Election Year or Fear!

[ramAnag]

Sorry RA I know you are naturally defensive over this crap, but had this been the Tories in power, you?d have been losing your ****

Okay. As ever we see things differently. Not sure what it’s got to do with the Tories being in power. This is all about the Green manifesto isn’t it?
I’m far from being in full agreement with all they suggest, but I think you’re wrong to just try and dismiss them as a bunch of extremists. Maybe need to look closer to home for that.

[Ram Pant]

Yet another bunch of coconuts I wouldn't vote for.

[swaledale]

Yet another bunch of coconuts I wouldn't vote for.

I respectfully disagree with you that they are mad! Yes they ahve some ideas and policies that are divergent from the norm, but then one does have to ask the question, look where the "norm" has got us.

But they also have some policies worth thinking about, I note some scoff at ideas on defence, yet in reality, the UK is never going to be able to muster a force that can seriously be an opposition to say Russia or indeed China.

We have a nuclear deterrent, thats effectively controlled and supplied by the US and in reality, Russia or China could wipe out the Uk, whislt we could only inflict damage on a small proportion of either of those countries.

In terms of tax, some rebalancing of the tax system so that the very wealthy pay more, rather than simply accumulating more wealth at the expense of the majorit yof the population is a good idea, the devil of course is in the detail.

Climate change is real whatever the naysayers claim, there is therefore a need to focus on dealing with it and in a manner that does not put the burden on the poorest people in society.

Thats not to say I necessarily agree with their polices but at the very least they should involve discussions as to how things might be done differently.

Nor am I convinced that Polanski is anything other than a charismatic showman. I'd quite like there to be a more left leaning, even more socialist government, I'm too much of a realist to believe that the human race is capable of making it work though, human nature being what it is and all the evidence being that power corrupts whatever system is in place. But unregulated and "free" capitlism certainly has grave faults.

In the end one has to settle for the best that is available and hope to avoid the worst that all the evidence suggests will be a disaster.

Maybe Labour can pull it around we shall see no doubt. But in a situation where voting green will keep reform or some other right wing party out, I'd have no hesitation in voting for them.

[SithHappens]

Greens still odds on to win in Gorton. I wouldn't choose to vote for them and don't consider Polanski a serious option, but i would still choose them over Reform.

I can't quite work out whats causing the uplift in their popularity.

[ramAnag]

Greens still odds on to win in Gorton. I wouldn't choose to vote for them and don't consider Polanski a serious option, but i would still choose them over Reform.

I can't quite work out whats causing the uplift in their popularity.

I suspect it’s because, as I think Swale implied, it should normally be a safe Labour seat but traditional Labour voters are expressing their dissatisfaction and moving to the Greens.
Voting Tory would just be a wasted vote. The LibDems seem to have lost their way and voting for Goodwin/Farage should be anathema to any original Labour voter.

[SithHappens]

Talk about a knee jerk reaction.

I’m not a supporter of the Greens, although they would certainly have my vote next Thursday if I thought it was the likeliest way to keep the hate mongers out of power.

Having said that, SOME of your criticisms are just unfounded.

1. Migrants are no more synonymous with criminals, terrorists and s*x pests than are our own ‘home reared’ wrongdoers.
2. There are already smack heads etc behind the wheel and in pubs, clubs and shopping centres. Polanski just seems to be advocating a public health driven policy on drug use rather than the existing one which, by your own definition of the current situation, has obviously failed. He may be right, he may be wrong but at least he’s offered an alternative to the current failed system.
3. There is a shortage of council housing in this country and a surfeit of privately owned rental property. I wouldn’t seek to discredit all private landlords but, from what we see on TV, there sure as hell are some bad and unscrupulous ones. IF this is a way of providing more responsible and less profit driven property ownership then is that a bad thing?
4. Another one that needs thinking through, but I don’t think anyone is ‘crucifying a whole gender’.
5. Pass. Inclined to agree but don’t know enough about their policy.
6. What is wrong with supporting Palestine Action? A question which seems to have been asked in rather higher places than this forum in the last week.
7. Another grown up conversation needed. I don’t know how we can possibly have the services we demand without paying for them via higher taxes. Apparently you and NF do. Feel free to share.
8. Have you seen the weather recently? Again I don’t know if this is just a horribly cold and wet winter that seems to have gone on for ever, but I do know that there seem to be more weather related catastrophes these days than ever before. Seems to me that any ‘madness’ lies with the climate change deniers.

In the words of Bob Dylan, ‘Don’t criticise what you can’t understand.’

im a private landlord and consider myself a good one. Our tenants have a bargain, they are paying around 200 under thr going rate, but im ok with that as im not after short term profit but of course my long term goal is to have a property I can sell and supplement my pension.

I think if they targeted landlords it would be those with multiple properties but who knows.

Ours must be happy, they have been in it 8 years, forcing me to sell would put them out of what is really their home.

[Andy_Faber]

I think if they targeted landlords it would be those with multiple properties but who knows.

.

That would be me then!

I just don’t see this ‘social housing good, private landlords bad’ thing, certainly wrt myself and any other landlords I know.

[SithHappens]

I suspect it’s because, as I think Swale implied, it should normally be a safe Labour seat but traditional Labour voters are expressing their dissatisfaction and moving to the Greens.
Voting Tory would just be a wasted vote. The LibDems seem to have lost their way and voting for Goodwin/Farage should be anathema to any original Labour voter.

Still can't work out whats causing the dissatisfaction. I know there have been a few scandals, Mandelson, Rayner but its nothing compared to the tories. I just think the scrutiny on Labour is magnified many many times over and above that of the tories time in charge.

But we know the media has a huge influence in voters opinions. Look at 2010, murdoch had been supporting Labour since 97, but a visit from Cameron and that changed and the tories won.

Any ho, old ground I know.

[ramAnag]

Still can't work out whats causing the dissatisfaction. I know there have been a few scandals, Mandelson, Rayner but its nothing compared to the tories. I just think the scrutiny on Labour is magnified many many times over and above that of the tories time in charge.

But we know the media has a huge influence in voters opinions. Look at 2010, murdoch had been supporting Labour since 97, but a visit from Cameron and that changed and the tories won.

Any ho, old ground I know.

I wasn’t agreeing with the dissatisfaction, Sith, just acknowledging it as a possible cause for the move towards the Greens.
Agree about the influence of the media and although I’d prefer to see the top 10% targeted more from a taxation point of view, I still think Starmer is a big improvement on what we’ve seen for the last decade and a half.

[SithHappens]

That would be me then!

I just don’t see this ‘social housing good, private landlords bad’ thing, certainly wrt myself and any other landlords I know.

Bad landlords do give all of us a bad name unfortunately.