Changes to the pension credits are about to kick in, which will seriously harm the poorer people. Until now pension credits could be claimed when the first person in a marriage/partnership reached pensionable age. Now they can’t be claimed until the second person reaches pensionable age. This could short change a couple by up to 7k per annum, and, I guess, force people who have worked hard all their life to carry on working. Seems to me that the tories are hell bent on ostracising their core support age group, with this, tv licence, waspi, raising the retirement age etc.
What the Tories are lacking is a visión. Some want to drift this way, others want to pull in the opposite direction. This has been apparent since Major lost in 1997. May seems to have her tail pulled by the ERG members, Cameron was like a dog in which he went iwhere there was a tasty morsel to feed on What May urgently needs to do is provide leadership and visión now before she is cast aside by another bumbling visionless leader. She needs to have the nerve to revoke Article 50, even if it means turmoil for her party who in this scenario are the least important players in this game. A proper Conservative would never ever countenance Brexit. A proper Conservative would never have given in to the demands from the extremists for a referendum particularly as there was no need for one. A proper Conservative would never betray the people of Gibraltar, Northern Ireland or Scotland. A proper Conservative is Michael Heseltine, John Major, Edwina Currie, Ken Clarke, Anna Soubry, Nicky Morgan, Dominic Grieve. The Brexiteers are betraying the true values of British Conservatism. Enrol in your local associations, become members and get rid of the likes of Royston Smith, Suella Braverman, Rees-Mogg, Bill Cash!!
I had a thought about what the polls say. Results for parties polling higher than 1% in 2014: Bexit supporting (or generally so) in Red UKIP: 27 Tories: 24 Labour: 23 Green: 7 Liberal: 7 SNP: 2 An independence from Europe: 1 BNP: 1 Leave parties: 53% Opinion poll today in the Observer: Brexit: 34 Labour: 21 Liberal: 12 Conservative: 11 Green: 8 UKIP: 4 SNP: 4 Change UK: 3 Leave parties: 49% Not quite as seismic as it looks at first glance. And yes, I know, Labour buggers up the calculations. The problem is, how do you counter someone who today said "We'll never have a manifesto" and whose strategy is basically to say "Vote for us, everything will be just fine if you vote for us. Don't worry, we'll make it all OK, little one. Vote for us"? I'm buggered if I know because I see people everywhere (here included) who fall for it. The only people who might have got it right are the Lib Dems with "Bollocks to Brexit", Simple, emotive and clear. More power to their elbow. Vin
Democracy has it’s limitations. We’re certainly finding that out. Generally speaking, the better informed the electorate, the better you can expect a democracy to function. We do not, in this country, have a particularly well informed electorate. And we certainly don’t have anything like a balanced, responsible news media.
I've just completed my overseas postal ballot paper It'll get back in time to be counted. Pity there's no pirate party candidate. Came across this when searching tactical voting https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2019...-choice-facing-remainers-in-the-ep-elections/ Gave up after few paragraphs and opened another bottle of Leffe blonde one more and clarity will be mine. I've added "and Boris, **** off Farage" to the Bollocks to brexit slogan. Jab
Had I not chosen to vote in the UK MEP election I'd have been a pirate. Ancilla van de Leest leader of the Pirate party is a Dutch politician, former fetish model, producer, presenter and activist. I haven't seen her on a list of candidates though. please log in to view this image Jab
Either Plaid Cymru or the Greens. Neither have much of a chance of winning in this area, unfortunately, as Labour tends to have a stranglehold.
The last vote was on the world ocean day, so I voted Green then. Think I'll be more spiteful this time. Sadly. Can't stand the big two, they have done nothing to even ask of me.
As I haven't been represented by an MP of my political persuasion since they put my area into Romsey & Southampton North [how bloody ridiculous is that?] it really makes no difference how I vote, but I will all the same. At least I can vote with my conscience. For me the priorities are in order of most important: 1] taking measures to stop/slow/defeat/reverse/whatever human induced climate change. A very distant second... 2] defeating the ridiculous headlong crash towards exiting the European Union. A very distant third... 3] everything else. Seeing that nobody is capable of solving either of those first two without pissing off loads of uninformed people, I suspect it will come down to the petty bickering again. Meanwhile my belief that the majority of this generation really doesn't give a **** about their children and grandchildren continues to grow. So either Green or Lib Dem for me.
It's a form of PR that penalises smaller parties where there aren't enough seats up for grabs. It'll heavily favour the Brexit Party with their current polling and hurt the more remainy parties as the vote's being split amongst three of them (four in Scotland). What'll be majored on by remain parties is the 'Remain' vote share, while the brexit parties will major on 'Brexit' seats won, as sure as eggs are eggs. Vin
