Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

it's a shame that the telegraph is so unashamedly pro tory, as of course are the mail and express ..... thus, their editorial etc is bound to be badly skewed
one could say similar, though perhaps not quite so vehemently, about the guardian and indie on the other side

i get the guardian on-line every day, but i don't immediately see any election stuff there

anyway, please God we get a decent turnout to prevent the activists and loonies highjacking the result
if there is a decent turnout, then it will be public (personal) sentiment and perception of its wellbeing at the time and in the immediate future that will decide the result, as is always the case

it is undoubtedly true that employment numbers have improved greatly - except sadly among the younger generation - and even wages are now beginning to creep up ...... inflation is close to zero, with food and especially petrol prices being significantly lower than a year ago .... those two items weigh heavily on sentiment

on the other hand, nincompoop and dishonest politicians of all colours does nothing for the image of parliament as a whole

a hung parliament remains the racing certainty

the following is from the guardian ..... it's part of a much longer article but i have no idea how to link it .....

How Tories could remain the largest party (part two): vote green, get blue
A strong performance by the Greens in May would be disproportionately detrimental to Labour’s electoral chances. Even on just 5% of the vote, the Green party could make a difference in several closely contested seats.
How Tories could remain the largest party (part one): Ukip support drops

Alberto Nardelli
Wednesday 18 February 2015 11.00 GMT
Last modified on Thursday 19 February 2015 00.41 GMT

Two years ago, the Labour party was polling on 43% and held a double-digit lead over the Conservatives. More than one in three Liberal Democrats had switched to Labour. On just under 2%, the Green party was not on anyone’s mind.

Ed Miliband’s party has since dropped 10 points in the polls while support for the Green party has increased more than threefold to 7%. The share of 2010 Lib Dem voters supporting the Green party has risen to 16% and 3.5% of those who remember voting Labour at the last election now say they will vote Green.

A 7% share might not sound like much, but it could spell terrible news for Labour – and could be David Cameron’s best hope of remaining the tenant of 10 Downing Street after the 7 May poll.

"Fred

Stop attacking the Tories by posting these ridiculously foul cartoons on a daily basis and then we will believe you are not a 'raving lefty'."

Exec and 2517.

You are entitled to believe what you wish.

I don't believe that Dodgy Dave and cronies will be in No 10 after the next GE and expect the more fascist wing of the Con party to split off from the remaining more moderate tory remnants.
========

Again, as it appears at the moment I see the major party after the GE to be the Labour party. unless they make a "balls up" of something major, especially as the NHS is being mismanaged and falling apart and its failing become more evident over the next 2 months.

I would expect at the moment for there to be another coalition/alliance government of Labour/SNP/Lib Dems and depending on the books possibly a few of the minor parties other than UKIP and Tories.

Also, I would like to see a comparison of hours work, productivity compared to 2007, rather than the phoney figures being boasted about by a bing Crosby propaganda unit.

=======

But quoting a paper whose editorial staff appears to be bought out or pressurised by right winged owners and advertisers, who wish to suppress or distort information over "slush" funds, HBSA and tax "avoidance", is of questionable value.

The tory party seems more dependent on "slush" funds and its "donors" of the likes of
"Stringfellows" to support them.

What a descent for a once respectable party!

fred - you might want to read the whole of the guardian article to gain a more balanced view

It's long (two parts)



1. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/datablog/2015/feb/12/how-tories-could-remain-the-largest-party-part-one-ukip-support-drops


2. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/datablog/2015/feb/12/how-tories-could-remain-the-largest-party-part-one-ukip-support-drops

Some of you right wing moaners and others might like to educate yourselves on just "one" of this Governments failures over the last 5 years, I.E. not to outlaw Modern Slave Labour in this Country.

"Face the Facts asks why the new legislation has failed to address the dismal lives of these hidden but perfectly legal slaves who've been tricked and trapped into a life of exploitation."

Listen on R4 at 12.15 now.

Is this new Stan, ie, only in the last 5 years?


"perfectly legal slaves"

I thought I wrote it!

8-)

What is clear is that a relatively small drop in Ukip support alone would boost the Tories chances of emerging as the largest party on 7 May. But David Cameron is also probably wrong when he says (or allows a friendly columnist to say) that a five-point drop in Ukip support would give him an overall majority.

Above all, in the most closely fought general election in a generation, even a handful of seats that swing one way instead of the other could determine who forms the next government.


As I have speculated for months!

====

At this moment my guess remains about election result remains the same!

Listen Max.

Not in a position to stan.

Perhaps later on the iplayer then.

Slave labour took off during the Labour years with their open door immigration policy, and the government of the day Blair/Brown encouraged it via the tax credit system.
2517

Manuel,

You mentioned Utopia.

Have you read Alan Johnson's book yet?

For him looking at to-day's Britain, from his childhood, the UK must seem a little nearer to Utopia.

The major changes in Social Services, Living accommodation,Education Health Services have been experienced by him and mainly due to society conscious government and not old reactionaries like yourself.

The present tory party leadership is anchored in the past and its false interpretation of Maggie Thatcher policies, many of which fragmented society and communities and were based on personal greed. Setting one group against another.

.

I generally lean towards the Tories but at the same time I do agree with Fred, that it was Maggie who almost completely wrecked our education policies at the time. I also feel she wrecked 'the family' and unhealthy selfishness began to thrive.

Thank you, Gordon Brown, for saving the £32k which I had on deposit with the Icelandic bank, "Icesave".

From what I know about the history of Maggie, Brown and Blair, well, thank goodness they are long gone and aren't coming back.

But I despise Ed Miliband and also Ed Balls and assess them as hypocrits and I definitely don't want them in charge of a government and wrecking things once again.

There is one man only, that I would want to run the government and the country.

I know he would be very good at it and would also put fun back into politics. He is something of an eccentric and has a mop of blond hair on the top of his very clever head. When he does a bit of wrong, it is very easy to forgive him for it. But my goodness, he has tons of charisma, he can run a team and he can also get everyone behind him whilst he's doing it.

It's Boris Becker, sorry Karloff, sorry, Johnson. :-)

Looks like the English Berlusconi !

Good luck to all his supporters.

I think that is how you spell it.

not yet fred, though i have taken delivery of it
am currently enjoying a light read about the women of charles 2nd's court

==============

stan - i listened to much of that prog on the way back from the gym ..... a lot of it was to do with domestics being employed and abused by those with diplomatic immunity and thus not possible to prosecute and another section, about which it may be possible to do something, was about trawler crews with "transit work visas"

in the latter instance, it was clear that a goodly section of these crews are well treated, or at least on a par with their british counterparts

2517,

Don't you recall Enoch.

i even remember lloyd george in his pomp :-)

I remember him Fred and his 'Rivers of Blood' speech but I was quite young at the time.
2517