Off Topic The Politics Thread

No it’s generally the domain of just over middle-aged simpletons. I’ll be voting Labour.

 

As opposed to all those enlightened 18-30 year olds.

 

Well well well, game on. Glad they're not making us wait until November.

Whatever one's politics, it's never healthy for one party to be in charge for two decades so we're due a change. The potential for stability and consistency alone makes Lab more attractive than the current lot, who have become essentially a loose coalition of different factions that are almost impossible to govern, let alone form a proper government.

New government, winning the Euros, interest rates falling - life could start to feel a bit better after the summer

 

We were all young once. Some of us before the Moon landings. There are some dumb kids of course as there always have been but the Gen Zs are more politically engaged than my generation was at that age, motivated in no small part by the clusterfucks of Brexit and the last few years of the Tories. Doesn’t mean they’ll be right of course.

Reform are appealing to two groups. Thick, xenophobic pensioners with little stake in society and the sort of mugs who would normally describe themselves as working-class Tories (the thick, xenophobic pensioners of the future).

 

The biggest mugs are Jews voting Labour - aka turkey’s voting for Christmas. Starmer is bending over backwards for the Muslim vote, and will recognise Hamas’s Palestine as an independent state at the earliest opportunity.

 

He really isn’t. There wouldn’t be a load of oddballs standing on nothing but a “Labour is the party of genocide” ticket if that was the case. The right pretending to care about Jews because they hate Muslims more has always been transparent.

 

I agree that a vote for Reform is a waste of time, plus I simply don't agree with their politics.
Immigration is a valid concern for many, but it has only affected me personally in a positive way on the whole.
However, those who feel their lives are being impacted in a negative way by immigration will be drawn there. Youngsters may think they're more engaged with politics, but they will become disillusioned with today's political classes soon enough. They'll probably seek counselling to help them get over the disappointment.

 

Yes, I agree with a lot of that.
The Tories have had such a mare over the last few years that they simply don't deserve to stay in power.
I don't see anything much changing though.

 

I was listening to Labour campaign coordinator Pat McFadden, and he was clear Labour would recognise a Palestinian State at the earliest opportunity. Labour are under huge pressure from Galloway.

 

Good post actually Col. I tend not to agree with your politics, unlike football related matters. Everyone is different and will vote for who they want to. The vast majority will have already made their minds up, regardless of 6 weeks of pure ****e coming from every angle. If nothing does change, as you predict then there's no harm in labour forming a government. I believe that even the most smallest of changes for the better is worthy of my vote.

 

Probably my bias from working with bigger companies, but the constant uncertainty around the UK has really put companies off from investing in the UK in my sector. Even if the only change we get from this is 5 (or more) years of more stable policy and leaders, that will make quite a positive impact on investor sentiment.

Agree that the macroeconomic situation means there isn't room for drastic policy changes e.g. Lab have been very clear there won't be billions more for the NHS like there was in the early 2000s.

 

Starmer saying he ‘won’t make promises he can’t keep’ which is equating to not saying anything at all. I assume they will have to produce a manifesto at some stage. I’ll hold off deciding whether or not to vote and if yes who for until I’ve seen all of the manifestos.

Despite the polls, apparent collapse of the Tory vote and other comparisons this feels very different to 1997. Then a lot of us felt positive about voting for New Labour, not just because the Tories were **** and exhausted, but because there was some kind of different future and approach being described, even if many of us developed buyers remorse later. This time I don’t get the sense that there will be much more than a negative anti Tory wave. Not hearing any excitement about current Labour, and even those people I know who are thinking of voting Reform are calling it a protest vote rather than buying into their weird little world.

 

That's actually a rather good post. Immigration has always been a positive thing for the UK and any political party that promises to reduce it to the tens of thousands a year whilst growing the economy at the same time is just lying to the electorate. The racists and xenophobes should be called out for what they are. The best solution, both for economic growth and for the immigration issue, is to rejoin the Single Market and return to free movement within the EU. But of course no political party dare say that right now.

 

I'd be interested to read people's justifications for saying they'll vote Tory.

 

Do you accept that those of the electorate that are concerned at net immigration running at 700k p.a., might not be racist or xenophobic, or are you blind to that?

 

Yes, of course I accept that they might not all be racists or xenophobes. The problem is that those that aren't are being lied to, just as they were over Brexit.

 

What lies? Net immigration figures are verified. Rayner has already announced cheerfully that Labour will build "a wave of new towns". There's no way they can fit those into the "grey" belt (Labour disengenuity). It will be English green belt that goes, probably mostly in the South.

 

The lie is that you can slash immigration without adversely affecting the economy.

 

Big business has always, on the whole, been untrusting of Labour governments though.
I take the point about more stable leadership, but I've seen nothing from Starmer to convince me that he'll be more stable.
Time will tell and Labour should have plenty of time to work things their way.

 

Thing is Bob. Anyone who praises the tories or criticises Labour for anything automatically gets labelled as "right wing" etc.
I bet we're not a million miles apart in what our core values are.
I've just lost all confidence in the entire political class, who I believe to be the worst in my lifetime.