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.

Ukip's angry, left-behind voters are not going away

Nigel Farage draws his support from financially struggling white people who have completely lost faith in the political system. They're anxious about the future, angry about inequality, and they will still be here after May 7



By Matthew Goodwin

12:13PM GMT 26 Mar 2015





Ukip has achieved remarkable things. Last year, at the European Parliament elections, Nigel Farage and his party became the first new movement to win a nationwide election for almost one hundred years, taking more than twenty seats in the European Parliament. It has more than three hundred local councillors and for much of the past year has been averaging around 15 per cent in the opinion polls — ahead of the Liberal Democrats.


Now, Farage and his party face the ultimate test — trying to win a handful of seats in the House of Commons. The results, and their broader impact, will tell us a lot about the power of this revolt but even if Ukip fail to live up to expectations there are good reasons to expect that its underlying support will remain firmly in place.



Ukip is not benefitting simply from things that have happened since 2010; its rise is a symptom of deep social and value divides in Britain. At a recent debate in Westminster the columnist Matthew Parris said that he had never before seen such a consensus in British politics — that when you boil down the arguments of the main parties there is actually little disagreement about the big questions. There is in modern Britain, he said, no big clash.


But what Parris and others overlook is that there is a big clash in our society, and it is over values. This is reflected in new research released today by the British Social Attitudes survey which tells a story consistent with that presented by myself and Rob Ford in Revolt on the Right. It paints a picture of a group of voters who feel economically left behind, politically cut adrift from Westminster, and intensely anxious about the direction of Britain.


The findings confirm that Farage and his party are being driven by supporters who share a very distinct social profile and are driven by clear set of motives. Support is more than twice as high among people aged over 55 years old than it is among those under 35, and is twice as high among those in working-class occupations as it is among those in salaried managerial and professional positions (though there is also support for Ukip among small employers and the self-employed). Those who identify themselves as English, who have not been to university and are white are the most likely to endorse Farage (less than half a per cent of people who describe themselves as black or Asian support Ukip). And when it comes to motives, these are voters who are intensely anxious about Britain's relationship with Europe and immigration.


That is not all. These left-behind voters are more likely than others to say that they are struggling financially, and to worry about inequality. As we previously argued in Revolt on the Right, when it comes to their outlook toward economic issues Ukip voters are not tribal Tories. On the contrary, they are often closer on economic questions to Labour voters than to Conservatives— and this is why Lynton Crosby and David Cameron are having such difficulty winning them back.

These are voters who neither feel the recovery nor expect to feel it in the future. They do not share Cameron's economic outlook and they loathe the values that are reflected back at them in Britain's media and political class. Large majorities of Ukip supporters think that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor, that ordinary people are not getting their fair share of the nation's wealth, that managers try to take advantage of employees, that big business benefits owners at the expense of workers.


There is a more significant difference on the idea of redistribution of income, although still 40 per cent of Ukip voters think that government should redistribute income (compared to 52 per cent of Labour supporters and 22 per cent of Tories). These voters might prefer to see a Conservative rather than a Labour government. But when Ed Miliband talks about tackling inequality, getting tough on bankers and energy suppliers, and making society fairer, most Ukip voters will agree. A reasonable implication of this is that they remain hostile to the Conservatives for the same reason that many voters are — they simply do not believe that the Tories are on their side.

Moreover, they will remain receptive to a radical outsider long after May 7. These are voters who feel completely disconnected from our mainstream politics; some 79 per cent think that the government does not care much about what they think, compared to 53 per cent among all respondents. They are also among the least likely to trust politicians and, when asked how democracy works in the country, to give the lowest score (even lower than those who do not support any party).

"In short," notes the report, "Ukip supporters appear to be well and truly 'fed up' with the way their country is run". This strongly felt sense of abandonment and alienation is unlikely to disappear on May 8 — whatever happens in Thanet South.


More:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11496607/Ukips-angry-left-behind-voters-are-not-going-away.html

Calling all you right wing miserable moaners and groaners on here, I've found just the club for you.

http://glenaftonfc.com/2013/09/30/moaners-and-groaners-club/

my dad's bigger than yours!
even though election fatigue has already started to creep in, it's hard not to notice the usually pie throwing antics of the two main party leaders


EM says
we'll stop any private contractor for NHS making more than 5% profit on those contracts

only thing wrong with that, is that even a quick glance at the outline sketched shows that it is full of holes and exceptions ...... above all, were it to be rigidly enforced, many companies would find it uneconomic even to tender
in conclusion .... another load of political bollocks to con some of the electorate



DC says
we'll ensure that we have a 7-day 24/7 NHS, blah blah blah

in effect we already have that, for if you get knocked down by a bus or have a heart attack, the hospital will still take you in and treat you, and there'll be consultants and surgeons on hand to do the necessary
without being too cynical (moi?), you'll almost certainly be triaged and dealt with well within an hour or two .... and yes, i also know of cases where that has not happened as it should
in conclusion .... another load of political bollocks to con some of the electorate

Have you applied yet Alf -):

good morning stan .... applied for what?

I refere you to post 58097, what else -):

i'm very happy for the irish to remain in ireland without my help, though i'm sure MrT would set up a fund to shift more of them back them

mind you, i'ld be happy to see the back of the travelling bands of crooks-in-caravans, many if not most of whom seem to hail from that side of the water

If you can take a bit of time out and stop whinging, here's something you can make for your own or next door's dog. It's a bit 'bangy' so would be best for 'outside' but it should keep it amused for hours:

If there is any political group that moans incessantly, it is the left. That includes the Greens as well.

i wouldn't mind a young lovely rather than a dog who was a bit bangy outside!

Haystack Send an email to Haystack View Haystack's profile - 28 Mar 2015 10:07 - 58104 of 58105

"If there is any political group that moans incessantly, it is the left. That includes the Greens as well."

==-=-=-=-=-=


Somebody seems guilty of projection!


It is not us Guv, it's them over there!

Congratulation is due to David Cameron, Osborne and Crew!

Before there is another loss of reality!





----=-=-==-=

Food banks are better then Labour's soap kitchen's , why don't they shop at poundland ? my local Co op sell's still fresh food after 3pm , sandwich's priced£2.75 for 49 p , bread for 39p for a large [l]oaf [ Stan ],

Nice to see Labour MP's in tune with the electorate, Ben Bradshaw quoted in the MOS '' You want to know what austerity Britain looks like? It's being forced to drink Prosecco instead of Champagne. These are tough times.''
2517

it was also good to see that KFC have now started to pass on their only just cooked but more than 15 minutes ago to their local foodbanks and similar .... and before you ask, they chill it off!

why don't supermarkets make an effort to do so?
because they're afraid of being sued if they pass on food that is beyond the stupid and very arbitrary sell-by date
i had a first hand experience of that with some ground coffee that had only just been delivered but had clearly just been mislabelled!

The horror, the horror



Sturgeon Is On Course To Be A Kingmaker

The SNP leader delivers a tough message to Ed Miliband about the price she will demand for keeping the Tories out of power.





Jon Craig

Chief Political Correspondent

17:43, UK,
Saturday 28 March 2015


She may be only 5ft 2in, but Nicola Sturgeon packs a powerful political punch.


In a blockbuster of a speech to a conference packed with 3,000 SNP activists, she delivered a tough message to Ed Miliband about the price she will demand for keeping David Cameron out of 10 Downing Street.

Scotland's new First Minister's demands include an end to austerity spending cuts, scrapping "the obscene status symbol of Trident", abolition of the House of Lords and reform of the voting system.

And with her party surging ahead in opinion polls, she issued a chilling warning to Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats that there will be no "no-go" areas in Scotland for the SNP on 7 May: all 59 seats are up for grabs.

"No constituency is off limits for the SNP in this election; we will fight for every vote and every seat," she declared in a 45-minute speech that was constantly interrupted by cheers and applause and earned her a six-and-a-half minute standing ovation at the end.



More: http://news.sky.com/story/1454601/sturgeon-is-on-course-to-be-a-kingmaker

We should have got rid of the Scots while we had the chance.

Thankyou Nicola, the best lady to come along since Maggie Thatcher. Death Knell for Labour in Scotland. The biggest incentive in England for anyone with half a brain to avoid voting Labour. LOL!!!!

George Osborne: Life would be hell under Ed Miliband
The Chancellor ridicules the Labour leader’s attempt to position himself as a statesman who is 'tough enough' to represent Britain

By Matthew Holehouse, Political Correspondent6:00PM GMT 28 Mar 2015
George Osborne led an intensely personal Tory assault on Ed Miliband’s fitness to lead Britain, saying life would be “hell” under his premiership.
The Chancellor used the launch of the Conservatives’ election campaign to ridicule the Labour leader’s attempt to position himself as a statesman who is “tough enough” to represent Britain on the world stage.
In a three-pronged attack, Grant Shapps, the Tory chairman, said Ed Miliband is the least prepared Labour leader since Neil Kinnock, while David Cameron said voters must question whether he is strong enough to handle “make or break calls in the middle of the night.”


Mr Cameron asked voters to give him five more years to “finish the job” and said that the “sunlit uplands” are now “in sight” as the economy recovers.
He said the Tories are the only party that care about would-be home owners, retirees and apprentices, adopting a new refrain: “We are with you.”

Addressing party members in Manchester, Mr Osborne ridiculed Mr Miliband’s boasts during Thursday’s leaders’ interviews that he had defied President Obama over airstrikes on Syria with the words: “Hell, yes, I’m tough enough.”
Mr Osborne said: “I was listening to Ed Miliband, with all that legendary statesmanship of his, saying: ‘Hell, yeah, I’ll be a leader!’”
“I’ll tell you where that leads. A return to rising unemployment. A returning to rising debts. A return to economic chaos. Hell? Yes, indeed,” he said.
Grant Shapps said a Labour government would produce a “Britain diminished.”
“This is not a nightmare scenario, because you wake up from a nightmare. This would be a five year sentence. Day after day, it would get worse and worse.”

Mr Cameron, introduced by Mr Obsorne as a “patriot and a leader”, devoted much of his half-hour speech to painting Mr Miliband as a “hypocrite” incapable of “facing down our enemies abroad” .
He denounced the Labour front bench as “Hampstead socialists” who “sneer” at the aspirations of working families and who had betrayed the legacy of Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and John Smith.
Mr Miliband’s wife, Justine, has spoken of fears of a “nasty” and “brutal” Tory campaign on his character.


But Mr Cameron insisted that in a “high stakes, high risk” election, criticism of Mr Miliband is entirely justified.
“I know what this role needs – and frankly, I don’t think Ed Miliband has it,” Mr Cameron said.
“Some might say ‘don’t make this personal’, but when it comes to who’s Prime Minister, the personal is national.
“The guy who forgot to mention the deficit could be the one in charge of our whole economy.
“The man who is too weak to stand up to the trade unions at home could be the one facing down our enemies abroad.
“The leader who thinks leadership is climbing aboard the latest bandwagon – he could be the one taking the make-or-break calls in the middle of the night,” he said.
The remarks are reminiscent of Hillary Clinton’s famous advert in her 2008 campaign against Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.
It asked Americans who they wanted “answering the phone” in the White House at 3am during a crisis.


n a pitch to lower-middle class families, Mr Cameron said the Tories’ economic plans are not “dry and dusty words on a page” but would “make a difference to people’s lives”.
“We’re saying to the young couple who are saving each month – we are with you.
“To the teenager who wants an apprenticeship – we are with you. To the pensioner who put money aside for decades – we are with you.
“This is the point, the purpose, the whole reason for the Conservative party."
By contrast, he said, the Labour Party had lost sight of its founding purpose.
He said: “What is Labour’s message? Who are they with? What are they for?
“What is the point of them? To be honest, it's increasingly hard to tell.
“They're not the party of Clement Attlee, who built the NHS. They’re the party that wants to ‘weaponise’ the NHS.
“They’re not the party of Wilson and his ‘white heat of technology’. They’re the party with not a single idea about Britain’s industrial future.
“Just last week they were threatening to rip up the plans for high speed rail between Manchester and Birmingham. What’s more, they don’t have a single good thing to say about wealth creators. In fact – the party that cannot remember the name of a single businessman.
“They’re not even the party of John Smith either – who believed so passionately in the dignity of work. They’re the party who have opposed everything we have done to get nearly a million people off welfare and into a better life.
“No longer the Labour party but the welfare party, the party whose shining city on a hill, whose new Jerusalem is a load of dead-end lives and poverty handed down through the generations. “What a betrayal of everything that party once stood for.
He continued: “There must be Labour supporters up and down this country who work hard, pay their taxes, see the abuse of the welfare system and Labour’s defence of it and think: ‘how did it come to this?’”
The Tories are the “party of the hardworking low paid once more,” he said.
Labour’s opposition to Right to Buy and tax cuts shows it is the “about telling you what to do - the same old condescending, bossy, interfering, we-know-best attitude of the Hampstead socialist down the ages.”
He said: “This isn’t the party of working people. It’s the same old party of hypocrisy, the party of two faces, the party of two Jags, and now – yes – the party of two kitchens.”
In a rare breach of the slick presentation that characterises Conservative events, Mr Cameron was heckled by a party member of 35 years who was angered by the scant mention of Europe and immigration in the speech.
Mike Howson, 59, from Staffordshire Morelands, shouted that Mr Cameron had “betrayed the country” by failing to cut immigration. He voted Ukip at the last election.

Nicola Sturgeon: We’ll be Labour’s backbone & guts

TOM PETERKIN
20:29Saturday 28 March 2015
17
HAVE YOUR SAY
NICOLA Sturgeon yesterday promised that SNP MPs would give a Labour government “backbone and guts” as she spelt out the demands she would make of Ed Miliband ­after the general election.

The SNP leader called on Labour to join her in “locking out” David Cameron from Downing Street, as she unveiled a list that included the abolition of the House of Lords and a £2 rise in the minimum wage.

Ramping up the pressure on Labour and predicting her party would hold the balance of power in a hung parliament, Sturgeon claimed an SNP vote was the only way to shake-up a discredited Westminster es­tablishment, as she gave a speech to SNP spring conference which was rapturously ­received.


The last gathering of the party faithful before the general election saw around 3,000 delegates at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow.

Sturgeon challenged Labour to work with the SNP to form an anti-Conservative alliance at Westminster, even if Cameron’s party emerges with the most seats in May.

“As long as there are more anti-Tory MPs – Labour or SNP – than there are Tory MPs in the House of Commons, we can keep them out of Government,” said Sturgeon.

“If there are more anti-Tory than Tory MPs after the election, the only way the Tories get back into power is if Labour lets them back in.

“I call on Labour today to match that pledge to make clear that if Labour and the SNP combined have more seats than the Tories, they will join forces with us in a vote of confidence to lock David Cameron out of Downing Street.



“If Labour fails to make that commitment, the only conclusion people will draw is that Labour would rather have the Tories back in power than work with the SNP.”

She added: “That will be the final nail in the political coffin of Scottish Labour. It really will be time to lock the doors of the branch office once and for all.”

Sturgeon’s attempt to out-manoeuvre Labour’s claim that voting for SNP will let in the Conservatives was accompanied by her claim that the SNP would represent all Scots, regardless of how they voted in last year’s referendum.

Attempting to portray the SNP as a party that would stand up for the whole country, the First Minister said: “We will fight Scotland’s corner with passion, principle and conviction.”

She pleaded with Scottish voters to put the “normal divisions of politics” to one side and come together as “one country” at the general election. “We will represent you – to the best of our abilities – no matter your politics, your point of view and regardless of how you voted in the referendum last year.”

Packed into an enormous conference hall and having endured long queues to get in, delegates let out a deafening cheer as Sturgeon described the House of Lords as a “democratic outrage”, pointing out that it had tried to stop 16 and 17-year-olds voting in the ­referendum.

“Its members are paid £300 a day for just showing up and it is totally tax free. That’s got to stop,” Sturgeon said.

“People with no democratic mandate should not be writing the laws of the land. It is now time to abolish the House of Lords.”

With the party buoyed by a massive influx of supporters which has seen membership swell to 102,143, Sturgeon received a six-minute standing ovation from delegates, many of whom were attending conference for the first time.

Despite polls indicating the SNP will win most of Scotland’s 59 Westminster seats, the SNP leader said there was still a mountain to climb but with “hard graft and humility” no constituency was “off ­limits”.

Looking ahead to post-election negotiations with Labour, Sturgeon said she would stand firm against cash being spent on the “obscene status symbol” of a new generation of Trident weapons.

She would demand an alternative to austerity as well as a £2 increase in the minimum wage to take it up to £8.70 by 2020.

At Westminster, the SNP would vote on health issues even though the Scottish NHS is controlled by Holyrood.

She said the SNP would use its votes to halt the privatisation of the English NHS, because that would threaten Scotland’s health budget.

“Make no mistake, the continued privatisation of the NHS in England threatens the budget of the Scottish Government,” she said. “SNP MPs – in order to protect Scotland’s budget – will vote at Westminster to halt the tide of NHS privatisation in England. We will use our voices and our votes to keep the NHS, north and south of the Border, firmly in public hands.”

Telling delegates that previous Labour governments had reneged on promises, Sturgeon remarked: “If you want a Labour government to have backbone and guts, you need to elect SNP MPs to provide it for them. If you want a Labour government that won’t just be a carbon copy of the Tories, but will instead deliver the real change Scotland needs, then you must elect SNP MPs to force Labour’s hand and keep them honest.”

Sturgeon stopped short of describing her demands as red-line issues, preferring to concentrate on championing the SNP as the party of Scotland.

“Over the next few weeks there will continue to be talk of the deals that might be done after the election,” she said. “But from now until 7 May, there is only one deal I am interested in. There is only one deal this party will seek to do, and that is with you, the people of Scotland. If you place your trust in us to be your advocates at Westminster, we will fight Scotland’s corner with passion, principle and conviction.”

Before she stood up to speak, Sturgeon had attempted to reassert her authority over Westminster talks in an interview with Holyrood magazine.

Sturgeon responded to a series of interventions by Alex Salmond which have seen the former First Minister outline his views on post-election negotiations.

She said she would decide SNP strategy in a hung parliament while her predecessor would do the day-to-day work in the Commons.

Her speech to conference included a number of policy announcements including a pledge to get 500 companies paying the Living Wage to their workers.

She said a £100 million Scottish Attainment Fund had been established to keep young people in education.

On the eve of a crucial party vote to introduce all-female candidate shortlists for the first time, Sturgeon underlined her commitment to gender equality while announcing that £20 million would be set aside to tackle domestic abuse.

Last night Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy said: “There was no mention today of the austerity max that would be inflicted on Scotland if the SNP were to follow through on their policy of full fiscal autonomy. The First Minister knows, but won’t admit, that SNP sums don’t add up and her economic plans would lead to a £7.6 billon black hole in tax revenues.

“Despite all the cheering and backslapping the facts remain only Labour or the Tories can form the next UK government. Any seat taken from Labour by the SNP or anyone else simply helps David Cameron to stay in power. The only way to get a Labour government is to vote Labour.”


Comments:-
She is certainly proving to be a much more than able successor. After today I think Ed and Dave will be wishing Alex did not resign.

Ah, here we go, the nasty smell of politics, the smell of piss, This is the SNP plan.

SNP rout SLAB, the English work out that they don't want 40% of 5 million running the other 60Million people, (after all we had 13 years of it and what a bollox they made of it) so England and NI vote in a Tory/UKIP/Ulster coalition, who subsequently walk from the EU.

Sturgeon, Slamond and co say "well the people of Scotland want to be in the EU, so we want another referendum, betrayal, English baasa's etc" and hey presto indy full, delivered

Win win for the SNP, either join with Labour and run the UK or in the event of another tory government a trigger for indyref/2 ;))


great marketing campaign for the tories eh !!

Unionistas greetin again, full of negative hopes and bile. Put the crayons down and open your eyes , this is democracy working, isn't it great.

We are living in momentous times. For the first time SNP MPs are going to benefit at the forthcoming GE from at least the level of support their party achieve at the Holyrood election. This means the demise of the Scottish Labour party. The SNP is already Scotland's leading party, the GE will give it the seal of voter approval. We only have to take in the hundreds of posts this article has received in a few hours to understand how popular Nicola and the party are.

There is a handful of Union 'holdouts' on here frantically posting..well, frankly irrelevant, sometimes just bad mannered posts. No policies, no ideas, no counter arguments..well none that should be given the time of day..just sour grapes on the whole. Once they see how well the SNP do for Scotland and the spinn off benefit for the folks south of the border - saving the English NHS from privatisation, some will stop being 'holdouts' and after a bit o' shuffling their feet they'll probably come round.. The thing is after the GE a lot of the really empty posters will just disappear.

Finally we got to thank Alec Salmond for pulling the brilliant stroke some two years ago when he set the timetable for the referendum! You see Alec knew, from the devolution experience, that Independence was unlikely to be won the first time round and that's the reason he scheduled the referendum date for some 7 months before the 2015 general election! You see Alec just knew that SNP support would be at it's max., and would be primed to vote SNP seven months after the Sept., referendum. The polls indicate Alec was right and now after 7 May the rest as they say will be history, and we're alive to witness it! Alec Salmond youre a master tactician.

Definitely a landslide for the Tories in England now.

The English will not tolerate the sweaties pulling their strings.