The 2015 Popularity Contest (aka UK General Election )

[L4Everton]

I don't think that is something to make political hay out of.

The longer the nastiest issues that plague society are swept under the carpet the longer they are allowed to fester. The hot topic of sex abuse gangs and the associated groups that are responsible for such is something that should have a light shone onto it constantly. Let the guilty scream racism, they'll be screaming when they meet the rest of the prison population as well. (And good riddance)

 

[edge]

Problem is he would be replaced with someone more to the right to try and compete at a time when the party needs to be reclaimed on the basis of principles, not whims and pandering to the press barons

Dont think its his politics , he actual talks quite well on a lot of things, thats if you can put up with him for long enough to listen, (a lot wouldnt), he just isnt reaching out to the voters, even his own , he needs to step aside or Labour are doomed.WHO would take over?
Johnson or Burnham wouldnt be bad, used to think that chukka fella was one to watch but, he seems a bit lightweight when pressed on anything,Balls mrs would do i decent job as well, anybody but Balls or Harman .

 

[Milk]

No he wont. They'll stick with him. It'd be even more catastrophic to switch horses now.

I hope they do actually. The bigger panning Labour get the better. Reward their treachery by demolishing it.

Sure I've read somewhere that Balls is lining up his tanks (rather like Turkey come to think of it) and there is a major groundswell against Milli now. If I was a betting man, I would put my quid down on him not leading the party in to the Election

 

[davek]

Nik, that's a horrendous accusation, it really is.

It's disgusting. But why pull him up for it now? He's been writing this stuff for years.

 

[JDL]

Bad governance is not something that is determined by political affiliation. Seriously, this thread has been doing just fine. Do not take it down that route please.

Well the councils where this is happening do tend to be Labour dominated. Labour do have form for courting the muslim vote and making it easier for them to fiddle it with postal voting. Its not just the abuse its the whole pandering to a "community" in order to secure votes

 

[TheBlueGibbon]

As far as i'm aware Thatcher didn't cover up Savilles abuses, the BBC on the other hand.... The issue is that an entire council and care system continually ignored the problem of Pakistani men abusing young white girls as to avoid accusations of racism.

Senior members of the government of the time reportedly knew. Whether she knew herself is probably a question we'll never know the answer to, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility. The Liberals, as were, certainly knew of the accusations against Cyril Smith though.

 

[toffee matt]

Sure I've read somewhere that Balls is lining up his tanks (rather like Turkey come to think of it) and there is a major groundswell against Milli now. If I was a betting man, I would put my quid down on him not leading the party in to the Election

Alan Johnson and Andy Burnham have been talked about in the papers the last week

 

[davek]

Sure I've read somewhere that Balls is lining up his tanks (rather like Turkey come to think of it) and there is a major groundswell against Milli now. If I was a betting man, I would put my quid down on him not leading the party in to the Election

Ed Balls has even less credibility than Miliband.

I really dont see the gain in Labour switching leader. They need to switch their policies.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

If you cant see what a think tank like commonweal are advocating, which is a brake and reversal of the marketization of everyday life and a narrowing of inequality, differs from what's happened in Sweden where inequality is increasing on the back of a right wing government intent on giving tax cuts to the well off, then maybe you're not drawing the right conclusions.

Maybe it's an example of reading the same thing in different ways. For instance, I've looked extensively at open government, which is one of the things they talk about on their site, and that generally means both opening up government data so that 3rd parties can do good things with it, and also making the government process transparent.

For instance, the other weekend I was at an event where lots of people came together to build things based upon open public data. They weren't affiliated to a state or indeed to an employer, but it's a marketization nonetheless, is it not?

 

[JDL]

...here's another one who reads and responds to what he likes to believe is written rather than addressing what actually is written.

Go back and read it again.

Sweden where inequality is increasing on the back of a right wing government intent on giving tax cuts to the well off

 

[Bruce Wayne]

The longer the nastiest issues that plague society are swept under the carpet the longer they are allowed to fester. The hot topic of sex abuse gangs and the associated groups that are responsible for such is something that should have a light shone onto it constantly. Let the guilty scream racism, they'll be screaming when they meet the rest of the prison population as well. (And good riddance)

I'm not suggesting it should be ignored, just not used to score political points. That cheapens what those poor girls went through.

 

[L4Everton]

Ed Miilibean will be gone before the next election. Labour nearly losing to UKIP in Heywood & Middleton gives Balls the remit to start swinging them.

No chance, he's there to take the flack and will fade into the background unless he performs a miracle. Labour know they are tainted, and so a few kickings then a reboot (bub bum tshh) and watch his brother or someone else a lot less gimpy turn up to run the show.

 

[davek]

Maybe it's an example of reading the same thing in different ways. For instance, I've looked extensively at open government, which is one of the things they talk about on their site, and that generally means both opening up government data so that 3rd parties can do good things with it, and also making the government process transparent.

For instance, the other weekend I was at an event where lots of people came together to build things based upon open public data. They weren't affiliated to a state or indeed to an employer, but it's a marketization nonetheless, is it not?

Maybe, but the ends are different. You can advocate less central control for a variety of reasons: more control and democracy; more space for the market to move into and fill the vacuum.

 

[EFCNIK]

Nik, that's a horrendous accusation, it really is.

How else do you explain it? It was willful negligence indicative of the unwillingness to tackle any issues within that specific community.
Although We do already have a thread about this, it's gotta be said when it comes to labour. They've been going for the minority block vote for years. What's even more wrong is the ways to as reported afterwards, as 'asian men'.

No, muslim men.

 

[Milk]

No chance, he's there to take the flack and will fade into the background unless he performs a miracle. Labour know they are tainted, and so a few kickings then a reboot (bub bum tshh) and watch his brother or someone else a lot less gimpy turn up to run the show.

If they are serious about trying to win the next election, they have no choice but to ditch him. That pic of him trying to eat a bacon butty will be used by the opposition time & time again.