What you are forgetting is that the Tory machine is very successful at winning elections. It is what they do. Never mind policy, people, politicians or anything - just get elected and keep the elite in control. Labour on the other hand are clueless. They go out of their way to do things that alienate the electorate. When you stop to think about it it is incredible that a Party that ultimately represents the elite few are able to dominate British politics by persuading so many working people - most of us - to vote for them. They would not call an election in the next six months in any circumstance - it is not what they do. They will hold on till 2024 in the hope that inflation and recession are past so they can let us know how brilliant they were in responding to the pandemic and Putin.
I largely agree, but it's easy when your backers control virtually all of the media. Now that the Tories have taken over the BBC and are threatening Channel 4, it's only getting worse. They also don't persuade most working people to vote for them. Only 67.3% of eligible voters turned up last time and they got 43.6% of that. They also failed to poll over 50% of the vote in any age category, apart from the over 65s. Workers didn't put them into power, Murdoch and friends persuaded retirees to do it.
Britain is running out of water and power and it's a national scandal - The Telegraph. https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https://www...britain-running-water-power-national-scandal/ "The public should not be expected to pay for the repeated failures of an entire industry." Have I finally gone mental? I agree with virtually all of this, right up until the end. The industry won't regulate itself and they'll just bribe politicians to avoid it. He's blinded by unswerving devotion to an ideology that doesn't work.
Like PNP, I largely agree with you. And I do not think for 1 minute they will call an early election - but for the very reason that they will lose, regardless of their 'control' of the tame media and client journos. As regards Opposition/ new Government, I'm strongly in favour of PR, so would vote for just about any Party campaigning on that mandate. Labour I think are now on board, but there will have to be political pragmatism on the part of all Parties to achieve the first goal - getting the current fascist regime replaced.
I wonder why Rishi Sunak is losing so badly? Also ironic that Mr Go Back To America almost certainly voted for an American-born PM.
Schapps is obviously looking for excuses to keep himself busy while he's refusing to meet with RMT officials again
This is the kind of thing you have to fear following Brexit. We already allow lorries not to spend £50 on proper rain guards for the wheels of these monster vehicles so when you pass them in heavy rain you just cannot see through the spray. Europe would not allow this. What next? No tachograph? so drivers can be made to drive for hours at a time. Relaxing of the speed limiters? You can see already that white vans are the fastest vehicles on the roads as their drivers try to make a living under huge pressures from their parent companies. These huge trucks will do 100mph unlimited. How scary is that. Vote Tory we will make Britain more competitive, just like China. The irony of extreme right is that they end up with the same policies as extreme left.
The argument behind privatisation was that the competition created would improve services and keep prices under control. When has there ever been competition in the water industry? And what choice do consumers have? They maximise profits with little effective regulation. The biggest scandal is how they get away with underinvestment in the infrastructure resulting in billions of gallons of water being leaked away.
It seems to be a success story. Scottish Water doesn’t make a profit. It doesn’t have to make money for shareholders. The privatised companies in England do - so we seem to have higher prices and less investment. Neither have competition. One operates to provide a service to customers, the other to maximise profits.
The backers don't just control the media - they control virtually the whole of society. The Tories always had the BBC - it is a national institution and as such is run by the elite and always has been as are universities and every other part of the apex of societal control.. They are the clever ones as they feign impartiality etc and from time to time toss the populace a crumb - or allow a non threatening alternative to gain power for a while to maintain the illusion of democracy. Percentages are not relevant really when looking at elections - it only takes 40% to win power generally and abstentions and apathy are a norm. The Tories win only because most people are blind to what sort of society they actually live in and so play the voting game. In my book we are almost all workers - even those with highly paid jobs - with the proviso that those jobs were gained not by the old school tie, nepotism etc. Most people stand virtually zero chance - however much they earn of breaking into the elite.
Slight difference in rainfall though - could be why droughts do not affect Scotland as much as anything
We are not short of water and it will be a nice little earner when we sell it with the electricity to England. Most of the pylons in Scotland take the power to England. What with water, electricity and oil it's no wonder they don't want to lose Scotland.
I too am in favour of PR - not because I think it is a particularly good system but because it makes control by one party almost impossible which means there has to be trade- offs and compromise. First past the post is totally adversarial in order to produce a winner. I fear that if Labour did come round to believe in PR they would change their minds once in power as they would not want to share it. If they made it a manifesto commitment the media would go mental as the elite would seriously find it harder to get their way in a PR system.
Scotland has to stop fighting itself if they want to be independent. I think the time is fast approaching though.
