliefs would bring me great joy, but really I just feel a seething anger at the insular pettiness that begets this island. I fear deeply for a future that I think is only going to get worse and I see no way out of.
I hope everyone enjoys election day. Thanks to the civil posters in this thread whom I agree with (FDC) and those whom I do not who I enjoy chatting with (essex, Hunter and even stevec). Every now and then there is some seriously interesting discussion here, and it's probably the last place left on the internet where I discuss politics (my echo chamber twitter aside) |
I'm of the belief most people are either centrist or don't really care's. I don't think your points will find majority favour if those who occupy these positions consider themselves being ridiculed or belittled for holding moderate views. You are a conviction voter, the key to your parliamentary success is to attract those who are not. |  |
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| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 15:09 - Jun 8 with 1595 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 14:51 - Jun 8 by Boston |
I'm of the belief most people are either centrist or don't really care's. I don't think your points will find majority favour if those who occupy these positions consider themselves being ridiculed or belittled for holding moderate views. You are a conviction voter, the key to your parliamentary success is to attract those who are not. |
Centrist
They have been decimated and the shift has up to now been to the right and far right. |  |
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| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 15:39 - Jun 8 with 1550 views | hopphoops |
| On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 17:06 - Jun 7 by Northernr |
I think his point is right. For students they're very useful things, means they can work more when they've got a reading week and less when they've got exams for example.
Some big companies abuse them, I agree with Kensal that nobody should have one forced upon them, for lots of people they're dreadful things, no I wouldn't be happy to have one now but my circumstances are different from when I was 18-19 and did have one.
Back then it enabled me to basically work full time hours on full time money at the airport near my home when I was on holiday from uni - and, crucially, just slip straight back into the same job as soon as the holidays started without having to apply around again - but not work at all for the six or seven week stretches when I was at uni 100 miles away.
An absolute blanket ban is just an easy crowd pleaser IMO.
This post has been edited by an administrator |
Now we know why you instinctively home in on the nearest runway after a few sharpeners. |  |
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