Political Discussion

[Guest bill]

as much as I like corbyn and agree w/ a lot of what he says, I do believe that he's way too far left to even think about getting the majority vote. from what I can see, the viewpoints of adults (most young people, who are typically more left-wing, refuse to vote) are getting more and more right-wing, due to fear-mongering and stuff from the media in regards to terrorism and immigration. with the way corbyn is, there is no way he has any chance of winning. it's unforunate, but even I as a very left-wing person can agree that sometimes he just goes a bit too far. he has no chance of becoming PM imo, even though I'd like him to. it's sad, and I really don't think I'd want any other politician who's running at the moment to get into power. worst case scenario imo is UKIP, and then Boris (if he runs). that would be awful. oh well

[Project LC]

I'm rather curious to find out what the forum thinks of the green party. Having a green MP and a green council my views on them seem to be against the norm to those who don't have them in a position of power. I guess I want to find out if my opinion on them is actually different to the GP.

[Ian-S]

We should leave the EU, it's corrupt beyond belief and really, what do we buy from mother Europe? Most stuff comes from China or other far flung places.

We have waited two years for our landlord to clear our drains (which are blocked), they have to comply with EU regulations which state that unless it is impossible to do, a ladder must not be used to gain access, a scaffolding tower must be errected instead, they simply can't afford it, so last week I got my dad's ladder and cleared the drains myself, took all of 20 minutes, the landlord told us it was a 2 day job, these regulations came from the EU, not H&S.

Travelling to the EU will be no different whatever we do, as you have to show your passport now to get in and out the UK, and our borders will be more secure if we leave, not wide open, as we will be able to actually enforce border control, but that's all a moot point since the exit procedure for a member state to leave requires the unanimous approval of the other member states and the European Council thingy before it can proceed, and that will never happen, Article 50 is far more complicated than rocking up in Belgium and saying adios amigos.

Obama came over and said all he did about us dropping to the bottom of the queue in trade deals etc. if we left, well bolly hoo, we don't sell anything to the States anyway, so who cares whether we're first or last, makes no difference to our economy (in the big picture of things).

Corbyn is a terrible public speaker, it feels like he is the sacrificial lamb waiting in the slaughter queue until they can convince the right brother to come back and lead them, having said that, I quiet like him.

Greens are a joke, I don't live in Brighton but from what I heard they've banned cars from certain parts of the City and then wonder why the passing trade dropped off a cliff, they insist on speed humps and 20mph limits without realising that the longer you spend on the road the more a car is polluting, not so much an issue with 20mph zones, but when you're reducing 60 to 50, 50 to 40 etc. I'm not against 20mph zones in principle though, better make that clear and that problem isn't exclusive to the greens, but they are the ones pushing it most. They've also spent more building an observation tower than Merlin have on DBGT and got rid of the wheel, ironic for a party so intent on cutting pollution. Their London Mayoral candidate can't even add up and thinks they can build a brand new house for £10k, when this was pointed out to her in the TV debate she had a meltdown and just kept saying 'I don't accept that'.

Getting back to central Government, it seems to be being ignored, perhaps it's due to the public being more interested in the popstar threesome that broke at the same time, Corbyn was the only Politician to publish his tax return, the others didn't, all they published were spreadsheets claiming they were the return, Corbyn published his actual return, terrible writing and all.

Fun OT yes/no poll - say yes if you know who the celebrity threesome is.

[Tom]

It's interesting how you can gauge a lot from someone's political opinions by how they post in the forum in general, not even in this topic

[Project LC]

There is always the odd person that surprises me but most of the time you can tell where they are on the political spectrum.

Often I work it out when the topic of how can Merlin fix this and that comes up.

[Ian-S]

What do you two mean? Don't be shy

[Project LC]

Well the opinions voiced in comments on various matters tend to the left or right wing. Enough posts and a good memory you can work out where someone is on the political spectrum and make an educated guess on who they would vote for. It's not the most accurate thing but I know who most likely would back me up in a political debate.

I can't talk for Tommy but that is what I meant by my statement.

I class myself as very political (like an argument too much) and as a result I try to profile people. I would love to be an MP so drawing political opinions from all sorts of places is something I like to do.

[Ian-S]

So how did I do on the Green's then? (and who do you think I'd be inclined to vote for?).

[Tom]

Based on your opinions on the EU referendum you're inclined to vote Conservative (BoJo) or UKIP

 

As for the 20 zone thing, I wonder how many lives it has saved vs. the negative impact on people's lives

[Project LC]

The police force take no action on speeding in 20 zones (equipment isnt accurate enough) which currently is the whole city. The police informed the council of this before introducing it but ignored them anyway. So the council spent ten's of thousands on painting 20 everywhere. There is 4 20's painted on my road just incase you forget the speed limit every 100m.

[Ian-S]

Based on your opinions on the EU referendum you're inclined to vote Conservative (BoJo) or UKIP

Wrong, I'll vote for whoever best represents my interests in Parliment, which is why I wrote 'none of these corrupt c----' across the last ballot paper and it was counted as a spoilt ballot which means more to those that are interested than it does if you don't vote at all.

 

As for the 20 zone thing, I wonder how many lives it has saved vs. the negative impact on people's lives

Probably quiet a few, I wasn't so much moaning about 20, I wish they'd make our road 20, but the other types of reduction like the 60 the 40 change they've made just down the road.

[Project LC]

I really wish out education system would educate people about voting and how spoiled ballots are important. It's crazy they are taught how to solve quadratics but don't even touch on how to vote or fill in a tax return.

[Ian-S]

They have citizenship lessons now but I don't know what they cover in them.

[Project LC]

They don't cover much at all. It's not even compulsory. All they need is 1 lesson over the course of the year. The whole education system needs seriously fixing. Something no party has yet offered a viable solution for.

[Ian-S]

It's only going to get worse with privatisation, sorry, academies.

[Project LC]

The academy plan is stupid but that's what you get when you make the education minister someone who has no idea about education.

The Tory's and the NHS is an issue I don't understand. They have been pouring more and more money in and asking doctors to work longer and as a result everyone hates them. The NHS needed infrastructure investment about 10 years ago so they could keep up with increasing demand. Instead labour chose to ignore it and the coalition did nothing as they could never agree.

[Tom]

Wrong, I'll vote for whoever best represents my interests in Parliment, which is why I wrote 'none of these corrupt c----' across the last ballot paper and it was counted as a spoilt ballot which means more to those that are interested than it does if you don't vote at all.

 

Probably quiet a few, I wasn't so much moaning about 20, I wish they'd make our road 20, but the other types of reduction like the 60 the 40 change they've made just down the road.

 

Yes fair enough, voting is useless as nothing ever seems to change anyway -- This is why Corbyn is so appealing to some

[pluk]

The police force take no action on speeding in 20 zones (equipment isnt accurate enough)

Where'd you get that little nugget from?!

20mph may be unenforced, and to an extent unenforceable, but this is due to fairly complex legal issues around how they have been introduced. Not dodgy speed guns.

Whole thing's a farce really. 30mph is a perfectly acceptable standard residential limit. The effort should go in to enforcing this, not slinging more and more restrictions on everything with no means or inclination to enforce them.

A bit of paint and a sign is not going to stop the idiot who will drive up it at 50 regardless of what limit is posted, and those are drivers that are the problem.

[Project LC]

I got that information from the local newspaper when they first introduced it. Clearly not the most reliable source.

20mph is fine in areas near schools, not everywhere. No one listens and to say it is environmentally friendly when it has no evidence at all. Elected morons who don't understand science and basic reasoning.

[Project LC]

Interesting EU article emerging which is about the EU planning to ban the sale of high powered inefficient electrical items such as kettles and toasters. Part of eu environmental targets the bill has been delayed until autumn to make sure it doesn't affect the brexit outcome.

[Benin]

In reality, it'll just be a ban on the designs of those items that waste the most energy, but it'll be painted as "The EU will get rid of YOUR appliances"...

It's like all the Euro 6 stuff on commercial vehicles, just methods to combat emissions and environmental stuff...

It's not interesting at all, unless you really think such items would be flat out banned...

[Mark9]

9 hours ago, Project LC said:

Interesting EU article emerging which is about the EU planning to ban the sale of high powered inefficient electrical items such as kettles and toasters. Part of eu environmental targets the bill has been delayed until autumn to make sure it doesn't affect the brexit outcome.

 

Tell me why banning high powered inefficient electrical equipment is a bad thing.

Whilst EU go on about banalities like kettles and fishing, our own government have decided it's either World War 3 or the eve of a Hitler superstate. It's all rather desperate and pathetic frankly. If it really was that risky leaving the EU, it wouldn't be proposed at all or put to a public vote.

 

And then on the other side of the coin, companies, universities, businesses, security forces, countries across the globe are saying that leaving the EU will completely handicap this country. All this while Boris Johnson visits Cornwall, a county heavily helped by the EU, telling them its better to leave whilst holding a pasty, a food product protected under EU law and states that to be a Cornish pasty, it must be made in Cornwall. It's all so ridiculous and petty.

[Benin]

Since Boris has invoked Godwin's Law, does it mean we even need the referendum anymore?

[Professor Drunk]

Meh, I'm too drunk for politics. I'm only voting people who build trains and coasters connecting London to other European cities. So I can drink beer in Europe.

[Ian-S]

2 hours ago, Mark9 said:

 

Tell me why banning high powered inefficient electrical equipment is a bad thing.

Whilst EU go on about banalities like kettles and fishing, our own government have decided it's either World War 3 or the eve of a Hitler superstate. It's all rather desperate and pathetic frankly. If it really was that risky leaving the EU, it wouldn't be proposed at all or put to a public vote.

 

And then on the other side of the coin, companies, universities, businesses, security forces, countries across the globe are saying that leaving the EU will completely handicap this country. All this while Boris Johnson visits Cornwall, a county heavily helped by the EU, telling them its better to leave whilst holding a pasty, a food product protected under EU law and states that to be a Cornish pasty, it must be made in Cornwall. It's all so ridiculous and petty.

Because the 'efficient' eco friendly kettle takes 5x as long as the 'ineffecient' power hungry version to do the same thing, but the 'inefficient' kettle uses less energy overall.  Its the same dumb mentality as limiting the amount of water a washing machine uses to cut down on water usage, which results in the user having to do two or three wash cycles to get the clothes clean, or limiting cars to 20mph to cut pollutants, which means they spend nearly three times as long doing the same journey as what the car would do at its most efficient speed (around 56mph).

As for all the Hitler talk recently, I don't know why people are getting their knickers in a twist over them, they are factually correct in most respects after all, perhaps there is some truth to the saying 'truth hurts'.