I would just say read the responses on this forum. Go on pick a few at random. My guess is that, apart from the odd transposed lose/loose or the occasional their/there they will generally be well written, tolerably spelled and with adequate grammar. Now ask yourself this. Why is it? To begin I doubt that you will find many on here who believe in a god of any type, still fewer will believe that the earth is flat. My contention is that the authors generally belong to the top half of the population in terms of education and intelligence. Actually that will be around 48%.
Did you know that statistically Saints fans are reckoned to be the highest educated supporters in the land. When I go to St. Mary's the woman who sits next to me actually has three degrees as does the bloke who sits with her. I have a City and Guilds while the very lovely Mrs Godders has a Cert Ed..
Is Johnson even a Conservative or is he a signed up member of the DUP? If the Conservative party has respect for itself, and I am sure many members abhore the direction it has taken, then action needs to be taken to remove Johnson and the ERG from their jobs in Government and ultimately, remove them from the party. There are both opposites and parallels here with Labour. Kinnock managed to remove the Socialist Workers and the Labour party remained largely free of such elements until Momentum infiltrated the party.
Just heard Johnson´s speech on YouTube and what a contrast with Cameron. Whatever one´s thoughts about Cameron, he was statesmanlike. Johnson, in contrast, is like the bumbling drunk in the pub. He probably was after the previous night´s party. Whatever one´s persuasión, is this man fit for office? For Conservatives on here, why didn´t you go for the voice of some sanity, like Rory Stewart? Johnson brings shame to the party and the country. Or was he elected by its MPs and members, knowing he is going to end up with egg all over his face?
He is the mirror image of Corbyn and the ERG of Momentum. Both reflect the populism of Trump and this desire to sate the dissatisfaction of those at the bottom of the heap by throwing them a few coins to buy themselves a couple of pints in Wetherspoons. Utterly cynical exploitation of the weak of intellect. What is apparent also is that the 52% who voted Leave seems to comprise of many of those who we used to refer to as ESN.
It is about time that the media highlighted the fact that the in-name only Conservative party is now very definitely sectarian as the DUP was invited to attend the conference and Johnson et al have attended DUP meetings. It has definitely had sectarian leanings since Cameron united the UK Conservatives with the Unionist party in Northern Ireland, but as the Official Unionists have declined in strength, low and behold the Tories see mileage in an associaton that is closer than just the mere need for votes.
It’s worth remembering that when the all-Ireland referendum on the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement took place, there was only one party, North or South, Republican or Unionist, Protestant or Catholic, that campaigned against it. That was the DUP, who apparently had no desire to end the terror, bombing, and murder which had plagued the island for centuries. The Confidence and Supply arrangement which Theresa May entered into with the DUP actually broke the terms of the GFA, which required the UK government to remain neutral in dealing with NI. Paradoxically, however, it’s now very obvious, with Johnson’s preposterous new proposals, that the Tories are no longer the Unionist party they always prided themselves on being. The fact that they seem perfectly happy to see Ireland reunited and Scotland leave the UK, just so that a bunch of already fat cats can get even fatter, is sickening.
I can’t claim to understand what motivates former coal miners in Virginia or factory workers in Michigan because I’ve never met any. By coincidence though, I watched Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 11/9 last night. He produced statistical evidence to suggest that the majority of the US public is progressive, egalitarian, and tolerant, but consistently let down by a rigged political establishment that continually delivers right wing governments in the pay of powerful lobbyists. Isn’t it at least partly the case that Trump narrowly won the Presidency because Hilary Clinton was a thoroughly remote establishment candidate with nothing to offer former industrial communities? And isn’t it also true that the Democratic Party manipulated the electoral college to effectively rob Bernie Sanders of the candidacy? Your country might have elected it’s first avowedly Socialist President. Instead you got Trump. Michael Moore makes a compelling case for attributing some responsibility for this disaster to the Democratic Party’s own leadership. In the UK, the Leave vote was highest in former industrial regions where the sons of daughters of coal miners and steel workers felt abandoned by every political party. Nothing to do with religion, although in the early days Trade Unions and the Labour Party did have several non conformist religious allies (my grandad was adamant that Jesus was the first Socialist. This conviction was bolstered by Cardinal Newman’s active support of the London Dock Strike of 1889. But I digress). Incidentally, I wouldn’t want to work down a coal mine or in a steel mill. But if those jobs kept whole communities reasonably prosperous, and allowed working people to hold their heads high, I can absolutely see why an early death from silicosis was considered a price worth paying. That’s a side issue though - those jobs are gone, and they aren’t coming back. The issue in the U.K. is that the jobs which have replaced them are generally insecure, offer appalling conditions, and don’t pay enough to live on.
I think part of the problem with Brexit and Ireland is that The Tories and the DUP still regard Eire as the enemy. In many ways the GFA was seen as a defeat by those hoping to destroy Sinn Fein/ IRA militarily. This has festered in their febrile minds over the past two decades and they now see via Brexit the opportunity to get some kind of payback.
I hope that’s not true. I suspect it isn’t, and that in reality they just don’t give a ****. Which, effectively, is just as bad.
Absolutely. Why should they care, as long as Crispin Odey and co. continue to make billions and pay zero tax?
That's not the Tory mentality not to care. These things rankle with them down the generations. They would have seen the GFA as an affront to Thatcher's undeclared shoot to kill policy. Those Pfeffel supporting Tories are nuts, hence the exodus of reasonable people like Rory Stewart.
Perhaps he can do a good job by helping Lucinda Berger and the great Chuka, (I would love him back where he belongs in the Labour party as it was under the best PM ever, Tony Blair) elected.
There is something very likeable about this person, and in contrast with Johnson, Mogg, Cox, and Patel, he appears to be a very unassuming individual, understanding even. If he is standing as an Independent, I would vote for him as he is standing apart from the divisions of party politics.
