Off Topic Politics Thread

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All this talk of worries about Chinese involvement are an excuse. This is purely about the new government not wanting anymore of these projects that the public know are siphoning public money into the private sector. If we want to build hospitals or power stations we should be borrowing the money and not agreeing to insane PFI type deals that cost more. Nothing to do with Chinese involvement. All to do with the public being onto this sort of deal.
Brother, I respect your ability to elucidate rather than the political position you come from. HOWEVER, your analysis is spot on..An insane PFI deal is what it is.
 
A bit like Boris Johnson not believing his own tripe. Yet he went through with it. I don't understand that mentality. They adopt a philosophy just to gain power for themselves. In Johnson's case, it backfired, then came good, of sorts. However, I believe he's being given enough rope. Well, here's hoping anyhow.

Actually, given his new role, I hope he makes a success of it...for all our sakes.
 
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I hope he makes an arse of himself really quickly and returns to newspaper comments and making documentaries about how good Turkey is.
Sorry! I was thinking of the country.
It's one thing to criticise a Labour/Conservative minister with regard to their performance, after the fact...especially if they represent an opposing political slant to one's own. It does seem a tad masochistic to want them to screw up when it can affect us all, especially at such a delicate time.
 
Sorry! I was thinking of the country.
It's one thing to criticise a Labour/Conservative minister with regard to their performance, after the fact...especially if they represent an opposing political slant to one's own. It does seem a tad masochistic to want them to screw up when it can affect us all, especially at such a delicate time.

So am I. :)
 
You believe want you want to believe. Just know that Trump himself doesn't believe it.

I agree with you on that. I am not a Trump supporter. Just an observer. Just like I am not a UKIP voter either. Doesn't mean I like all the establishment clones that talk the talk about helping the normal folks yet continue with their unabated defence of their own.
 
Boris is a liberal (by Tory standards) internationalist who speaks several languages & was partly educated abroad. Foreign Secretary would have been the perfect appointment dor him had he not repeatedly besmirched his own reputation both home and abroad. It still might be.

He starts with two major handicaps, having offended just about every foreign power at some point & having been seen to put his own country's future at risk out of naked self interest.

May is obviously backing him to overcome those handicaps and very quickly repair the damage he has done to his own reputation and that of his country. He certainly has the intellect to succeed. He also has the personality defects to ensure he screws it up. We live in interesting times.
 
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Honestly, I don't know.

We have the stupid electoral college system here in the US, where votes get proportioned by states. And those polls all show Clinton with a fairly decent advantage even if the popular vote is close.

But that's if the election took place today. When it comes to predicting the trends, no one has any clue. They can't figure out why anyone is voting for Trump in the first place (you can take from that what you like :D ).

In the end I think it will come down to who actually shows up at the polls. I think there are a larger than normal percent of Trump supporters who won't vote. A lot of them are trolls a la Milo Yiannopolis. They just want to piss everyone off, and they don't actually have to vote for Trump to do that. They can just say the voted for Trump. There are also a lot of anti-establishment types who are attracted to Trump, but they are so anti-establishment that they never vote.

OTOH, I think there are also a larger than normal percent of people who don't show up on polls who will vote for Trump. These include cranky old people who hate when people call them up and think it's none of your business asking them fool questions. And people who don't want to admit they like Trump because they don't want to be perceived as racists/imbeciles (some of them might actually be, some not).

How many mainstream Republicans will grit their teeth and vote for Trump vs gritting their teeth and voting for Clinton vs abstain? How many college kids will stick to their ideals and vote for a third party or abstain vs voting for Trump? How many blue collar union people will vote for Trump because they are worried about immigrants taking jobs vs voting for Clinton because Trump is anti-union?

Will there be more shootings? What about terrorists?

The thing most in Trump's favor is that he is untouchable. He's made every blunder in the book, been caught in lie after lie, no one knows what his policies are, he's insulted every other candidate and basically done everything you are NOT supposed to do. And it doesn't seem phase his supporters at all.

OTOH, Clinton has been in politics for a long time. And not just her, but her husband. So there are all sorts of things from the past that can be dredged up to hit her on. And she's not well-liked anyway.

So basically this gives Trump free license to just try to disrupt things in as many ways as he can. I think the more people see the election as a circus, or just start hating the whole thing, the more it suits Trump. Clinton has to play by the traditional rules to win. Trump has no rules.

Your response here deserves to be read by a wider audience.
 
Heard Michael Heseltine talking about his life in politics this morning on the Radio 4 "Reflections" programme. Very interesting to hear him talk about his time as a member of the Thatcher Government when he was Environment Secretary with responsibility to come up with ideas to rebuild derelict areas of the inner cities, his role in the Westland debacle and his views on BJ. Next time I go to a public library I'll search for his writings as I think they will make for interesting reading.
 
Heard Michael Heseltine talking about his life in politics this morning on the Radio 4 "Reflections" programme. Very interesting to hear him talk about his time as a member of the Thatcher Government when he was Environment Secretary with responsibility to come up with ideas to rebuild derelict areas of the inner cities, his role in the Westland debacle and his views on BJ. Next time I go to a public library I'll search for his writings as I think they will make for interesting reading.

Is that what he's into? <whistle>
 
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The Canadian Prime Minister is apparently wandering the country, shirtless...people keep running into him, mostly recently ending up accidentally photobombing someone's wedding photos while holding a surfboard.

This is not Canadian politics as usual.
 
The Canadian Prime Minister is apparently wandering the country, shirtless...people keep running into him, mostly recently ending up accidentally photobombing someone's wedding photos while holding a surfboard.

This is not Canadian politics as usual.


I'm afraid that even when your politicians are out of their minds on crack, they're not very interesting to the rest of the world. All eyes will forever be on your rumbunctious neighbours to the south. If you want to upstage them, you'll have to invade Russia or something.
 
I'm afraid that even when your politicians are out of their minds on crack, they're not very interesting to the rest of the world. All eyes will forever be on your rumbunctious neighbours to the south. If you want to upstage them, you'll have to invade Russia or something.

Our previous PM couldn't arouse even the slightest feeling when photographed holding several kittens. The guy before him admitted to eating pot brownies and was still duller than paste. And the guy before that went to such lengths that he choked a random protester and still didn't merit headlines.

We're trying, but interesting isn't our strong suit.
 
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Our previous PM couldn't arouse even the slightest feeling when photographed holding several kittens. The guy before him admitted to eating pot brownies and was still duller than paste. And the guy before that went to such lengths that he choked a random protester and still didn't merit headlines.

We're trying, but interesting isn't our strong suit.



Stick to being the nice Americans. Interesting is overrated (Trump is interesting).
 
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-37029170

Donald Trump again. Irrespective of what he actually meant by his comment, someone standing for the Presidency of the US really should be more careful with his language. There are enough nutters with guns out there for someone to take him literally whether he meant it or not. If he is made President he could start a war without meaning it!

EDIT: Sorry just seen this on the OT thread. :emoticon-0112-wonde