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General Election 2017
- Thread starter Malcolm
- Start date
John Marwood
I ♥ cryptic crosswords
What was the name of the tortoise
And is it still buried in the Blue Peter garden because Blue Peter moved to Salford
Concerned - Dorset
proactive
Enjoying a drop of red.
What's so special about the one in Willendump?
John Marwood
I ♥ cryptic crosswords
proactive
Enjoying a drop of red.
Oh, OK, with you now. Wouldn't want to be a kid there!
John Marwood
I ♥ cryptic crosswords
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-39896788
WARNING- CLICKING ON THIS LINK COULD INFORM YOU Of THE FARCE THAT IS ACADEMY PRIVATE EDUCATION
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John Marwood
I ♥ cryptic crosswords
John Marwood
I ♥ cryptic crosswords
I can fully understand people wanting a strong and credible opposition to the Tories, I share their concerns and don't trust the Tories to deliver, but voting Labour will only keep Corbyn and the Left in charge of the Labour Party.
Corbyn and Momentum have written off any chance of winning back the towns like Telford, Tamworth and indeed Stafford which they used to win and have drafted a manifesto that they hope will help them hold enough of their metropolitan seats so that it isn't a complete rout. Not losing badly will be hailed by Corbyn as a vindication of the direction that he is taking the party. To the Left this isn't about winning the General Election but keeping and strengthening their grip on the Labour Party.
Corbyn and Momentum have written off any chance of winning back the towns like Telford, Tamworth and indeed Stafford which they used to win and have drafted a manifesto that they hope will help them hold enough of their metropolitan seats so that it isn't a complete rout. Not losing badly will be hailed by Corbyn as a vindication of the direction that he is taking the party. To the Left this isn't about winning the General Election but keeping and strengthening their grip on the Labour Party.
Mikinton
Well-Known Forumite
Unfortunately the Corbynistas tend to hold the safer Labour seats ..... so not voting Labour would mean Labour losing seats and an increase in the proportion of Labour-held seats held by Corbynistas. And this in turn would mean it would be easier for another to meet the "15% of the PLP" requirement to stand for leadership should St Jeremy stand down. And with the backing of Momentum and all those £3ers (or whatever), they'd be a shoo-in.
It's heads I win, tales you lose .... which is why it doesn't matter much to Corbyn how well Labour do.
We can only hope a Kinnock type figure emerges that can take on the Left and offer more broad appeal. I can't see that happening. Momentum seems much more embedded and I sense no real fight in the bellies of the moderates to wrestle back control. I suspect a split with a new party of the centre being formed.
Mikinton
Well-Known Forumite
A new centre-left ["Blairite scum"] party has been suggested. I'm not sure who'd provide their funding, though. Some of the more moderate unions, maybe.
Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how Macron gets on in France.
BTW, talking of Blairite scum, 2 Labour seats at risk are Sedgefield (Blair's) and Hartlepool (Mandelson's).
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Withnail
Well-Known Forumite
Which is one of the reasons, one would suggest, that a 'snap election' is so urgent.
For the good of the Country, you understand.
Lest we forget Blair only got his chance through the untimely death of John Smith. Who knows how successful he would have been as prime Minister?
Labour can have a distinctive message without aping the Tories but also being responsible. It should say that there isn't a money tree at the bottom of the treasurary garden and attack the Tories for doubling the National debt in 7 years and still adding to it. It should hold up Germany as an example as a well run country that is able to deliver whilst running a budget surplus. Achieving what Germany has done will take a long time but that should be the aim of this country.
Withnail
Well-Known Forumite
It could be argued that Germany is only able to do this because of the Euro - and it's concomitant inflexibility in not recycling surpluses.
If it still operated with its own currency, a current DM would be absurdly high value, suppressing exports because of higher costs. The Euro has helped Germany by being a de facto devaluation mechanism.
Lest we forget, we never joined the Euro, so we don't have this excuse.
Gramaisc
Forum O. G.
There are people who will suggest that the German industrial resurgence after the war was largely due to the level of Marshall Aid that they received. This, of course, is true, but the UK received 26% of all Marshall Aid money and (West*) Germany, in a far worse state, got 11%. Levels of government competence may well have had an effect, too.
* East Germany got none.
* East Germany got none.
I've been pretty much saying the same for the last few years. How much would be German Euro be worth compared the value of a Greek or an Italian Euro?
That said Germany invests and makes decisions for the long term unlike this country and it prides itself in the quality of education and technical colleges.
Withnail
Well-Known Forumite
And yet you are happy to toss out the baby because you don't like the pallor of the bath water...
Yes, they are much better than us.
We could learn a thing or two from them, perhaps we should join some sort of alliance with them to our mutual benefit?
tek-monkey
wanna see my snake?
So we want to emulate Germany who have a nationalised rail system, long term cheap rents and decent education? If only someone here stood for that too.