Ot- May calls for election in June.

[Andy_Faber]

Can't agree. The Whitehall mandarins may have too much power and successive governments may not have done enough about organised tax evasion however philosophy is everything. The last five Tory PM's have shown little other than contempt for public services but look at the improvements made or put in place for hospitals and schools between 1997-2010. Labour has many faults but, for those who care about Education and the NHS, a Tory government with a bigger majority is really not an option.

But regretably I think a Conservative landslide is what we will get.

As a matter of interest, did you vote in the Labour leadership election? The reason I ask is that I have observed, and eventually stuck my ample nose into, a number of discussions dominated by folk who 'want' the Conservatives out of power, see Corbyn as the biggest obstacle to that, but couldn't be arsed to do the obvious thing about it, join the Labour Party and vote him out. Anyone who espouses socialist/welfare-focussed ideals yet didn't take the golden opportunity to make their vote REALLY count (in 2015 and even more so in 2016) only have themselves to blame for possibly a generation of 'never kick a man unless he's down' government.

This doesn't give any indication how I will vote by the way, its just an observation!

[ramAnag]

But regretably I think a Conservative landslide is what we will get.

As a matter of interest, did you vote in the Labour leadership election? The reason I ask is that I have observed, and eventually stuck my ample nose into, a number of discussions dominated by folk who 'want' the Conservatives out of power, see Corbyn as the biggest obstacle to that, but couldn't be arsed to do the obvious thing about it, join the Labour Party and vote him out. Anyone who espouses socialist/welfare-focussed ideals yet didn't take the golden opportunity to make their vote REALLY count (in 2015 and even more so in 2016) only have themselves to blame for possibly a generation of 'never kick a man unless he's down' government.

This doesn't give any indication how I will vote by the way, its just an observation!

Fair question and I didn't Andy...no, because I'm not and never have been a member of the Labour Party...never have been a believer in towing any party line. I do wonder how many people took that opportunity to join Labour on the cheap just to screw things up or is that just another conspiracy theory? Certainly can't ever remember a time when any leader has been quite so out of step with the parliamentary party but although my views are broadly centre/liberal left, not being a Party member I didn't feel I had a right to vote.