THE FOURTH OF JULY

[gcusick]

I don't vote, I don't care who is in power because they are all as bad as each other, what I do object to is having to shut the school for the day while they use our hall as a voting station

If you don’t vote, @Stigmorgan, you forfeit the right to complain about anything the government does.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A valid moan, though. There's no reason why elections shouldn't be on a Saturday or Sunday.

 

[John Brown]

I was told from the age of about twelve that if you don't vote, you can't complain.

While I agree with the sentiment, I wasn't aware that you could vote at twelve in Cornwall.

 

[sploo]

Loved how it was pouring down seemed apt for his stint in no10!

Seemed apt, give the state of water companies (and the UK in general)...

 

[Tris]

More Canute than Noah

 

[whereistheceilidh]

May I suggest that you vote for the person that you think will be best for their constituency.
We have been very lucky with our MP in that respect. He has also turned out to be an excellent parliamentarian as well...even if his party is not in power in Westminster.
Cynicism is fine but it does not really get you anywhere. We have a parliamentary democracy & it is up to us all that we get the best for the country from it.
Fine....grizzle & sit & watch the glue set......but we have free speech & a vote. Use them to the full.......
It might also be worth trying to get MPs to work more together ....whatever their party.

 

[Yorkieguy]

Until the late 1800s, only landowners had the right to vote. After the Third Reform Act in 1884, 60% of male householders over the age of 21 had the vote. This left 40% who did not – including the poorest in society. Thus millions of soldiers returning from World War I would still not have been entitled to vote in the long overdue general election. The ‘Representation of the People Act 1918 gave all men over the age of 21 the vote, and all women over the age of 30. It wasn’t until 1928 that the voting age for women as dropped to 21.

In WW2, many of those who fought and died and are buried in foreign lands were themselves too young to vote. In England and Wales, of 16,000 villages there are only 52 'Thankful Villages' - the term which denotes that all who served in the war returned alive. And there are only 12 'Doubly Thankful Villages' where all men in both WW1 & WW2 survived.

Whether or nor people think whoever they vote for 'they're all as bad as one another' it does seem disrespectful to those who served to preserve our freedoms, to just not bother. I'm an old guy - when I started work in 1954, the chap I worked with had piloted Lancasters in Bomber Command ten years earlier. when he was aged 22. The rest of the crew called him 'Pop' as they were all aged under 20, and all volunteers.

It's out of respect for them that I'll be voting.

It seems highly likely that Labour will win, but they've promised the moon, the stars and the rising sun raising impossibly high expectations in the minds of some, which they simply won't be able to deliver. Trade Unions, teachers, doctors, nurses, train drivers, the electorate, (waiting lists down, get a grip on immigration, 'stop the boats' housing, 'green' policies, environmental pollution, bring crime rates down, bring fuel costs down, nationalise the railways, sort the water companies out, get 'NEETS' into work, TRANS Rights, more GPs, more NHS dentists, etc. (And some silly things just for spite, such as VAT on private school fees, the unintended consequence of which will be that any small amount of tax gain will be offset by fewer kids in private school who will thus have to be educated at public expense, costing more than any benefit gain from the VAT raised, but hey - it's 'levelling down', so that's mission accomplished').

'Time for Change' is the mantra - I can't wait for the 'new dawn'.

The worst possible outcome would be a 'Hung Parliament', where - to get anything done - Labour would need the support of the fringe parties - SNP, Welsh Nats, N.I. Greens. Lib-Dems etc, so they would hold the balance of power. Yet more people to pander to.

I'm just thankful that Labour lost the last General Election. I can't imagine how Corbyn would have handled the Brexit, the pandemic, Ukraine, while he would have been busy nationalising water, gas, electricity, trains etc etc. At least if he'd have had a party, they'd have all been drinking herbal tea from his allotment.

Ho hum...

 

[sploo]

I'm just thankful that Labour lost the last General Election. I can't imagine how Corbyn would have handled the Brexit, the pandemic, Ukraine, while he would have been busy nationalising water, gas, electricity, trains etc etc. At least if he'd have had a party, they'd have all been drinking herbal tea from his allotment.

No fan of Corbyn, but... I dunno... I mean; could anyone have handled the mess of Brexit worse than the current lot (given that it's the same people that promised the country the impossible, and left themselves in a position where all they could do is blame everyone else - the EU, the "wokes", the "left", the "lawyers" - in order to deflect from their own deception and failures to deliver unicorns).

As for the pandemic... in the end the government did a rather "socialist" thing of providing furlough payments to keep companies afloat (so I assume a Corbyn government would have likely done the same). Plus I suspect he would have attended fewer birthday parties at No 10.

Ukraine... quite possibly that would have been worse (in terms of us supporting the Ukraine), granted.

Right now I'd settle for a government of Count Binface and Screaming Lord Sutch. In lurching towards becoming "Bluekip" the Tories have ethnically cleansed themselves of any remotely decent or competent members, and left us with a shower of the most inept and cruel; so it's hard to envisage any other party at this time being worse for the country.

 

[redhunter350]

Until the late 1800s, only landowners had the right to vote. After the Third Reform Act in 1884, 60% of male householders over the age of 21 had the vote. This left 40% who did not – including the poorest in society. Thus millions of soldiers returning from World War I would still not have been entitled to vote in the long overdue general election. The ‘Representation of the People Act 1918 gave all men over the age of 21 the vote, and all women over the age of 30. It wasn’t until 1928 that the voting age for women as dropped to 21.

In WW2, many of those who fought and died and are buried in foreign lands were themselves too young to vote. In England and Wales, of 16,000 villages there are only 52 'Thankful Villages' - the term which denotes that all who served in the war returned alive. And there are only 12 'Doubly Thankful Villages' where all men in both WW1 & WW2 survived.

Whether or nor people think whoever they vote for 'they're all as bad as one another' it does seem disrespectful to those who served to preserve our freedoms, to just not bother. I'm an old guy - when I started work in 1954, the chap I worked with had piloted Lancasters in Bomber Command ten years earlier. when he was aged 22. The rest of the crew called him 'Pop' as they were all aged under 20, and all volunteers.

It's out of respect for them that I'll be voting.

It seems highly likely that Labour will win, but they've promised the moon, the stars and the rising sun raising impossibly high expectations in the minds of some, which they simply won't be able to deliver. Trade Unions, teachers, doctors, nurses, train drivers, the electorate, (waiting lists down, get a grip on immigration, 'stop the boats' housing, 'green' policies, environmental pollution, bring crime rates down, bring fuel costs down, nationalise the railways, sort the water companies out, get 'NEETS' into work, TRANS Rights, more GPs, more NHS dentists, etc. (And some silly things just for spite, such as VAT on private school fees, the unintended consequence of which will be that any small amount of tax gain will be offset by fewer kids in private school who will thus have to be educated at public expense, costing more than any benefit gain from the VAT raised, but hey - it's 'levelling down', so that's mission accomplished').

'Time for Change' is the mantra - I can't wait for the 'new dawn'.

The worst possible outcome would be a 'Hung Parliament', where - to get anything done - Labour would need the support of the fringe parties - SNP, Welsh Nats, N.I. Greens. Lib-Dems etc, so they would hold the balance of power. Yet more people to pander to.

I'm just thankful that Labour lost the last General Election. I can't imagine how Corbyn would have handled the Brexit, the pandemic, Ukraine, while he would have been busy nationalising water, gas, electricity, trains etc etc. At least if he'd have had a party, they'd have all been drinking herbal tea from his allotment.

Ho hum...

Could not agree more Yorkiguy -- all should vote and respect those who made sure we have the freedom to do so --- 14 days from now my Dad was landing in Normandy, fortunately he survived but many did not ! I have never forgotten what he said to me when I was 21 --- " I'm not going to tell you who to vote for but vote for who you believe to be the lesser of the evils and always beware the back room boys in Whitehall " The back room boys 'n' girls are not voted for and pull the strings !!

Also postal voting should be minimal and only allowed for specific circumstances the burden of proof for the right to a postal vote being on the voter
Rant over !

 

[Jacob]

Bit of history here:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I'd rather vote for a lettuce than the bunch of entitled muppets currently pretending they have a clue.

Discounts everyone, really.

 

[sploo]

Discounts everyone, really.

I don't find any of the UK's current politicians inspiring, but I do feel that the "they're all as bad as one another" argument excuses the extremes. In terms of competence (or rather, lack therefore) and personal quality/integrity few are as terrible as the likes of Raab, Truss, Braverman, and Rees-Mogg - so it's a dangerous game to tar all MPs with the same brush.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The worst possible outcome would be a 'Hung Parliament', where - to get anything done - Labour would need the support of the fringe parties - SNP, Welsh Nats, N.I. Greens. Lib-Dems etc, so they would hold the balance of power. Yet more people to pander to.

There has to be a better system than FPTP, though. I've spent fifty years voting for people purely to keep someone else out - that can't be right.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

few are as terrible as the likes of Raab, Truss, Braverman, and Rees-Mogg ...

Well, I suppose if we're being partisan I can't imagine anything worse than Lammy, Rayner, Lady Nugee and co.

 

[sploo]

Well, I suppose if we're being partisan I can't imagine anything worse than Lammy, Rayner, Lady Nugee and co.

But have they displayed the same level of incompetence + cruelty as the likes of Braverman?

I'd likely disagree with most of the political policies of the likes of Rory Stewart or Dominic Grieve; but I'd consider both to have a level of competence and decency that's completely alien to the current Tory front bench.

Point is - the kakistocracy we have now transcends any partisan issues; I wouldn't hesitate to vote for Stewart and Grieve over them.

 

[selectortone]

kakistocracy

I had to look that up. How apt.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

But have they displayed the same level of incompetence + cruelty as the likes of Braverman?

They haven't had the chance. Yet. I'd happily have Braverman for P.M.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I wouldn't hesitate to vote for Stewart and Grieve over them.

As would I if they hadn't been so pro EU.

 

[RobinBHM]

Surely this thread is not allowed?

Im happy to contribute, but rules......

 

[RobinBHM]

Yet. I'd happily have Braverman for P.M

Suella Braverman policies: