Off Topic The Politics Thread

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Should the UK remain a part of the EU or leave?

  • Stay in

    Votes: 56 47.9%
  • Get out

    Votes: 61 52.1%

  • Total voters
    117
  • Poll closed .
the reason I left Acton in 2007 for the SW. Overcrowding. I can only guess how bad the tube is Monday rush hour. It's bad enough Saturdays when arriving 12ish at Waterloo to watch the r's

I used to take the train to central London from Clapham South. In the 90's occasionally it got crowded in the mornings if there were works ongoing or an incident. I was talking to the daughter of a friend who said she takes the same train but has to go south every morning to Tooting or Wimbledon before she can force her way on.

Nowadays there's more "rats!" in rat-race than ever before
 
If you are an English plumber; who turns up on time, provides concise costings, is pleasant, and does a good, timely job with no "hidden extras" - you are going to be fine. As we discussed earlier on this thread - once you are known as a good workman, you build up a clientele.

if you are an English plumber; who doesn't turn up when you said, does a shoddy job, overcharges, adds on "sundries", is rude, leaves a job half finished then disappears claiming you were in hospital for a week - you are going to get bettered by a Romanian plumber.

There's a general downturn on wages for all workers, but especially blue collar workers I appreciate that - it's not going to get any better by replacing hard working EU workers, with workshy, terrible English workers.
staggered anyone who votes Labour would vote Remain too. It's the working class that has been hit hardest with our membership. Be it jobs, housing, doctors appointments etc. On the other side of the coin regarding your plumber story. A friend was telling me his brother (a brickie) was undercut by some Polish workers. They ended up making a right pigs ear of the job and when the customer went back to my mates brother he had to quote a higher price than the original to put the job right. So there are cowboy builders coming over too
 
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the reason I left Acton in 2007 for the SW. Overcrowding. I can only guess how bad the tube is Monday rush hour. It's bad enough Saturdays when arriving 12ish at Waterloo to watch the r's

They need to build more council houses, and exclude non-nationals
I used to take the train to central London from Clapham South. In the 90's occasionally it got crowded in the mornings if there were works ongoing or an incident. I was talking to the daughter of a friend who said she takes the same train but has to go south every morning to Tooting or Wimbledon before she can force her way on.

Nowadays there's more "rats!" in rat-race than ever before

Used to be as bad ten years ago when I lived south, can't really get on past Balham in the peak. I don't miss that Northern Line one bit. I now get ASLEF's hated Nemesis the DLR to work - much more civilised.
 
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John Bercow, as Speaker, has just spoken out against Trump addressing MPs during his state visit.

Well played sir.
 
Even good blue collar workers get undercut by workers from low wage economies who are prepared to live in poor conditions. Sure, good workers may build up a clientele but in these times of austerity, if consumers think they can get the same job done for 2/3rds the price, they will probably jump at it. And what of young English workers who have yet to build the customer base?

Nevertheless, I think your general point about sheltering poor workers from competition is well made, Tooting.
And for now British workers can and do do the same, go and work in other more highly paid EEA countries than the UK, like Norway, if they wish. On your bike as I guess your much loved Thatcher said.
 
And for now British workers can and do do the same, go and work in other more highly paid EEA countries than the UK, like Norway, if they wish. On your bike as I guess your much loved Thatcher said.

On your bike, was Norman Tebbit's maxim. The problem is that most English workers don't want to work abroad. Things have been good here, and that's part of the resentment, I think. In Poland and Romania, while I don't doubt their love of their mother country, it's pretty good to get away.

This goes to something more fundamental. Many countries in Europe use the EU as a vehicle to avoid a repeat of something historically unwelcome. Germany is obvious. Spain and Portugual escape fascism too. The Eastern block countries escape communism. France and Greece wanted to avoid occupation, and so do the Low Countries and Scandinavia, and also these smaller countries see strength in numbers. Italy wanted protection from itself after Mussolini.

As an island, the UK is fortunate to be different. There is nothing dark that are trying to flee for which the EU will provide a refuge. This is important in the psyche of your average Brexiteer.
 
John Bercow, as Speaker, has just spoken out against Trump addressing MPs during his state visit.

Well played sir.


Incredibly rare this.
He could be in deep do-do. Many may agree with his sentiments, but he may well have overstepped the mark.
 
Incredibly rare this.
He could be in deep do-do. Many may agree with his sentiments, but he may well have overstepped the mark.

I would have thought he'd be confident in his position. After all, he's not commenting on the State visit as a whole, just the possibility that Trump might be invited to address parliament.
 
On your bike, was Norman Tebbit's maxim. The problem is that most English workers don't want to work abroad. Things have been good here, and that's part of the resentment, I think. In Poland and Romania, while I don't doubt their love of their mother country, it's pretty good to get away.

This goes to something more fundamental. Many countries in Europe use the EU as a vehicle to avoid a repeat of something historically unwelcome. Germany is obvious. Spain and Portugual escape fascism too. The Eastern block countries escape communism. France and Greece wanted to avoid occupation, and so do the Low Countries and Scandinavia, and also these smaller countries see strength in numbers. Italy wanted protection from itself after Mussolini.

As an island, the UK is fortunate to be different. There is nothing dark that are trying to flee for which the EU will provide a refuge. This is important in the psyche of your average Brexiteer.

There are quite a lot of British working in Norway. I suspect more than any stats will show.
 
I'd have thought those opposed to Trump, his views and his policies might be better off engaging with the man in the hope of influencing him, rather than pursuing a policy of censure. We accord processions down the Mall and audiences with Her Majesty for Saudi princes and Chinese premiers. I'm not aware Donald has had anybody executed just yet.
 
I'd have thought those opposed to Trump, his views and his policies might be better off engaging with the man in the hope of influencing him, rather than pursuing a policy of censure. We accord processions down the Mall and audiences with Her Majesty for Saudi princes and Chinese premiers. I'm not aware Donald has had anybody executed just yet.

Agreed. Better for political leaders to try to talk with him. Processions are fine with me as long as demonstrations are allowed all along his procession routes and everywhere he goes.
 
according to the bbc most leave voters are thicker than stay voters

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A statistical analysis of the data obtained for over a thousand individual local government wards confirms how the strength of the local Leave vote was strongly associated with lower educational qualifications.
Wards where the population had fewer qualifications tended to have a higher Leave vote, as shown in the chart. If the proportion of the local electorate with a degree or similar qualification was one percentage point lower, then on average the leave vote was higher by nearly one percentage point.
 
according to the bbc most leave voters are thicker than stay voters

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A statistical analysis of the data obtained for over a thousand individual local government wards confirms how the strength of the local Leave vote was strongly associated with lower educational qualifications.
Wards where the population had fewer qualifications tended to have a higher Leave vote, as shown in the chart. If the proportion of the local electorate with a degree or similar qualification was one percentage point lower, then on average the leave vote was higher by nearly one percentage point.

You've condemned us to several pages of people moaning that a degree is no indicator of intelligence, all they do is Media Studies, University of Life etc etc.
 
I'd have thought those opposed to Trump, his views and his policies might be better off engaging with the man in the hope of influencing him, rather than pursuing a policy of censure. We accord processions down the Mall and audiences with Her Majesty for Saudi princes and Chinese premiers. I'm not aware Donald has had anybody executed just yet.

Shoosh Uber you are not allowed to bring up facts that make all those protesters look like hypocrites! Trump is worse than Hitler/Stalin and Pol Pot and Mao zedung. Forget all the Millions that were killed under the others because Trump has done worse like wanting to build a wall said the word P@@@y or put on a tempory flight ban! He is Satan! Let's stop him from coming to the UK! I would rather have those lovely Saudi or Chinese lot anytime.
 
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