What's May up to? General election 08/06/2017

[I1L2T3]

That's the key issue. If labour win (big if) it won't be tax-the-rich, we'll be up to our wotsits in pfi deals across the board. They could try to tax the rich but they'll just move (see France under hollande). We all need to pay more tax for the gold plated NHS we all want. We don't want to pay for it.

 

The Tories have set up a plethora of PFI deals too, after tweaking the process and re-christening it PF2. It's a myth that just Labour used it.

 

In reality tax is unlikely to go higher than the 50p band, and it will still be competitive when compared to other countries.

 

This is where people tend to lose the plot. They see the left-leaning parties in the UK as some knd of commies but the reality is much more mild, especially in comparison to other countries.

 

Labour won't win though so you can keep your hair on.

[Hairyloon]

You'd have people like me in charge. I'm smart enough to know the difference wisdom, character, and intelligence.

There are a great many people who are of lower intelligence, but who have other qualities that make them better leaders than me.

 

Do we need to be led?

Isn't technocracy about taking us in the direction we have decided to go in?

 

Leadership is a habit left over from the days when we were ruled.

[unbeliever]

Do we need to be led?

Isn't technocracy about taking us in the direction we have decided to go in?

 

No. It's about about a gang of intelligent [expletive deleted] attempting to organise the world by grand design and making an almighty mess of it.

[apelike]

Really?

 

Mrs May is getting rid of the opposition

 

No Labour have done that to themselves. They had that dodgy bloke Blair that took us into a phoney war, they had Blunkett that gave us draconian ant-terrorism laws, and then to top it all Gordon Brown who sold all our gold reserves on the cheap and then became Prime Minister so as to boost his pension. Then followed by that dull leader called Miliband who had about as much charisma as Hague and was just about as popular. Now Labour have someone else akin to Michael Foot and probably worse if the polls are anything to go by.

 

The only thing about JC I like was his anti-nuclear arms stance.

[MamboNo5]

...........

Agree.

 

Maybe the media is biased against him because he's hopeless? And has none of the likeable attributes of a plucky underdog?

 

I've seen him in several interviews come across as an arrogant, patronising and surly asshat.

[tinfoilhat]

The Tories have set up a plethora of PFI deals too, after tweaking the process and re-christening it PF2. It's a myth that just Labour used it.

 

In reality tax is unlikely to go higher than the 50p band, and it will still be competitive when compared to other countries.

 

This is where people tend to lose the plot. They see the left-leaning parties in the UK as some knd of commies but the reality is much more mild, especially in comparison to other countries.

 

Labour won't win though so you can keep your hair on.

 

Point I'm (failing) to make is that if labour get in there won't be the huge sea change that people like Anna want to happen. Look accross the pond. Anti establishment (billionaire) trump is going to drain he swamp, build a wall, put America first, dump obamacare. What's he done? Sod all. More over the reverse of the above.

[Hairyloon]

I don't disagree with some of his ideas. But 1) I don't think you fix an economy by constant borrowing...

 

Borrow, invest and make money off the investments: makes a lot of sense.

And it has worked before: remember the war? We were properly bankrupt after that, but we borrowed, invested and prospered.

2) I don't think you create a fairer society by punishing the successful.

 

Who is successful without a society to be successful in?

Repaying society for its contribution to your success is not a punishment.

 

I can't really understand Anna's point of view because it isn't the papers that have convinced me he's crap. It's from listening to him myself. Maybe that's true of more people than Anna would care to admit?

 

He is certainly crap on a number of counts, but the real problem is that he has shown up how crap most of the rest of the party are.

We have all had crap bosses: you find ways to work around them and get the job done.

 

S8 (Heeley?) looks a safe Labour seat to me? How would voting Labour there be a tactical vote?

Most of Sheffield is fairly safe Labour I thought. The little parties should get their acts together and have some kind of alliance so we have a fair chance to vote for a third option.

 

---------- Post added 19-04-2017 at 23:07 ----------

 

No. It's about about a gang of intelligent [expletive deleted] attempting to organise the world by grand design and making an almighty mess of it.

 

You're making circular arguments now: you don't like the EU because you see it as technocratic and you don't like technocracy because of the EU.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Hairyloon

[apelike]

Borrow, invest and make money off the investments: makes a lot of sense.

And it has worked before: remember the war? We were properly bankrupt after that, but we borrowed, invested and prospered.

 

But it was only around 10 years ago though that we managed to pay off that US WWII debt. We may have prospered since WWII but we have always been in debt and will continue to be.

[Anna B]

Tax can't fix it. There's a limit to how much the state can in practise collect in taxation. We need a hybrid healthcare system like most of Europe have.

 

As long as we continue to pretend otherwise because of stupid idealistic nostalgia, our healthcare will continue to suck.

 

What about a Robin Hood tax? 0.05% on financial transactions could raise £200 Billion apparently. I can think of plenty of good uses for that. Are any of the parties in favour of bringing something like that in ?

 

I don't object to the idea of a hybrid health care scheme, but it would all depend on how it was implemented.

[Obelix]

And how long before the City of London ups sticks and moves to Frankfurt and Berlin and Paris when you do that? They have many good reasons already to do that and whilst I'm sure youd like them gone Anna you really wont like the massive huge hole it'll leave in the UK's finances - you think you are experiencing a bit of austerity now? Lose the City and it'll be orders of magnitude worse.

 

---------- Post added 19-04-2017 at 23:32 ----------

 

But it was only around 10 years ago though that we managed to pay off that US WWII debt. We may have prospered since WWII but we have always been in debt and will continue to be.

 

To be fair that was because the war bonds had no finish date and so the coupon was paid in perpetuity. It was only when someone had a word with the Treasury and basically said they thought this really had gone on for long enough that they agreed to finally stop it.